Sustaining Scalable Sustainability: Human-Centered Green Technology for Community-wide Carbon Reduction

Vikram Mohanty, Jingchao Fang, Song Mi Lee-Kan, Hamed S. Alavi, Joaquín Salas, Genevieve Patterson, Elizabeth F. Churchill, Charlene C. Wu, David A. Shamma

Abstract: Escalating global CO2 emissions highlights the immediate need for scalable sustainable practices. Corporate and policy roles aside, there’s a need for carbon-neutrality-based systems and practices to bridge the disconnect between actions and the perceived impact on the environment. This one-day workshop focuses on individuals and communities, advocating for human-centered tools to bridge this awareness-action gap. While Human-AI Interaction (HAI), cognitive science theories, and social computing tools have shown promise in various domains, their potential remains largely unexplored in the context of sustainability. This workshop aims to delve into these avenues for crafting tractable systems for effective, contextually relevant interventions and driving sustainable behaviors. By engaging multidisciplinary researchers, we aim to intertwine local insights with behavioral theory and technology, fostering intrinsic carbon literacy and a sustainability ethos, ensuring lasting and scalable impacts.