Fans can earn a few points for sustainability when the College of Charleston men’s basketball team plays its first home game of the season against Chattanooga at TD Arena on November 7, 2022.thank you graduate student Nicole Killen Her dissertation project on recycling behavior within the TD Arena will install $30,000 worth of new CofC brand recycling and bins throughout the facility. 17 in total.
“I’m very interested in changing behavior around sustainability, people’s daily behaviors and lifestyles, and how small changes can have big impacts,” she says. Variation may seem like a big problem that people don’t know where to start, but if we can all do small things every day, it can make a big difference.”
Graduate student Nicole Killen spearheaded a project to acquire branded recycling bins at TD Arena. (Photo by Katie Cleveland)
It was her thesis advisor, an economics professor Calvin Blackwell, introduced Killen to something called nudge theory to get people to change their habits. (Made famous by a book published in 2008. Nudge: Improving Decision Making About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein) This concept, based on behavioral economics, aims to make people behave in certain ways without explicitly asking them to do so.
“It can make it more convenient, it can make it more attractive, it can make it a social norm, it can put up billboards to get people’s attention to do what they want,” says Killen. “We have gotten so many ideas about how we can be more sustainable here on campus.”
A native of Strasburg, Virginia, Killen graduated from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia in 2019 with a BS in Environmental Biology. That’s why she became interested in sustainability, especially on her college campus. She came to college to pursue her master’s degree in her environmental and sustainability studies. Jen Jones ’12 (MS)CNU’s Sustainability Coordinator and now returns to CofC as Director of the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD).
“When she told me she was looking for a graduate school place, CofC seemed like a perfect fit for what she wanted to do, and I knew she would have the support of the Sustainability Office here. about the team that created the Sustainability Office at CofC. “So, I know a lot about sustainability efforts on campus and that there is a very student-positive approach that allows students to play an active role in moving the campus towards sustainability. I knew.”
It was former CSD director Darcy Everett who told Killen he wanted to write a grant to get a new recycling bin at the arena. I was paid the same amount by both the CSD and the university’s track and field team.
work together Richard Booknight, Athletic Assistant Director of Event Operations and Facilities, and a company called Clean River, obtained the exact look, branding and signage of the specific items sold at the arena to “boost” people to up their recycling game. Did. Previously, she says, there were just a few bins of different sizes and colors scattered around the arena.
“Last year we did a baseline study to see what to expect from the bins that were installed,” says Killen. “Just the amount of paper that comes out of the place during a game is insane. With TD Arena hosting some of the biggest events, Richard wants to be a leader in advancing sustainability at the university.” I was thinking.”
“I love her projects because we take for granted how much effort it takes for people to behave the way we want or need them,” says Jones. says. “The literature has shown time and time again that knowledge about sustainability is not enough to change behavior, even if it is related to sustainability. Looking at structural changes is the next wave of sustainability efforts and we are so excited to see the results and learn from her project.”
Even if the Cougars lose on the court, College and Earth are still the winners.
“Sustainability cannot be achieved in isolation,” says Killen. “It has to be a united front, no doubt. The world is changing, whether we realize it or not. It’s a matter of figuring out how best to actually take action and create change.”
