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

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

By Katie Patrick

What *really* gets people to take action for the planet? Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, takes you on a wild intellectual journey into the heart of the environmental psyche. Katie 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 more people to adopt your environmental campaign, product, or behavior. Warning: Best for deep sustainability nerds. Sign up for Katie's free course on climate action + gamification design at katiepatrick.com.
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BONUS 2: Free audiobook chapter, Your Creative Genius Zone, from my book, How to Save the World

How to Save the World | The Psychology & Science of Environmental BehaviorAug 17, 2021

00:00
27:41
The Art of Designing Games for Impact, Education and Action, Dan White CEO Filament Games Ep51

The Art of Designing Games for Impact, Education and Action, Dan White CEO Filament Games Ep51

Today's guest is Dan White. He is the CEO and Founder of the award-winning impact-games development company, Filament Games. Dan is an artist and entrepreneur and probably the world’s most prolific games-for-impact developer. We talk about the nuance of how to create a game that engages, educates, and transforms people and we explore what happens when we put art, action, and impact together into an educational game format.

Dan and his team at Filament have created nine games specifically about the environment:

Otter Planet: https://www.habitheque.com/an-otter-planet 

Aquation: https://ssec.si.edu/aquation 

Climate Champions: https://www.filamentgames.com/project/climate-champions-2/ 

Citizen Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxmdvsSuR-g 

Land Grab (game jam): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpVcVODuXeU&ab_channel=FilamentGames 

EcoKingdoms: https://game-cdn.legendsoflearning.com/content-deploy/4452/EcoKingdoms-Interactions_427/index.html 

Resilient Planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUWoNACJ-7Q 

Eco Defenders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfhHhisTrxE 

Energy City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIe-HzUodcU 

https://www.filamentgames.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danwhite3/

https://www.instagram.com/filamentgames/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/filament-games/

* * * 

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/

Jun 01, 202301:18:12
When Guilt Works Better Than Pride To Get People To Go Green, Nicole Sintov PhD Ep50

When Guilt Works Better Than Pride To Get People To Go Green, Nicole Sintov PhD Ep50

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-sintov-b3b4a01a3/

* * * 

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/


May 01, 202301:04:30
Augmented Reality Games That Make Environmental Campaigns Go Viral, Kay Vasey + Olivier Bos MeshMinds Ep49

Augmented Reality Games That Make Environmental Campaigns Go Viral, Kay Vasey + Olivier Bos MeshMinds Ep49

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/

* * * 

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/

Apr 03, 202301:17:55
The Hidden Secret of Building Community Movements: Self Efficacy, Social Diffusion, and Cultivating the Confidence to Talk to Others Ep48

The Hidden Secret of Building Community Movements: Self Efficacy, Social Diffusion, and Cultivating the Confidence to Talk to Others Ep48

Today's guest is environmental psychologist, Veronica Champine, PhD Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant at Colorado State University.

We're breaking down the science of "social diffusion" in her research paper "Understanding individual and diffusion behaviors related to native plant gardening" recently published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Her research explores the difference between asking people to take individual action vs asking people to talk to people around them and showing by example - that's social diffusion - an often missing link in many climate programs and startups.

We'll be diving into the power and nuance of helping people to get better at diffusing environmental behaviors in their communities - and what we need to do to become designers of social diffusion.

Connect with Veronica on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-champine-5305309a/

The paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494422000433

----------------------

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/

Mar 02, 202301:17:40
Five Secrets to Writing Well - Tips for Action, Engagement, and Growth Ep 47

Five Secrets to Writing Well - Tips for Action, Engagement, and Growth Ep 47

There's a line in a song that says "Words are hotter fire. Words are wetter than water." You might not think that words possess a superpower that can help you change the world, but if you're in the job of influencing people to change, language is your secret weapon.

In this episode, I talk through some of the mistakes I see people make and how you can get better at crafting your written story and your copywriting. I hope you take the time to master the art of sculpting words that deeply move people, and through that, you can spark a revolution.

I recommend you read these books:
On Writing Well, by Willian Zinsser
amzn.to/2Ty9qsr
The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker amzn.to/3dDF6DH

* * *

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 rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product. Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at katiepatrick.com

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

Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon

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: calendly.com/katiepatrick/idea-storm
Dec 14, 202212:22
Mapping the World's Forest Data from Satellites, Alice Gottesman + Kai Kresek Global Forest Watch Ep 46

Mapping the World's Forest Data from Satellites, Alice Gottesman + Kai Kresek Global Forest Watch Ep 46

What would it take to make "A Fitbit of the world's forests"? As you could imagine, it would be a momentous task. Global Forest Watch is doing it. It's one of the world's most technically ambitious ecological monitoring projects that maps and monitors the entire Earth's forest cover, with high-frequency updates, and ecological health insights, and displays it on a beautiful and easy-to-use browser interface. Global Forest Watch a partnership between the World Resources Institute and multiple philanthropic bodies, conversation NGOs, and universities.

The technical intricacy of this project spans right from the satellites that collect the data through to processing the images, the algorithms that scan for tree cover and calculate changes, the depth of data in the electromagnetic spectrum and how it conveys ecological health, and how to get it all looking nice and loadable on a browser. And then there's the biggest question of all – how does all this data visualization actually help forests get protected off the computer? How do we use complex environmental data to drive change in the real world?

Global Forest Watch (GFW) is a map-based platform that allows anyone to access near real-time information about where and how forests are changing around the world. See the Global Forest Watch platform here.
twitter.com/globalforests
www.instagram.com/globalforests
* * *
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 katiepatrick.com
Join Gamify the Planet Masterclass Training in Climate Action Design for $25/month katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet
Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon
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 Katie on Twitter @katiepatrick, Instagram @katiepatrickhello, and LinkedIn
Dec 01, 202201:01:45
Use These 24 Fabulous Words To Hook People Into Your Environmental Vision Ep45

Use These 24 Fabulous Words To Hook People Into Your Environmental Vision Ep45

We can get better at telling the story of sustainability, climate, and greener futures. I wrote down these 24 evocative words, backed by science to motivate people, and riffed on ideas of how you use each of them to tell better stories to get people to join your environmental project. We need to be able to inspire epic feelings in people. Here are some examples of how you can do it. 

* * *  

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 

Join my 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 

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

Nov 16, 202233:40
Gamifying Neighborhood Decarbonization - A Quick Tutorial Ep44

Gamifying Neighborhood Decarbonization - A Quick Tutorial Ep44

Have you ever seen a "sustainability street" program you thought was a great idea? In this month's Gamify the Planet Masterclass, we're creating one! In this episode, I share a simple tutorial on how you can design a gamified sustainability street program to promote decarbonization, electrification, and roof-top solar - and we'll learn the theory behind behavioral techniques work to tap into the human motivational core.

Images and info to follow along + register for the class: https://katiepatrick.com/sustainabilitystreet

See the Climate Action Yard Signs: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkysFgJv2Cp/

Humans are group animals. By harnessing the power of groups (like a street, block, or community) we can layer on gamification features like badges, goals, comparison, and progress-tracking to create a program that has the main ingredients the decarbonization movement needs to reach the tipping point of change.

Gamify the Planet: Climate Action Masterclass
Sustainability Street: Gamifying Neighborhood Decarbonization
Tuesday 15th November 9am PST, 12pm EST, 5pm BST.

Learn more at katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Sign up for $25/month at Patreon.com/katiepatrick

Nov 12, 202220:44
People Are Greener Than You Think: How We Underestimate the Environmental Values of Others, Professor Thijs Bouman PhD Ep43

People Are Greener Than You Think: How We Underestimate the Environmental Values of Others, Professor Thijs Bouman PhD Ep43

In this episode, we speak with Thijs Bouman, assistant professor and researcher from the Environmental Psychology group at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He’s done some fascinating research into the relationship between group and individual environmental values.

We often think of our value systems and beliefs as if they were created by our own independent thoughts, but we as humans, are highly influenced by the groups we interact with. Seeing environmental change through the lens of group behavior could provide a very different lens through which to design environmental campaigns and programs.

Thijs' research explores how, as individuals, we tend to underestimate the pro-environmental values of others, and because of this, we shortchange our own impact. Yet, when our fellow group members strongly endorse pro-environmental values, discovering this boosts our own environmental engagement. 

Thijs Bouman's research: From values to climate action https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X21000579 Environmental values and identities at the personal and group level https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154621000449

Contact:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thijsbouman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/T_Bouman

DOORS OPEN 

Gamify the Planet: Climate Action Masterclass
Sustainability Street: Gamifying Neighborhood Decarbonization
Tuesday 15th November 9am PST, 12pm EST, 5pm BST.

Learn more at katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet

Sign up for $25/month at Patreon.com/katiepatrick

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

Oct 31, 202201:07:42
An Idea is Just a Hypothesis Ep42

An Idea is Just a Hypothesis Ep42

We need to avoid the trap of getting caught up in a single idea. Ideas are plentiful. When it comes to climate or social change, an idea is just a hypothesis. Will your idea actually create the change you think it will? You'll only know by testing it. 

In this episode, I talk about how you need to have lots of ideas and rapidly iterate them. You need to test them and discover the causal mechanism of what works on people. The faster you can test and iterate, the faster you can get to the mechanisms of what people love and why they change. Work on your vision of the future world and less on your "idea." 


Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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

* * * 

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


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

Oct 12, 202216:29
Behavior Mapping for Climate Action Tutorial Ep41

Behavior Mapping for Climate Action Tutorial Ep41

This episode is a short tutorial on my custom behavior mapping process for climate action. It's the most powerful thing I've ever learned how to do and once I learned how to do it, it changed everything. If you're trying to influence humans to take any action at all for the climate, you need to learn how to behavior map. It's the secret to great ideas that get real impact results.

I developed a specialized behavior mapping system designed specifically for climate and environmental change. 

Behavior mapping is a process where you map out your target human's daily actions and figure out where on their journey you will pounce. Then you assess what psychological technique you'll use to capture their attention and which tool you'll use to get them to act, buy, or change – such as a flashing light, an audio chime, a written pledge, a group identity sticker, a goal, a social norm, a default, an animated character, a confetti reward, or a color change – I've cataloged 96 techniques!

I put these 96 techniques together in my custom Behavior Mapping Template – and I'm hosting my first-ever workshop next Tuesday to teach you how to master it!

Download the PDF here and follow along.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t32o6ox43yfb3jq/Behavior%20Mapping%20for%20Masterclass%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0

DOORS OPEN
Behavior Mapping for Climate Action Masterclass
Tuesday 27th September 9am PST, 12pm EST, 5pm BST.

Sign up for my Climate Action Design Masterclass group for $25 / month on Patreon.com/katiepatrick

*Get a free 24" wall poster of the behavior mapping template when you join.

Each month I'll be hosting a special advanced workshop for my Patreon supporters on the Gamify the Planet tier.

The workshop will be recorded and sent to the group.

Sep 20, 202201:04:09
Conversations or Facts? How Neighbor Conversations Drive Change, Professor Brian Southwell PhD Ep40

Conversations or Facts? How Neighbor Conversations Drive Change, Professor Brian Southwell PhD Ep40

How do we persuade homeowners to make climate upgrades to their homes such as electrifying, installing solar, or improving energy efficiency? Do we persuade them using environmental facts and energy data, or is a social mechanism more effective, like sparking a conversation with a neighbor or friend? 

Our guest today is Brian Southwell. Brian is the Adjunct Professor at Duke University’s School of Medicine, the director of the Science in the Public Sphere Program at a large non-profit research institute called RTI, and he also is and hosts The Measure of Everyday Life radio show. His research paper we are diving into today is titled “Weatherization behavior and social context: The influences of factual knowledge and social interaction” and it tests which works better to get people to take action on their homes - facts or conversations?" 

When big climate, decarbonization, and electrification programs are rolled out by utilities, local governments, and NGOs across thousands or millions of homes, when these organizations often spend millions of dollars trying to get traction in communities, the nuance of what works to drive action really matters. 

* * * Sign up for my new monthly Masterclass, Gamify the Planet, on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/katiepatrick What we'll be learning: http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet * * * 

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 techniques you can use to 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 

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon 

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, and LinkedIn 

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

Sep 16, 202201:14:16
How to Tell Your Climate Story Like It's Star Wars Ep39

How to Tell Your Climate Story Like It's Star Wars Ep39

You need to tell the world why your idea or mission matters – and not just in any way. You need to tell a story that deeply resonates so that people will fund you, work with you, and take action to support you. In this episode, I talk through the power of using The Hero's Journey template to tell your non-fiction story – and how discovering this twelve-step structure dramatically changed the course of not just my environmental work,  but my life, and how it might change yours, too.

See the article and free downloadable story template How to Tell a Story that Changes the World

Get the book, Resonate, by Nancy Duarte https://amzn.to/3qGuwkm 

Get The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell https://amzn.to/3dCOmrz

* * * 

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 my 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

Aug 17, 202221:39
Have You Passed the Action Design Threshold? Tips for Impact, Engagement, and Growth Ep38

Have You Passed the Action Design Threshold? Tips for Impact, Engagement, and Growth Ep38

People come to me with all sorts of elaborate ideas to "change the world," like games, festivals, art projects, films, and apps.

Often, these ideas have little connection to how the idea will make a real change happen on the ground once people have "experienced" the idea . . . (i.e. "I suppose we'll just put a link somewhere, then people will . . . ")

This entrepreneurship model is back-to-front. If you have an idea to make an impact, you need to forget your crazy idea and go straight to a real human being and get them to make the change you are hoping your idea will influence them to make. Talk to ten people on your street. Call every person you went to school with. Talk to your dad's golf buddies. Get them to do a real thing and observe what it takes.

I'm calling it the ACTION DESIGN THRESHOLD. Pass it before you write any code or spend any money - or before you even have an idea at all. Use Slack, Google lists, Zoom, Instagram, Canva, Figma, and Discord. Do it using your own email and your own phone number.

Just get a real human to do a real thing in the real world. You can do it with a conversation, a party, a poster, or a sticker. Create a 21-day challenge. Offer free consulting calls. Start a group. Just get out there and practice making change happen by talking to a human in real life.

Once you've succeeded in getting your first real human to do the action, then try and replicate it with two humans. Then try and get ten humans to do it.

What will it take to scale your actions from ten humans to 100 humans? Look for a pattern and an opportunity. What kind of actions do you need to design this scaling for? This is your idea that will work.

Any idea you have before you get ten real humans to change is probably a junk idea. At the least, it will need much pivoting. And if you can't get ten people to make a change from a conversation with you and any simple tools you give them, or you don't have the networking and marketing skills to find these ten humans, there's no way your idea will fly in a theoretical future when you have millions in funding.

* * * 

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 techniques you can use to 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

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

Join my climate action design masterclass training 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

Aug 10, 202225:50
Individual Action vs Systems Change? The Six Buckets of Thinking You Need To Answer This Question Ep37

Individual Action vs Systems Change? The Six Buckets of Thinking You Need To Answer This Question Ep37

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.

* * * 

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

Aug 03, 202236:59
Designing Bird Call Audio for Game-like Wildlife Citizen Science Engagement with Jessie Oliver, PhD Candidate Ep36

Designing Bird Call Audio for Game-like Wildlife Citizen Science Engagement with Jessie Oliver, PhD Candidate Ep36

Do you ever hear animals you never see? Secretive and rare animals, such as Eastern bristlebirds, can be most easily found by the sounds that they make. We can only do this, however, if we learn how to decipher their calls! 

In her PhD research, Jessie is exploring how to design future technologies that support people in becoming familiar with identifying bird calls from audio recordings. Birders and members of the public explored Jessie’s research prototypes, such as the Bristle Whistle Challenge. Conservationists and members of the public are likely to benefit from having enticing tools that include creative playful and task-oriented gameful interactions with bird calls. Such tools may support many people, whether learning calls for fun, or to support citizen science, ecology, or wildlife conservation efforts.


Jessie mentions these apps:

Fold IT - Protein folding game https://fold.it/

Zooniverse - https://www.zooniverse.org/

Rorshak ink blot test - http://rorschachinkblottest.com/

e-Bird app - https://ebird.org/about/ebird-mobile/

Frog ID - https://www.frogid.net.au/

I-Naturalist - https://www.inaturalist.org/

Otter-AI - https://otter.ai/

Cornel Lab of bird sounds - https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/

Xeno Canto bird sounds - https://xeno-canto.org/

Cat Tracker - https://cattracker.org/cat-tracker/

Eco-Acoustics Researcher, Bernie Krause https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bernie-Krause

Learn more about Jessie’s PhD and broader research here https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3464-0247 and email or connect via 
Twitter https://twitter.com/JessieLOliver for paper access.

* * * 

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 my 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


Aug 01, 202201:27:16
How To Write Your Power Sentence - Tips for Impact, Engagement, & Growth Ep35

How To Write Your Power Sentence - Tips for Impact, Engagement, & Growth Ep35

Does your website, pitch deck, and marketing material ACTUALLY explain what you do, clearly? Or is it a confusing word salad of environmental world-saving generalities? Remember this phrase: "If you confuse, you lose." In my experience, most climate and environmental projects struggle to simply explain what they do. In this episode, I explain how to write a "power sentence" in three easy steps so anyone can immediately "get it."

You need to follow the steps to write this power sentence because clarity is what creates the emotional connection with your audience. It's what will get people to fall in love with your project and want to sign up, donate, join, purchase, and share - because they instantly understand what it is. 

We'll also learn how to use the basic framework of The Hero's Journey to write a single paragraph that will hook people in to your story and tip and tricks on how to write better. 

Clear succinct copywriting is the secret to growing your movement. 


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 my 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

Jul 25, 202224:22
Imagining the Eco Future of Your Street in AR with Sebastian Schlecht + Robin Roemer Ep34

Imagining the Eco Future of Your Street in AR with Sebastian Schlecht + Robin Roemer Ep34

Imagine using augmented reality outdoors on a real city street to re-imagine the street and buildings around you covered in plants, trees, green walls, cars-free - or whatever your eco-future imagination can dream up.

Our guests today are Sebastian Schlecht and Robin Roemer. Sebastian is an architect from Germany who co-founded the Lala Ruhr project - an urban design lab that re-imagines cities with biophilic nature-based solutions. Robin is the co-founder of the software startup CityScaper which specializes in augmented reality and urban planning.

Sebastian and Robin got together and created this world-first AR project where people could hold up an iPad or iPhone and see a greenified ecotopia version of the street they were on - and they could even design their own.

This style of augmented reality is that it’s embedded into a streetscape’s geo coordinates - and that requires creating a 3D model of the street and geolocating the ecological design to fit with the exact location where the user is standing.

We’ll be taking a deep dive into the tech stack that includes Lidar, GIS, and Google AR Core, with Robin about 20 mins in.


Connect with Sebastian and Robin on LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-schlecht-fromgreytogreen/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roemer/

The Lala Ruhr Lab https://www.lala.ruhr/en/start-en/

City Scaper https://ar-gument.de/

 

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 my private masterclass 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


Jul 04, 202201:12:56
Astronauts, The Overview Effect, And Ecological Transcendence, Anaïs Voşki, Stanford Ep33

Astronauts, The Overview Effect, And Ecological Transcendence, Anaïs Voşki, Stanford Ep33

We talk with environmental psychologist Anaïs Voşki. She's a researcher at Stanford University studying the effect that seeing the Earth from space has on astronauts' climate change attitudes and their sustainable lifestyles back on Earth. Her recent published research paper is titled “The Ecological Significance of The Overview Effect: Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours in Astronauts.”

The Overview Effect is an experience whereby people, especially astronauts, increase their environmental concern when viewing the Earth as a singular object from space. The Overview Effect is credited with not only influencing astronauts directly but also as being a keystone moment in cultivating the modern environmental movement.

Before the first moon landing in 1969, no photograph of the Earth had existed. These first photographs of Earth, coined the "pale blue dot," are thought to have elicited a new kind of environmental connection that had not existed before. 

Anaïs and I talk about the deeper experience of ecological transcendence that is embodied in The Overview Effect and how it could be applied to the practical design of encouraging more climate action and sustainable behaviors in the wider public.

Read the paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494420300517

Connect with Anaïs Voşki on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anaisvoski/

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

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

Mar 22, 202201:15:58
Brain in A Nutshell 79 Part 2: The Latest Environmental Psychology Research Findings, Part 2 Ep32

Brain in A Nutshell 79 Part 2: The Latest Environmental Psychology Research Findings, Part 2 Ep32

In this episode, Katie talks through the latest published research from The Journal of Environmental Psychology Issue 79. She explains the psychological concepts and behavioral science principles in the studies and shares her thoughts on how they can be practicably applied to real-life programs, startups, and campaigns. 

