Seth Wynes

Assistant Professor, Geography and Environmental Management
Man Smiling for Headshot in Orange Coat

Seth’s research interests

Seth takes an interdisciplinary approach to research on climate change mitigation. He uses a variety of methods including surveys, randomized controlled trials, carbon accounting, and interviews, with a focus on quantitative methods. His past work examined public and expert perceptions of climate change and assessed the effectiveness of various policies in reducing transportation emissions. Looking ahead, Seth aims to provide actionable insights that enhance climate policies by making them more effective, popular, and equitable.

Seth completed his Ph.D. in Geography at the University of British Columbia and held a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Concordia University.

Key Areas of Graduate Supervision

Climate change mitigation; evaluating climate policy; Canadian climate policy; emissions inventory improvement; clean transportation, sustainable aviation; public perceptions of climate change, expert perceptions of climate change.

Select Recent Publications

Wynes S, Matthews HD. (2023) Missing density: Elected officials and members of the public who support climate action show less support for compact cities than clean transport. Climate Policy

https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2023.2190870

Wynes S, Dickau M, Kotcher JE, Thaker J, Goldberg MH, Matthews HD, Donner SD (2022) Frequent pro-climate messaging does not predict pro-climate voting by United States legislators. Environmental Research: Climate https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/aca8c4

Matthews HD, Wynes S (2022) Current global efforts are insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C. Science 376(6600) https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo3378

Wynes S (2021) COVID-19 disruption demonstrates win-win climate solutions for major league sports." Environmental Science & Technology 55(23) https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c03422

Wynes S, Kotcher J, and Donner SD (2021) Can citizen pressure influence politicians’ communication about climate change? Results from a field experiment, Climatic Change, 168(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03215-9

Wynes S, Motta M, and Donner SD (2021) Understanding the climate responsibility associated with elections. One Earth, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.02.008

Wynes S, Zhao J, and Donner SD (2020) How well do people understand the climate impact of individual actions? Climatic Change, 162(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02811-5

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218305

Wynes S, Donner SD, Tannason S, and Nabors N (2019) Academic air travel has a limited influence on professional success. Journal of Cleaner Production, 226(20).  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.109