Mobilizing Adoption of Sustainable Solutions: Accelerating the Pace of Systemic Change through Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Humanity is dependent on a sustainable future yet fails to mobilize adoption of sustainability initiatives. If
current trends continue, we may not meet the 2030 UN Sustainable Develop Goals until 2082– more than half a
century late. Humanity’s insufficient response to the global lack of sustainability is a grand challenge driven by a
moral imperative to field solutions, despite the complexity of doing so. Better mechanisms to resolve and govern
our response to complex sustainability problems are needed.
This research investigates and tests mechanisms that improve on current approaches for designing and
implementing sustainable solutions in complex socio-ecological systems. An approach that leverages rather
than avoids the behaviour of complex systems may improve collaboration between diverse stakeholders,
address resistance to change, and accelerate the pace of change toward a sustainable future.
This research can extend our scientific and political horizons for designing sustainable solutions while
simultaneously catalyzing the willingness to act.

Faculty Supervisor:

Vanessa Schweizer;Daniel McCarthy

Student:

Partner:

CTLabs

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: