Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing (Fourth Edition)

Recommended by Time magazine, this ground-breaking book introduces community-based social marketing and illustrates how it can be used to foster sustainable behavior. Community-based social marketing is internationally recognized as the gold standard for delivering effective environmental programs and is utilized by thousands of organizations to promote sustainability. It has been used to foster a broad array of behaviors, including waste reduction, water and energy efficiency, modal transportation shifts, conservation, electrification, and many others. This book was written for those who design, implement, and evaluate programs to foster sustainable behavior.

You will learn:

• Why most environmental programs fail to change behavior,
• How to select the most important environmental behaviors to target,
• How to uncover why people don’t adopt environmental behaviors and how, by utilizing knowledge from the behavioral sciences, you can encourage their adoption,
• How to pilot test programs to ensure that they work effectively before being broadly delivered,
• How to encourage an organization to utilize best practices in delivering environmental programs.

Reviews:

More than a book, McKenzie-Mohr and Tabanico have given us a complete system for designing effective environmental programs. Solidly grounded in research and extensively field-tested in community programs, the tools described in this book can be applied to improve the effectiveness of any environmental program. Simply put, if you work on environmental issues, this book is indispensable. Dr. Clara Dolderman, Environmental Psychologist

Fostering Sustainable Behavior breaks down the mechanics of how to build effective, long-lasting behavior change, demystifying each step in practical and applicable ways. Whether you're new to the field or an expert, this is THE manual to guide you through improving your program's approach and outcomes. Dr. Edith de Guzman, University of California

This new edition provides the best program I have seen for marketing and achieving sustainability. It provides the theory, the steps, and the tools for protecting and enhancing our living environment. I hope this book receives the widest readership. Dr. Philip Kotler, Northwestern University

Fostering Sustainable Behavior is a must-read for anyone hoping to achieve actual behavior change, as well as for anyone teaching the psychology of behavior change. The concepts presented in this book have revolutionized my work as a scholar and an activist. Dr. Cynthia McPherson Frantz, Oberlin College

Fostering Sustainable Behavior should be required reading for anyone who develops or manages an environmental program. Dr. Wesley Schultz, Claremont Graduate School

Fostering Sustainable Behavior is a “must read” for anyone interested in improving the impact of community-based behavior change programs. Students and professionals alike find McKenzie-Mohr and Tabanico’s practical, evidence-based advice both easy to grasp and easy to implement. Dr. Edward Maibach, George Mason University

McKenzie-Mohr and Tabanico's methods for applying behavioral science and psychology to real-world environmental challenges are unparalleled. Their work connects theory to action in ways that are practical, and that spark tangible results. I have relied on their methods many times in my work, and I highly recommend them for anyone working toward a more sustainable future. Dr. Reuven Sussman, ACEEE

For over four decades, Doug McKenzie-Mohr has worked to incorporate scientific knowledge on behavior change into the design and delivery of environmental programs. He founded community-based social marketing, a framework for developing environmental behavior change programs, which is now used globally. Doug is the author/co-author of three books on community-based social marketing. His work has been featured in the New York Times, and he is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's inaugural award for innovation in environmental psychology, the World Social Marketing Conference's inaugural award for contributions to the field of social marketing, and he is a B.F. Skinner distinguished lecturer. More than 75,000 program managers have attended his workshops. Doug is a former Professor of Psychology and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Jennifer Tabanico owns and operates Action Research, a firm that specializes in applying the community-based social marketing framework to a wide range of environmental behavior changes, including those impacting water, air quality, biodiversity, waste, and climate. For over twenty years, she has worked with federal, state, and local government agencies, private companies, and community organizations across the globe. Her work has been published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, Social Influence, Energy, and Social Marketing Quarterly. She has also contributed chapters to books on hazardous waste management, social marketing, and producer responsibility. Since 2016, Jennifer has served as an instructor for the Behavior Change and Sustainability and Sustainable Business Practices Certificate Programs at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Extended Studies. She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from California State University, San Marcos.