1:17 Self Contol Skills Are More Important to Eco-Behaviors Than How Much People Care About the Planet Paper: When and how pro-environmental attitudes turn into behavior: The role of costs, benefits, and self-control 

6:12 People Have No Idea of the Climate Impact of Various Behaviors And Meat is the Big Ticket CO2 Item Paper: Knowledge, perceived potential and trust as determinants of low- and high-impact pro-environmental behaviours 

12:48 You Need to Tell People "**Everyone Else Around You** Supports Renewable Energy Policy" Paper: Effects of perceived social norms on support for renewable energy transition: Moderation by national culture and environmental risks 

16:05 Practicing Gratitude for Nature Will Help You Do More Eco Behaviors Paper: Gratitude to nature: Presenting a theory of its conceptualization, measurement, and effects on pro-environmental behavior 

19:54 Imagining Yourself Being Old Makes People Take Better Care of the Planet Now Paper: Enhancing environmental resource sustainability by imagining oneself in the future 23:01 Making People Feel Proud AND/OR Making People Feel Guilty About Their Eco-Behaviors Works  Paper: Pride and guilt predict pro-environmental behavior: A meta-analysis of correlational and experimental evidence 


The Journal of Environmental Psychology Issue 79 February 2022 https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-environmental-psychology/vol/79/suppl/C 


The Journal of Environmental Psychology is the premier journal in the field, serving individuals in a wide range of disciplines who have an interest in the scientific study of the transactions and interrelationships between people and their surroundings (including built, social, natural and virtual environments, the use and abuse of nature and natural resources, and sustainability-related behavior). The journal publishes internationally contributed empirical studies and systematic reviews and meta-analyses of research on these topics that advance new insights. 

Sign up to katiepatrick.com for my free video course on environmental gamification and behavior design. 

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me. I'll listen to your mission over Zoom and share everything I know on how you can apply behavior design, gamification, storytelling, social marketing, and movement building to your project - and any novel ideas I think up along the way.  https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Feb 15, 202225:44
Brain in a Nutshell 79 Part 1: The Latest Environmental Psychology Research Findings, Part 1 Ep31

Brain in a Nutshell 79 Part 1: The Latest Environmental Psychology Research Findings, Part 1 Ep31

In this episode, Katie talks through the latest published research from The Journal of Environmental Psychology Issue 79. She explains the psychological concepts and behavioral science principles in the studies and shares her thoughts on how the findings can be practicably applied to real-life programs, startups, and campaigns. 

2:19: People Who Care About Other People, Also Care About the Planet Paper: Self-construals and environmental values in 55 cultures 

4:37: Do This To A Menu and All the Meat-Eaters Will Order Vegan Paper: Menu design approaches to promote sustainable vegetarian food choices when dining out 

8:26: When Packaging Design Cues An Environmental Action Paper: A meaningful reminder on sustainability: When explicit and implicit packaging cues meet 

10.09 Quirky Novel Actions LIke Using Soap Nuts Can Break Other Bad Eco-Habits Paper: Doing Laundry With Biodegradable Soap Nuts: Can Rare and Novel Habits Break Bad Habitual Patterns?  

15:26 Personal Experience of Climate Disaster Makes People Support Climate Change Mitigation Paper: Exploring how climate change subjective attribution, personal experience with extremes, concern, and subjective knowledge relate to pro-environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions in the United States 

18:18 Telling People It's Eco-Friendly Doesn't Really Work Paper: The Limited Impact of Positive Cueing on Pro-Environmental Choices 

20:46 Being Rich and Able to Consider Long Term Future Helps to Consider the Planet Socioeconomic status, time preferences and pro-environmentalism 

23:45 How To Stop People Flaking Out (Moral LIscencing) After They Do a Few Good Deeds Paper: Regulatory focus and self-licensing dynamics: A motivational account of behavioural consistency and balancing 

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 katiepatrick.com 

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon 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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.


Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me where I'll share everything I know on how you can apply behavior design, gamification, storytelling, social marketing, and movement building to your project - and any novel ideas I think up along the way.  https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Feb 08, 202236:14
Group Competition Drives Sustainable Action + The Social Dilemma with Assistant Professor Laila Nockur, PhD Ep30

Group Competition Drives Sustainable Action + The Social Dilemma with Assistant Professor Laila Nockur, PhD Ep30

This episode is about testing if putting people into groups and asking them to compete towards an environmental goal works to get the group members to increase their environmental behavior, compared to asking people as individuals can often fail to get people to take the action. Group competition (like we see in sport) is a powerful psychological mechanism that has been largely untapped by the sustainability profession and it could be harnessed to reach our climate goals. 

Our guest today is Assistant Professor Laila Nockur Ph.D. from Aarhus University in Denmark. She recently published a paper titled “Fostering Sustainable Behavior Through Group Competition.” She specializes in the study of the "social dilemma." It's a tricky incentive problem that plagues most environmental change missions. A social dilemma means that to do something for the greater good (which ultimately helps everyone), each individual person has to make a personal sacrifice. These problems all involve an "environmental commons" - a resource we all share like the air, climate, streets, oceans, and forests. Laila's research shows how we can override the vexing problem of the social dilemma by putting people into groups and asking groups to compete against one another to reach an environmental goal. 

Read the paper, Fostering sustainable behavior through group competition https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494419305742

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 katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick 

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

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me where I'll share everything I know on how you can apply behavior design, gamification, storytelling, social marketing, and movement building to your project - and any novel ideas I think up along the way.  https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Feb 01, 202252:55
The Neuroscience of Climate Doom vs Climate Solutions, Professor Joshua Carlson PhD Ep29

The Neuroscience of Climate Doom vs Climate Solutions, Professor Joshua Carlson PhD Ep29

Have you ever had a hunch that scary or negative images of climate change could turn people away or cause them to shut down? This is what professor Joshua Carlson from North Michigan University has been studying in his cognitive science lab.

