About Rosie

Welcome! I’m Rosie Robison. I'm a Professor of Social Sustainability and the author of this website. It’s really great to have you here!

Learning with others inspires me...

Often people who are motivated to address climate change feel they had an ‘aha’ moment when it became more important to them. Maybe a particular book, a meaningful conversation, or a trip.

For me, attending a one-day “Peak Oil” course in 2008 felt like a bit of a turning point. I already thought climate change was serious, but after that day I started thinking more about my own impact.

Spurred on, my partner Tim and I decided to attend a local Carbon Conversations course (which was brilliant), and from there I knew sustainability was the area I wanted to work in. 

The biggest climate questions are social!

During my PhD (doctorate), I therefore took the opportunity to get involved in lots of sustainability research projects – from climate science communication to electric vehicle policy.

Through those projects, I got to see that the trickiest questions (in my opinion!) weren’t the ones to do with technologies and climate science – they were the questions about societies and politics and the complexity of people!

Amazingly, at the end of my PhD, a new sustainability research institute was just being set up in the area I lived in. I applied and got one of the first Research Fellow positions. I’ve been at the institute ever since, now as Professor Rosie rather than Dr Rosie!

As well as my paid work, I have two children, and support several family members with health needs. This is one reason I have worked part-time since 2015 - life is quite a juggle! 

Exploring how to support people

Working at a university, my students always inspire me. Over the years, I started noticing how, when it came to choosing dissertation topics, lots of students seemed to be interested in some variation of the same question: “How can we make people act more sustainably?”

To me, the answer to this question is quite simple. You can’t! Or at least, when other people try to make us do something, we often resist, thinking (consciously or not) “Who are you to tell me what to do?!”

In fact, I don’t think the question “How can we make people act more sustainably?” is the best question to be asking. Most people already do feel climate change is important (even if we push it away because it’s not nice to think about), don’t love a culture of excessive waste, and – to use a cliché – do want to make the world a better place. So the question becomes “How do we support people to make the green changes they want to make?”

THIS is the question I’ve been interested in for years, and thinking about it sowed the seeds for this website.

Starting a website – a new adventure

I started begreenchange.com because I love exploring sustainability ideas with all the wonderful and diverse people who want to make green change happen (you!). My aim is to shed light on some of the real-life challenges that can hold us back, and the solutions to keep us all moving forward... and sane.

It's nice to meet you!

Once again, I’m so glad to have you visit my site. And I'd love for you to tell me about your own sustainability journey.

Rosie