Thought leaders from around the world
Each year, BECC brings sought-after speakers to engage participants on diverse topics of interest. Stay tuned for announcement of this year's keynote speakers!
Keynote Speaker:
Juliet B. Schor
Sociology Professor at Boston College
The Sharing Economy and Sustainable Consumption?
The sharing economy was launched in the late 2000s with the promise that it would bring lower eco and carbon footprints. Consumers would share rides, tools, lodging, and food. Majorities of Americans believed the promise, which lent a “green halo” to the sector. A decade later, it’s clear that the biggest platforms, such as Airbnb and Uber, have had negative impacts on carbon footprints, by inducing private transport and additional travel. But what about more genuine forms of sharing? If consumers did deploy resources more efficiently and act in more generous ways to others, can that be a foundation for sustainability? In this talk, Dr. Schor will report on a decade of research on the “sharing economy,” including both the large, corporate platforms and smaller community initiatives, and their implications for energy and climate.
Juliet B. Schor is a Sociology Professor at Boston College. She has studied trends in working time, consumerism, the relationship between work and family, women’s issues and economic inequality, and concerns about climate change in the environment. She is the author of:
The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, Basic Books (1992)
Sustainable Economy for the 21st Century, (1995, 1999)
The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need, (1999)
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, (2005)
Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, Penguin Press (2010)
Toward a Plenitude Economy (2015)
BECC’s Mission
Now in its 14th year, the Behavior Energy and Climate Change conference brings together social scientists, practitioners, utilities, academics, governments, businesses, and non-profits to share and disseminate best practices and research to encourage behavior change for energy and carbon reduction. Come present your work and learn from others about innovative methods, practices and technologies, how to evaluate these programs, understand why individuals and groups change, and make these transitions in fair and equitable ways.
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Who attends BECC
BECC 2020: From Nudge to Leap!
December 7 – 10
On-line. Watch for details.
Mitigating climate change is more urgent than ever, and we need major leaps in systems and behaviors to address this critical issue. For more than a decade, BECC has presented behavioral research on nudging people and organizations to make these changes. Now is the time to move from nudges to leaps.
BECC invites you to present your work and learn from others about how to encourage behavior change for energy and carbon reduction, evaluate these programs, understand why individuals and groups change, and make these transitions in fair and equitable ways. Researchers, academics, businesses, utilities, governments, and nonprofits come together to learn and network at this unique conference.