How to Save the World | The Psychology & Science of Environmental Behavior

People often ask me why we should practice individual environmental behavior change when what we really need is "systems change." It's not an easy question to answer. We need "systems change" implemented by governments as policy (like plastic bans), economic levers (like a carbon tax), and physical infrastructure (like bike paths). Yet, all systems are made up of networks of individual people who influence systems and are allowed individual freedoms. The two cannot be separated.

In this episode, I talk about the social and political dynamics of government-enforced systems change. No two environmental scenarios are the same and each needs to be solved with a different approach to influencing individual people to take personal actions (like composting) and governments to bring in policy (like providing compost pick up). 

I see environmental psychology as a way to implement structural change across millions of people in a way that succeeds - because the solution is designed to harmonize with the human mind. In this way, systems change IS behavior change. 

I categorize scenarios into what I'm calling the "six buckets" that range in government involvement to help clarify the various arrangements of government control and individual freedoms that come with environmental change.

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How to Save the World is a Podcast About the Psychology of What Gets People To Take On Sustainable Behavior and Climate Action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to get magnitudes more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product. Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

Join Katie's masterclass training in climate action design for $25 / month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

This podcast is supported by our friends at Earth Hacks who run environmental hackathons, Conservation X Labs who promote community-driven open tech development for conservation, and Climate Designers - a network of designers who use their creative skills for climate action.

Contribute a monthly donation to the How to Save the World podcast at patreon.com/katiepatrick

Follow on Twitter @katiepatrick, Instagram @katiepatrickhello, and LinkedIn

Book a 90-minute Idea Storming Call with Katie: https://calendly.com/katiepatrick/idea-storm

In this episode, I unpack six unconscious assumptions that people make when they ask me the question "Why do we need to study individual behavior when we need system-level change?" There is often some flawed thinking in the way this question is asked. While it's true we need systems-level change, this doesn't undermine, nor is it in opposition to, the role of behavioral psychology. Before we can give a thorough answer, we need to question the assumptions and expectations behind the question.

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How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product.

Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com

Join my Gamify the Planet masterclass training in climate action design for $25/month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z4jivL 

Follow Katie on:  Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In this episode, I share a new journaling practice that I've recently started that involves answering four specific questions. This practice has been an absolute game-changer for me, and I believe it can profoundly impact your life and work too.

Inspired by her previous episode on the Fun-O-Meter, I emphasize the importance of asking meaningful and substantial questions to shape the trajectory of our lives. These questions are designed to align the inner compass of your environmental work and creative flow toward your true purpose in a way that delivers the best energy, ideas, and momentum you have to change the world.

Take out a journal and start brainstorming your thoughts on these four master questions:

1. What's "The Big Why" behind what you do?

2. What's the amazing vision, destination, and goal you are working towards? What is the "vast and endless sea" you are inviting people to join you on?

3. What's the most fun thing you could do to work towards this goal?

4. What's "The One Thing" you need to do now to make it happen?

Push yourself to write 10, 20, or even 100 responses to each of these questions. If you're busy, just write down one answer to each. This practice will set your direction in the most authentic and resonant path for you. This is the place all the best momentum, ideas, and progress comes from.

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How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product.

Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com

Join my Gamify the Planet masterclass training in climate action design for $25/month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z4jivL 

Follow Katie on:  Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In this episode, we chat with Sophie Poisel, an award-winning innovative teacher who hosted the first Earth Imagination Week with her students. Sophie showed us that when you give children the tools to imagine positive new ecological worlds, they come up with incredible work! Eco Minecraft worlds, green Lego lands, biophilic architectural illustrations, 3D building models - the kids made it.

Don't let your audience walk away without actually doing anything. Here's the action design shorthand you need. Use each of these evidence-based techniques in your project, campaign, or startup to ensure every person you touch goes on to take a real action that shifts the numbers.

Download The 7 Pillars of Behavioral Science for Climate Action Poster PDF: http://bit.ly/43Ip9E2

How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product. Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com

Join my Gamify the Planet masterclass training in climate action design for $25/month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z4jivL 

Follow on: 

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

This month's guest expert on the How to Save the World podcast is Nicole Sintov, Associate Professor of Behavior, Decision-Making, and Sustainability from Ohio State University.

We'll be interviewing Nicole on her published research paper, "Guilt consistently motivates pro-environmental outcomes while pride depends on context."

The gist of this research shows that telling people they are performing worse than most others on environmental and climate action, stimulates people to do better.

We'll dig into the question, "Should we be showering people with compliments and positive feedback about their good efforts, or are we better just telling people when they are doing a bad job?"

Not that we need to ONLY make people feel guilty, but negative feedback gets a bad wrap and tends to be avoided, but there’s definitely a strong role for it - and it needs to be a tool in the toolbox of change.

Nicole's research paper:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494422000214
LINKS

👉 ⁠⁠⁠Get Katie's FREE Action Design Tips⁠⁠⁠

🌈 ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apply to The School of Climate Action Design⁠⁠⁠

🌏 ⁠⁠⁠Join Earth Doctors: 12 Weeks of Gamified Action for Kids⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

📦 ⁠⁠⁠SHOP Climate Games, Books, Calendars + More⁠⁠⁠

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How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product.

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z4jivL 

This podcast is supported by our friends at Earth Hacks who run environmental hackathons, Conservation X Labs who promote community-driven open tech development for conservation, and Climate Designers - a network of designers who use their creative skills for climate action.

Follow on

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

MeshMinds makes planet-themed augmented reality games designed to massively increase engagement and social media sharing of environmental campaigns.

Kay and Olivier and I met when we were working for UNEP on the Clean Seas campaign. They do some really interesting work using the software Spark AR (that’s only used for instagram and Facebook applications) to make these very novel, light, immersive, and fun experiences - kind of like a mini or micro game - that people access by pressing the star icon on Instagram.

And holey moley, the things they make really work! Their game-like creations on Instagram have gotten millions of plays, shares, and viral marketing spreading by mastering this novel approach to engagement.

In this episode, we'll be diving into various creative ways you can use Spark AR and some of the theory to getting your project to really work.

Download the Spark AR software for free and try and make something https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio

Don't forget, always jump on YouTube to search for free tutorials for anything you want to learn.

Meshminds.com

https://www.instagram.com/meshminds/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kvasey/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivier-bos/

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How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product. Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com

Join my Gamify the Planet masterclass training in climate action design for $25/month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z4jivL 

This podcast is supported by our friends at Earth Hacks who run environmental hackathons, Conservation X Labs who promote community-driven open tech development for conservation, and Climate Designers - a network of designers who use their creative skills for climate action.

Follow on

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/