Environmental communications has often used "negative" images such as drought, fire, melting glaciers, pollution, or deforestation. However, we also use "positive" images that show solutions such as solar panels, green roofs, or wind turbines.

Joshua's research tested the effect that positive (solutions-oriented) images and negative (problem-orientated) images had on people's attention and cognition. In this episode, he'll be sharing his insights on how negative climate images were found to slow attention and cause a "freezing" effect which has serious implications for how we communicate about climate change.

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 katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

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


Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me where I'll share everything I know on how you can apply behavior design, gamification, storytelling, social marketing, and movement building to your project - and any novel ideas I think up along the way.  https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Jan 01, 202251:17
The Real Psychology Behind Why We Make Environmental Changes, Professor Florian Kaiser PhD Ep28

The Real Psychology Behind Why We Make Environmental Changes, Professor Florian Kaiser PhD Ep28

You’ve probably heard people say that "You just need to make (an environmentally polluting thing) expensive." Monetary incentives DO work to motivate people, but how much and for how long? And are there other more effective ways to change behavior than literally paying people to go green?

In this episode, I speak with professor Florian Kaiser. He’s a former Co-Chief-Editor Journal of Environmental Psychology; Professor of Personality and Social Psychology; Otto-von-Guericke University; in Germany and he’s published many many papers on how environmental attitude influences behavior (which aren’t always the same thing) and some of the less obvious difficulties in getting financial incentives work to drive pro-environmental behavior.

Professor Kaiser explains the deeper nuances of how attitude drives behavior from his research into The Campbell Effect. We explore why the value-action gap can be untrue, and how sustainability program designers can't isolate a single behavior out of the context of a person's wider environmental value system. Behavioral nudges, gamification, and incentives work, but they work best on people with high environmental attitudes - and with an environmentally attuned audience, the behaviors will stick long term. His insights illustrate that we can't short-change the development of a person's deeper environmental attitude and jump straight to simple behavioral incentives if we want to achieve deep and permanent social change. 

Professor Kaiser's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/fgkaiser/

Professor Kaiser's Published Research https://www.ipsy.ovgu.de/ipsy/en/fgk-path-980,1404,31,196-p-210.html

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Sign up to katiepatrick.com for my free video course on environmental gamification and behavior design.

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

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible.

Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx


Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Dec 01, 202101:17:26
The Secret of How Individual Actions Lead To Tipping Points, Professor Jan Willem Bolderdijk Ep27

The Secret of How Individual Actions Lead To Tipping Points, Professor Jan Willem Bolderdijk Ep27

Do individual behaviors make a difference? We are often asked to take personal action to help the planet like eating less meat and riding more bikes—but many decree individual behavior as limited and naive in the face of powerful companies and governments. So, how does mass change really come about? There’s more to it than a simple individual-vs-system dichotomy. The core mechanism of how change unfolds through societies is by people — our sensitivities to groups, perceptions, trends, and imitation and the social trends that are passed from human to human that lead to bigger systems changes such as laws, taxes, technologies, and urban design, are carried on the back of human behaviors. Jan Willem Bolderdijk is an associate professor and researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He studies how small groups of people influence bigger systems with respect to sustainability and climate change.

Jan's research papers here:

Minority influence in climate change mitigation

“How do you know someone's vegan?” They won't always tell you. An empirical test of the do-gooder's dilemma

Why going green feels good


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 katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

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


Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with me: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Nov 01, 202101:18:34
How Environmental Imagination Exercises Lead to Behavioral and Political Action, Joshua D. Wright PhD Ep26

How Environmental Imagination Exercises Lead to Behavioral and Political Action, Joshua D. Wright PhD Ep26

Are you getting sick of messages of climate doom and dystopia? There’s another way to talk about the future.

In this episode, I'm chatting with Professor Joshua D. Wright on his fascinating research into the power of the “environmental imagination” and how it drives both practical behavior change as well as political action. It’s about communicating “solutions” instead of “problems” – and it makes a dramatic difference to how people respond to the information, form groups, and lead movements. The effect of thinking of an alternative world is more subtle and nuanced than it seems.

I think this might be the first research investigating the effect that looking at, and thinking about, ecotopian futures has on our pro-environmental behavior. I have a hunch that this research might be part of a growing zeitgeist of people moving out of overwhelm and into empowerment and agency over the future of our planet.

Find his paper here https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494420306885

Sign up to my group, The Imagine Project at katiepatrick.com/imagine - we've got a group on Discord and a monthly Zoom devoted to building a movement of imagining a better world.

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 katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

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

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with Katie: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Oct 01, 202101:18:03
14 Things You Need To Do To Become An Effective Environmental Leader Ep25

14 Things You Need To Do To Become An Effective Environmental Leader Ep25

What is environmental leadership? Everyone who is trying to improve the world needs to activate people to do things they have not done before – and every time you are trying to persuade people (especially many people) you are practicing the art of environmental leadership. In this episode, I go through 14 specific things you need to do in order to activate a group of people to make change happen. These techniques are based on the social science of group dynamic theory, social network analysis, social imitation, tipping points, behavioral science, and good ol' human bonding. 

