In recent work, part of the Public Deliberation on Climate Transitions and Well-Being research community, supported by the Environmental Innovations Initiative, Quinn, Kimbrough, and colleagues are seeking community input to understand how to enhance collective action on climate change through public deliberations.
Last fall, Quinn and Kimbrough, alongside four students, Keri Davenport, Rehana Odendaal, Chen Wang, and Riya Anand, initiated a study on how climate transition policies intersect with well-being. Engaging with the community of Narberth, a neighborhood in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, through a pilot discussion with eight participants, they kicked off a study about the power of collective action for sustainable change. The lessons learned during this first demonstration will inform future sessions in neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
During a 1.5-hour session, the Penn team facilitated a discussion on local energy and sustainability policies that support the green transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), such as vehicle electrification and residential energy efficiency. In a public deliberation such as this one, assessing climate policies is part of a dynamic conversation among participants and facilitators. “This approach allows us to probe rather than survey participants, so it is possible to infer concerns and organically identify co-benefits”, notes Kimbrough.
