{"id":101,"date":"2022-06-17T08:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T07:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/climate-action\/?p=101"},"modified":"2022-06-16T11:08:21","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T10:08:21","slug":"we-need-systemic-change-to-tackle-climate-change-and-people-are-key-to-making-this-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/sustainable-bath\/2022\/06\/17\/we-need-systemic-change-to-tackle-climate-change-and-people-are-key-to-making-this-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"We need systemic change to tackle climate change \u2013 and people are key to making this happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the last in our series of posts exploring the results of the Climate Action Survey <\/span>and taking a closer look at what the University is doing in the areas we asked you about.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In this post, guest author Prof. Lorraine Whitmarsh, Director of CAST and University of Bath environmental psychologist<\/a>, reflects on what we have learned from the survey about our community's support for climate action and how people are key to making systemic change happen. <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof. Whitmarsh designed the Climate Action Survey with us, and is also a key member of our Climate Action Advisory Group<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest IPCC report <\/a>published a few weeks ago makes clear that we are not on track to addressing climate change, and that profound societal transformation<\/strong> will be required to meet our climate and other sustainability goals. This is the clearest evidence so far that incremental change won\u2019t cut it, and nor will techno-fixes. What\u2019s needed is radical change to how we live and work, as well as wide-ranging technological change. As our work in CAST<\/a> also shows, this means people are at the heart of tackling climate change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first step to changing what people (including organisations) do, is to engage with them<\/strong> \u2013 ask them what motivates them and what would enable them to change. This is why we designed the University\u2019s first ever annual Climate Action Survey in November 2021 to help achieve the goals of our\u00a0Climate Action Framework<\/a>. The survey aims were:<\/p>\n

(a) To create a\u00a0baseline for measuring progress<\/strong>\u00a0on knowledge, engagement and action amongst staff and students; and<\/p>\n

(b) To inform the University\u2019s decision-making<\/strong>\u00a0about how best to cut emissions.<\/p>\n

The results from this representative survey of students and staff will help measure progress towards the University\u2019s goals and seek our community\u2019s input towards how we approach the climate emergency.<\/p>\n

A series of blog posts over the last few weeks has shared insights from the survey. We have found strong support for action across all University activities:<\/p>\n