There are many climate and sustainability-themed groups that meet regularly to learn, talk, and network. These groups are nice, but this style of group fails at implementing the core principles that can make a group a powerful force for change. 

You've probably heard that famous quote by Margaret Mead, "Never think that a small group of people can't change the world. It is in fact, the only thing that ever has." By implementing the 14 techniques in this podcast, you'll be able to step up as an environmental leader of a group (even if it's just a group of a few friends), activate other humans around you, and have the kind of influence in the world you want to have. You might be surprised at how quickly it works!

I may host an environmental leadership workshop sometime soon. Send me a DM or email at kp@helloworlde.com if you like the sound of it! 

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Sign up to katiepatrick.com for more free environmental gamification and behavior design resources.

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

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible.

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with Katie: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Sep 27, 202134:06
Guided Meditation To Unlock Your Creativity and Imagine a New Earth Ep24
Sep 09, 202134:24
How Colored Lights and Robotic Cats Get People to Save Energy, Professor Jaap Ham PhD Ep23

How Colored Lights and Robotic Cats Get People to Save Energy, Professor Jaap Ham PhD Ep23

Sep 01, 202101:10:02
How You Can Help Get $500 Million Dollars For Green Roofs for Schools Ep22
Aug 30, 202111:56
BONUS 2: Free audiobook chapter, Your Creative Genius Zone, from my book, How to Save the World

BONUS 2: Free audiobook chapter, Your Creative Genius Zone, from my book, How to Save the World

What does your creativity have to do with saving the planet? Everything. In this bonus episode, I share a free audiobook chapter from my book, How to Save the World, called Your Creative Genius Zone. It's about how we need your vision, innovation, and your creative genius to uncover the many ideas and epic problem-solving it's going to take to genuinely build a new world. The future of the planet lies in the hands of those who can take on the long and complex quest of re-designing the future – and it's going to take every thread of creative thinking we have to get there. 

Get the full audiobook from Audible https://adbl.co/32HrO2D

Or the digital package PDF + MP3 files https://katiepatrick.gumroad.com/l/NTLXy

Aug 17, 202127:41
Making a Real-Time, Augmented Reality, Digital Twin of Los Angeles, Naomi Augustine-Yee, Magic Leap Ep21

Making a Real-Time, Augmented Reality, Digital Twin of Los Angeles, Naomi Augustine-Yee, Magic Leap Ep21

In this episode, we’re talking with Naomi Augustine-Yee about her recent work as Innovation Lead at Magic Leap. If you aren't familiar with Magic Leap, they make those headsets where you can see a visualization of augmented reality superimposed over the real world.

I think she has worked on one of THE most interesting “Fitbit for the Planet” styles of technology projects. She and her team created a real-time digital twin of the city of Los Angeles. That means anyone can put on a Magic Leap headset and “see” the entire city of LA, along with the real flows of data, as they are happing in real-time – like air pollution, traffic, kilowatt-hours, and water use – all as if you were looking at the city re-created on a boardroom table. 

We can also use AR to create an immersive experience of an alternative world. We can create AR experiences that visualize what a better eco-friendly futuristic world could look like in a way that is much more salient, inspiring, and impactful than a 2D picture or video might be.

Check out the blog article on my Medium page to see the pictures she’s created - they are quite wonderful.

Naomi joined us for our first monthly Fitbit for the Planet video hangout for this episode.

Sign up to join the live group calls at katiepatrick.com/fitbit.


Follow Naomi Augustine-Yee

Twitter @GST_naomi

LinkedIn

naomiaugustine.com


Follow Katie Patrick

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

katiepatrick.com

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn


Support the podcast

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible.

Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

Aug 01, 202155:28
BONUS 1: Free Audiobook Chapter, Game Design, From My Book How to Save the World

BONUS 1: Free Audiobook Chapter, Game Design, From My Book How to Save the World

Applying game design principles to environmental change projects can lead to powerful results. Game designers practice the art of engaging players and getting them motivated and intensely focused on achieving a goal. Here is a free chapter of the audiobook version of my book, How to Save the World on game design. It's the largest chapter in my book and dives into how to apply twelve different gamification techniques to environmental programs as well as the evidence of how these techniques have succeeded in creating pro-environmental change. 

Get the full audiobook from Audible https://adbl.co/32HrO2D

Or the digital package PDF + MP3 files https://katiepatrick.gumroad.com/l/NTLXy

Jul 21, 202101:36:01
If You Want to Save the Earth, Think Like a Game Designer, Jesse Schell PhD Ep20

If You Want to Save the Earth, Think Like a Game Designer, Jesse Schell PhD Ep20

If you want to save the Earth, you need to think like a game designer. 

In this episode, I sat down with Jesse Schell, author of the canonical game design textbook, The Art of Game Design, and asked him how he would go about saving the planet as a game designer. Jesse is a Distinguished Professor of Experience Design at Carnegie Mellon University and the CEO of Schell Games.

Think about these qualities :  peak motivation, obsessive focus, a drive to win, life-long mastery of a complex skill, desire for epic planetary-wide quests — it all sounds like a pretty good skill set to save our real planet, right? 

Manifesting these emotions listed above is the craft that game designers specialize in.  People who specialize in game design are a treasure-trove of design-thinking insight about how to get people into a state of obsessive flow, hack into human happiness, and pique the reward system of the brain.

