Global Sustainability: A Behavior Analytic Approach

In the years ahead, humans will face unprecedented challenges in the realm of sustainable living. Viable solutions will be necessarily technological—advancements in engineering and electronics will be fundamental to a reduced carbon footprint—and behavioral, as neither solution is alone adequate to yield change on a scale necessary to curb the runaway effects of human negligence. As it pertains to these latter goals, behavioral science has produced a respectable body of research assessing the capability of behavior analytic principles for generating eco-friendly practice. The primary goal of this chapter is to underscore this utility and the importance of behavioral science as a contributor to the sustainability movement. We first aim to briefly outline the problems ahead from the perspective of environmental science. In doing so, we hope to make obvious the gap which might be filled by the growing momentum of behavior analysts to better understand global sustainability. Next, we provide some historical context for the evolution of this behavior analytic investment in sustainable practice and summarize the work produced by the field since the inception of its flagship journal. Having established a baseline from which to infer, we conclude by exploring areas in which behavioral scientists might best focus their efforts to produce a most impactful contribution to the sustainability agenda.