This episode is the recording of a talk I put together about my thoughts and theories about why creativity is the missing link in saving the world. This talk covers the technical creative process, the positive constrictive imagination, the neuroscience of optimism and creative productivity, and most of all, it makes a powerful and scientifically robust argument why we need a positive vision of a future world in order to solve the world’s biggest problems. Learn more at http://katiepatrick.com

We need to harness our own creativity in order to come up with the epic ideas and innovations that it takes to change the world. In this guided meditation, How to Save the World podcast host, Katie Patrick, takes you through a guided journey into deep relaxation and walks you through somatic emotional discovery techniques that will help you release negative experiences or troubles that could be blocking your creative flow or momentum in your projects. In this meditation, you will practice visualizing the beautiful future world or project of your dreams and you will discover your untapped reservoir of creative power to make that dream happen. When you are connected to the creative energy, you can develop the power to change the world, do your most spectacular work, and discover your meaning and purpose in life. Carve out 34 quiet minutes from your day and see what ideas and inspiration this meditation leads you to. If haven’t already, sign up to katiepatrick.com for more free resources.

Today is the launch of my book How to Save the World on Indiegogo! Click the link here and get your copy.  How to Save the World is a workbook that helps social and environmental change professionals learn how to implement powerful techniques, drawn from behavioral psychology, measurement, design, data, storytelling, visualization, and game design that are proven to have impact.

In this episode of the How to Save the World podcast, I talk with Dan Stokols, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at the University of California Irvine.  Dan has recently published a book, Social Ecology in the Digital Age, and he talks to us about what the field of *social ecology* is all about. In a world that often compartmentalizes issues into bite-size boxes, Dan illustrates the importance of taking a “systems thinking” view – and urges us to look more deeply at the interdependence of the many systems around us and how the very small, such as a piece of litter, is governed by a larger system of forces. Dan explores the need to look at the human behavioral dimension of environmental issues to truly understand how to solve the planetary challenges we’re facing in the 21st Century. Support the podcast with a small donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick

You can easily see the amount of calories in your peanut butter and your car’s safety rating. But this publicly available data comes from hard-won battles - and the numbers behind many of our most crucial issues in healthcare, environment, and finance are either under lock and key -  or they are simply not even measured. In this month’s podcast episode I interview Harvard University Professor Archon Fung PhD about what happens when we turn important data that is often hidden and contentious into a publicly available resource for the world to see. Read the full transcript here https://bit.ly/2z6dtkO Support the podcast on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/katiepatrick Download free tutorial guides on how to be a world-changing super star at http://katiepatrick.com

Did you know that heat waves kill more people than all the other weather-caused fatalities (like from cyclones, floods etc) put together? Cities around the world are getting baking hot. Extreme heat gets a lot worse when you live in the city, because of all the concrete and asphalt and it’s called an Urban Heat Island. In this episode I speak with the very fun and enthusiastic Jeremy Hoffman PhD from the Science Museum of Virginia about an study he conducted that involved getting volunteer drivers and cyclists to ride around the city in Summer wearing a thermometer. What he got was a map of Virginia’s urban heat island. We talk about the frightening dangers of urban heat islands, but also the exciting opportunity we have to use heat data to catalyze a massive revolution in urban greening. The cities of the future are ours to invent. We can all get to work to plant more urban trees, install more green roofs, and turn old car parks into gardens, and really change the world with easy practical contributions to the built environment. Support the podcast at patreon.com/katiepatrick. Download more free resources at katiepatrick.com

Are the words ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ helpful or harmful to the quest to reduce society’s ravenous meat consumption? Gregg Sparkman is a PhD student in social psychology at Stanford University who specializes in the study of how to get people to eat less meat. In this interview he takes us through the many fascinating (and often counter intuitive) dynamics of what it takes to get people to measurably reduce their meat intake – and it’s not what you think. We talk about social norms in messaging and in particular his specific field of ‘dynamic norms’ where he proved that simply changing a few words in a message has the proven capacity to double the amount of vegan meal choices. This episode is a rare gem and an absolutely must for anyone trying to influence ethical, plant-based or sustainable eating habits. Gregg explains many crucial psychological concepts often left out of the vegan and vegetarian movement’s attempts to change the world.

Support this podcast with a small monthly donation at http://patreon.com/katiepatrick

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It’s easy to talk about saving water, but how do you *actually* get people to make real water reductions that you can measure? Environmentally friendly actions are known by psychologists as one of the most difficult things we try and get people to do. A new technology company called WaterSmart have been developing an app that shows you how much water you use compared to your neighbors – and it works. We talk about technology behind modern water smart meters, what it takes to design for behavior change, and how the water industry’s new immersion in big data is changing how we get people to change for the better. Sign up to http://katiepatrick.com and learn more at http://watersmart.com

Why do some people seem to consider environmental issues deeply, while others glance over our greatest earthly challenges and seem to hardly care? Our capacity for a “systems thinking” mindset can help tell us answer why. Today’s guest, research psychologist and geographer Stephan Lezak, conducted a study that measured people’s tendency towards systems thinking and how this correlated to their environmental values. He found that people who rank higher as systems thinkers substantially consider environmental issues to be more important. In this fascinating conversation we discuss what it takes to the see the grey areas and the vast interconnectedness in a complicated world, the mistakes we make in our reasoning, and how we can build a new generation of systems thinkers in schools and universities today.

Planet Labs has launched nearly 200 very small satellites in the atmosphere that take high resolution images of the earth just about every singe day. Today’s guest Joseph Mascaro is a PhD tropical ecologist. He is the Director of Academic Programs at Planet Labs and has the fascinating role of helping conservation groups and academics use these spectacular images of the earth for good. We talk about how fast-paced agile technology development can be used to support environmental protection, how images help us emotionally connect with issues in a way that plain data tends not, and how (counter to popular environmental belief), going to Mars is essential to protect life on earth. Don’t miss out on this fabulous episode!

If you are conservation organization wanting more information on forest cover, ice-cover, fires or anything you can see from the air, check out planet.com