Jeremy S. Brooks

Curriculum Vitae

Environmental and Social Sustainability Lab
Sustainability Institute
Sustainability Working Group– Cultural Evolution Society

Personal Website

http://u.osu.edu/brooks.719/

Research Interests

I am an environmental social scientist with an interdisciplinary focus and a foundation in evolutionary theories of human behavior. My work explores what a sustainable world might look like and how we can achieve it, with a recent emphasis on applying cultural evolution theory to these challenges. Broadly speaking, I am interested in dynamics between individuals and the socio-cultural, physical, and natural environments in the context of social-ecological-technological systems. Drawing on theories and frameworks from multiple disciplines, I investigate questions that generally fall in the following categories. You can find examples of publications in each area here.

1. Biodiversity Conservation,  Sustainable Development, and Green Infrastructure: What drives the success or failure of conservation programs? How do political, social, cultural, economic, and ecological factors shape outcomes, and how should success and failure be defined and measured? What are the impacts of sustainable development and green infrastructure programs and how is this shaped by local perceptions in different communities?
2. Evolution of governance for sustainability: How do sustainable resource management institutions emerge and evolve? Why, and under what conditions, do communities excel at sustainable management? What are the mechanisms through which sustainable behaviors, norms, and institutions spread?
3. Sustainable Consumption and Well-being: What motivates individuals to adopt conservation behaviors and sustainable consumption patterns? How do socio-cultural dynamics, features of the natural and built environment, and individual behaviors interact to shape systems of (un)sustainable consumption?