I love Jesse’s book The Art of Game Design because when I read it a few years ago, I asked myself “how would l apply all this game design thinking to climate change, plastic waste, or eating less meat”?  Reading a game design textbook through the eyes of an environmentalist opened my imagination when thinking of ideas for environmental change, in a way that nothing else really has.


Jesse joined us for our monthly Fitbit for the Planet video hangout for this episode.

Sign up to join the live monthly group calls at katiepatrick.com/fitbit.

Read the blog article about this episode.


Follow Jesse Schell

Get a copy of The Art of Game Design on Amazon

Jesseschell.com

Twitter @jesseschell


Follow Katie Patrick

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

katiepatrick.com

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn


Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible.

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with Katie: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

Jul 01, 202101:03:36
What Happens When We Make CO2 Emissions From Buildings into a Game? Professor John Petersen PhD Ep19

What Happens When We Make CO2 Emissions From Buildings into a Game? Professor John Petersen PhD Ep19

If you work on buildings in any way - getting people to save energy, green architecture, decarbonization - or even if you’re just keen on gamification design for the planet this episode is for you. We are going to be chatting with one of the world’s foremost experts in psychology, technology, and the design of how to get people to save energy in buildings. His name is John Petersen. He’s a professor of systems ecology at Oberlin College and author of multiple really interesting papers on the gamification of displays of data and he also created environmentaldashboard.com 

His experiments have gotten up to 56% reductions in electricity - using an interesting combination of digital wall screens, colored lights, a competition, an animated squirrel that shows emotions depending on energy use, and a systems-thinking approach showing the individual’s impact in the context of the community.

John joined us for our monthly Fitbit for the Planet video hangout for this episode. Sign up to join the live group calls at katiepatrick.com/fitbit. Read the blog article about this episode. 

Follow Environmental Dashboard 

Get in touch with Professor John Petersen 

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon 

katiepatrick.com 

Twitter @katiepatrick 

Instagram @katiepatrickhello 

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible. 

Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

Jun 01, 202101:04:24
Vegans, You’re Doing it Wrong: How to Get People to Eat Less Meat, Gregg Sparkman PhD Ep18

Vegans, You’re Doing it Wrong: How to Get People to Eat Less Meat, Gregg Sparkman PhD Ep18

Are the words ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ helpful or harmful to the quest to reduce society's ravenous meat consumption? Gregg Sparkman is a Ph.D. 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 number of vegan meal choices. This episode is a rare gem and an absolute 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.  Contact Gregg Sparkman Gregg Sparkman {at} gmail.com if you're interested in more behavioral science on getting people to eat less meat.  

Sign up to join our live "Fitbit for the Planet" group calls at katiepatrick.com/fitbit.

Follow Katie Patrick

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

katiepatrick.com

Twitter @katiepatrick

Instagram @katiepatrickhello

LinkedIn

Support the podcast

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible.

Book a 90-minute idea-storming call with Katie: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM8yS92c0mg1q07ss

May 02, 202157:26
Social Ecology, Systems Thinking, & Psychology, Professor Dan Stokols PhD Ep17
Apr 01, 202101:03:41
The Remarkable Power of Public Data, Harvard Professor Archon Fung PhD Ep16
Mar 01, 202101:02:39
Why Creativity Will Save the World – A Talk by Katie Ep15
Feb 01, 202131:54
Ecology From Space: How Satellites are Revolutionizing Conservation, Joseph Mascaro PhD Ep14
Jan 02, 202155:53
The "Two Lenses" Design Thinking Secret to Solving Every Problem Ep13
Dec 01, 202012:17
How Smart Water’s Big Data is Getting You to Change with Emily Kleeman Ep12
Nov 01, 202035:04
The Russian Dolls Strategy For Change with Katie Ep11
Oct 01, 202013:35
CO2 vs Dollars - Which Units Best Motivate People to Change? April Xiaojing Xu PhD Ep10
Sep 01, 202030:27
How to Find Your Creative Genius Zone Ep9
Aug 01, 202011:51
Urban Heat Islands: The Secret Killer You’ve Never Heard Of, Jeremy Hoffman PhD Ep7

Urban Heat Islands: The Secret Killer You’ve Never Heard Of, Jeremy Hoffman PhD Ep7

Did you know that heatwaves 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 Ph.D. from the Science Museum of Virginia about a 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. 

Sign up to join the live group calls at katiepatrick.com/fitbit.

Follow Jeremy Hoffman 

Twitter @jer_science

jeremyscotthoffman.com


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 katiepatrick.com

Get a copy of How to Save the World on Amazon

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. You might enjoy joining their communities and events.

Contribute a monthly donation at patreon.com/katiepatrick to help me continue to make these episodes possible. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

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

Jul 01, 202046:26
High Tech Trash & Urban Legibility, Professor Dietmar Offenhuber PhD Ep6
Apr 01, 202039:08
Public Disclosure of Data: The Secret Solution We Need More Of Ep4
Mar 01, 202014:51
Why Systems Thinkers are Better for the Planet, Stephen Lezak PhD Ep3
Feb 01, 202047:51
A Fitbit for the Planet? The Fascinating Future of High Tech Air Quality with Kimberly Hunter Ep2
Feb 01, 202029:11
Why You Should Put Measurement at the Center of your Creative Strategy Ep1
Jan 01, 202012:44