Think Big, Live Green: Community-Specific Sustainability Engagement Campaigns

Abstract

Following the heels of a very successful campaign in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences called CALS Green, Cornell University sought to develop a university-wide behavior change campaign that would support its climate neutrality goals. Thus, the Think Big, Live Green campaign was designed to be entirely customizable for each college and unit based on their own operations, resources, and community culture. The campaign has four programs that complement each other—the College Engagement Program, the Green Office and Green Lab Certification Programs, and the Cornell Building Dashboard. These programs work in tandem to provide avenues of faculty, staff, and student engagement in sustainable actions. Community research, behavior economics, social norms, competitions, community-based social marketing, and peer education are embedded throughout the campaign programs to target specific sustainable actions within each college and unit. Other key components include the College Green Teams and College Green Ambassadors that serve as role models, leaders and program facilitators within their community. These peer educators have a personal interest in sustainability and undergo training in behavior change strategies to design programs for their community. Think Big, Live Green has been successful in two colleges at Cornell, and in 2016 will become part of a larger university-wide framework that will support the sustainable campus transformation and a climate neutrality goal of 2050.