Behaviorologist delivers public Sustainability Lecture

March 2014: The list of speakers for this year’s public Sustainability Lecture Series, at the Canton campus of the State University of New York, included a behaviorologist, Professor Stephen F. Ledoux. Delivering the campus’s 19 March Sustainability Lecture, entitled “Running out of time for new Behaviorology and Green Engineering programs to be effective,” he discussed the value of behaviorology in helping solve global problems. Recognizing the connection between solving global problems and the 100-year-old natural science of behaviorology, Ledoux emphasizes the necessity of developing curricula that strengthen green engineering for sustainable lifestyles by including behaviorology and its contingency engineering in students’ knowledge repertoire and skill set. “Behaviorology is the natural science of why human behavior happens, a natural science to help build a sustainable society in a timely manner,” Ledoux said. He continued, “Natural scientists are working to solve problems like global warming within the limited time frame available before we must experience their worst effects. In that process, scientists note that both problems and solutions require changes in human behavior, yet they have lacked definitive access to a natural science of behavior. We now have that, which will be increasingly valuable for solving local and global problems.” In due time, Professor Ledoux’s talk, which the Lecture Series organizers video recorded, will be available at http://www.canton.edu/sustainability/lecture.html where you can also find many of the other lectures in the Series. For related material, see Ledoux’s article (which he coauthored with Dale and Thomas Hallat) entitled An Interview on Behaviorology Supporting a Sustainable Society, in Volume 17, number 1, of Journal of Behaviorology (click HERE for access to this and other Journal issues). Also, see his BOOK, Running Out of Time—Introducing Behaviorology to Help Solve Global Problems, upon which he based much of his talk.