Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

I spent nine years as a student trying to learn about environmental problems and about how to do interdisciplinary research, receiving in the process an undergraduate degree in geography (Toronto, 1975), a Masters in Environmental Studies (York, 1977) and eventually a Ph.D. in geography (Toronto, 1981), on the intersection of energy policy analysis and philosophy. I then spent eleven years trying to apply some of this knowledge in the Department of Environment and Resources Studies at the University of Waterloo.

In 1992, I moved to the University of British Columbia, to become Director of the Sustainable Development Research Institute (SDRI) and Professor in the Department of Geography. In 2001, I stepped down as Director and have been enjoying my freedom. I teach several courses in environmental studies courses at UBC and spend much of my time trying to create research projects on a wide range of sustainable development issues. I currently direct research programs looking at the intersection of climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; the use of visualization, modeling and citizen engagement to explore sustainable futures; sustainable buildings and urban design; creating private/public/NGO and research sector partnerships for sustainability; and generally the intersection of sustainability, social and technological change, behaviour change, and community engagement processes. My major current project is trying to get the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS; www.cirs.ubc.ca) built and operating. I am a member of the BC Climate Action Team, the BC Hydro External Advisory Committee on Electricity Conservation and Efficiency, and the Vancouver Climate Leadership Council, on the Board of the Sustainable Cities Foundation and the Pembina Institute, a member of the Steering Group of HELIO International, and on the Editorial Boards of the journals Integrated Assessment, Ecology and Society, Building Research and Information, and the Journal of Industrial Ecology. I have been a Lead Author in the last three reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. On a more personal level, I continue to have serious problems with work and personal sustainability but hope that I will get credit for trying to make my own lifestyle obsolete.

Education

1981 Ph.D. Geography, University of Toronto

1977 M.E.S. Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

1975 B.A. Geography, University of Toronto

Research Interests

Sustainability theory and practice

Simulation and modeling of sustainable futures

Urban sustainability

Visualization and interactive citizen engagement processes

Use of science in decision-making

Sustainable energy systems

Business and sustainability

Environmental philosophy

Research Projects

Principal Investigator, Collaborative Interactive Research on Communities Using Information Technology for Sustainability (CIRCUITS)

Project Director, Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) www.cirs.ubc.ca

Co-Investigator, Local Climate Change Visioning Project

Co-Investigator, Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development (AMSD) at the local level

Current Graduate Students

Meg O'Shea, PhD, RMES (bodily engagement and sustainability)

Sarah Burch, PhD, RMES (climate change mitigation: from capacity to action)

Nichole Dusyk, PhD, RMES (community energy planning and socio-technical systems)

Tom Berkhout, PhD, RMES (societal transitions to sustainability)

David Maggs, PhD, RMES (arts, culture and sustainability)

Emily Davis, PhD, Geography ( sense of place in forest communities)

Sylvia Coleman, PhD, RMES ( green architecture & sociocultural change)

Stefan Storey, PhD, RMES ( dynamic life- cycle assessment)

Current Courses

Geog 423 - The Development of Environmental Thought
RMES 501 - History and Philosophy of Environmental Thought

Publications

Sathaye, J., A. Najam, C. Cocklin, T. Heller, F. Lecocq, J. Llanes-Regueiro, J. Pan, G. Petschel-Held , S. Rayner, J. Robinson, R. Schaeffer, Y. Sokona, R. Swart, H. Winkler, 2007: “Sustainable Development and Mitigation”, in . B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds), Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 691-743.

Klein, R.J.T., S. Huq, F. Denton, T.E. Downing, R.G. Richels, J.B. Robinson, F.L. Toth, “Inter-relationships between adaptation and mitigation”, in M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, (eds.), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 745-777

Holden, M., D. Elverum, S. Nesbit, J. Robinson, D. Yen and J. Moore, “Learning Teaching in the Sustainability Classroom”, Ecological Economics 64 (2008) 521-533.

Robinson, J., Being Undisciplined: Some Transgressions and Intersection in Academia and Beyond. Futures, 40(1) 2008, 70-86.

Harald Winkler, Kevin Baumert, Odile Blanchard, Sarah Burch, John Robinson, “What factors influence mitigative capacity?” Energy Policy 35 (2007) 692–703.

Burch, S. and J. Robinson, “A framework for explaining the links between capacity and action in response to global climate change”, Climate Policy 7 (2007) 304-316.

Bizikova, l., J. Robinson and S. Cohen, “Linking climate change and sustainable development at the local level” (editorial), Climate Policy 7 (2007) 271–277.

Winkler, H., K. Baumert, O. Blanchard, S. Burch, and J. Robinson, “What factors influence mitigative capacity?” Energy Policy 35 (2007) 692–703.

Roberts, K. and J. Robinson, “Characterization and sustainability assessment of Canada’s Hydrogen Highway”, International Journal of Energy Research, 31 (2007) 329–345.

Robinson, J., J. Carmichael, R. VanWynsberghe, J. Tansey, M. Journeay, and L. Rogers, 2006, “Sustainability as a Problem of Design: Interactive Science in the Georgia Basin”, Special issue on Interactive Sustainability, The Integrated Assessment Journal, 6(4) (2006) 165–192.

Robinson, J. and J. Tansey, “Co-Production, emergent properties and strong interactive social research: The Georgia Basin Futures Project”, Science and Public Policy, 33(2) 2006, pp. 151-160.

Robinson, J., M. Bradley, P. Busby, D. Connor, A. Murray, B. Sampson and W. Soper, “Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Realizing the Opportunity”, Ambio 35(1) Feb, 2006, 2-9.

Robinson, J. and A. Mendis, “Opportunity or Illusion: The Vexed Promise of Industrial Ecology”, in R. Coté, J. Tansey and A. Dale eds. Linking Industry and Ecology: A Question of Design. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006.

Nakicenovic, N. McGlade, J., Ma, S. Alcamo, J. Bennett, E., Cramer, W., Robinson, J., Toth, F., Zurek, M., 2005, “Lessons Learned for Scenario Analysis”, Chapter 13 in Carpenter, S., Pingali, P., Bennett, E. and Zurek, M. eds. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Volume 2 – Scenarios, Findings of the Scenarios Working Group, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Washington: Island Press, 2005).

Robinson, J. and J. Tansey, “The Georgia Basin Futures Project (GBFP)”, in Carl Mitcham, ed. Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.

Jeff Carmichael, Sonia Talwar, James Tansey and John Robinson, “Where Do We Want To Be? Making sustainability indicators integrated, dynamic and participatory”, in Rhonda Phillips, ed. Community Indicators Measuring Systems, London: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005.

Moore, J., Pagani, F., Quayle, M., Robinson, J., Sawada, B., Spiegelman, G., VanWynsberghe, R. "Recreating the university from within: Collaborative reflections on the University of British Columbia's engagement with sustainability." International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 6(1) (2005) 65-80.

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