Meet the Northern saw-whet owl

My wonderful colleague and friend Vicky Meretsky took me owl banding on Wednesday. What a treat to stay still and hear the many sounds of the Northern saw-whet owl (barks, hoots, and we used a lure that sounded like a backing-up truck…). Above is a beautiful female about 2 years in age with razor sharp talons and gorgeous eyes. I also learned that Northern saw-whet owls have “porphyrin pigments in their flight feathers. When exposed to a UV light the ventral side of the wing, the feathers will fluoresce a neon pink. This is used in order to estimate molt and age in adult northern saw-whet owls” (read on wikipedia to get the details right). Vicky describes them as being “about the size of a coke can”. What a treat. Happy Thanksgiving all.

New paper out - Moderating spillover: Focusing on personal sustainable behavior rarely hinders and can boost climate policy support

More evidence it is not *either* behavior or policy, but we (need and) can have both. Or as Elke would say: “Three cheers for silver buckshot”

Abstract: A successful climate movement must make progress on two fronts: widely adopting behavior changes to reduce emissions and achieving structural changes through climate policy. Some research has suggested people might see sustainable behavior as a substitute (rather than a complement) for climate policy. Does reflecting on sustainable behavior strengthen or undermine climate policy support? In the present research we find that reflecting on sustainable behavior rarely harms policy support. It only occurs when policies are framed as having costs fall on individuals (rather than industry) and when reflection on one’s behavior is not connected to one's values or identity. Here, people may reject a policy because they feel they already are taking action. Conversely, reflecting on behaviors in connection to one’s values or identity actually increases climate policy support, and leads people to feel that policies like a carbon tax, even if personally costly, reflect their values and identity.

Work with Gregg Sparkman and Elke Weber.

The Power of Stories: Writing the Future of Our Planet - March 31

The Exchange and the National Academies' Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability Present: The Power of Stories: Writing the Future of Our Planet

(Photo courtesy Beth Karlin)

(Photo courtesy Beth Karlin)

Together, we are writing the future of our planet. In the same way that we are living with the deeds and decisions of the past, the choices made and actions taken by those of us alive today will bear direct impact on the generations who come after we are gone. But how we imagine our future and tell those stories can serve as a predictor of what is to come. As prelude to the first-ever Nobel Prize Summit at the end of April, Nobel Prize Laureate Martin Chalfie, screenwriter Joe Robert Cole, and novelist Kim Stanley Robinson will examine the way in which those stories have the power to impact our vision of the future.

Moderated by Shahzeen Attari, who researches the factors that motivate action on climate change, this wide-ranging and eclectic conversation promises to be hopeful, optimistic, and above all, inspiring.

Shahzeen will serve on NASEM committee to advise the EPA

An ad hoc committee formed by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will advise EPA's Office of Research and Development on emerging scientific and technological advances it could use in support of the agency’s mission for protecting human health and the environment over the coming decades.