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

In today's episode, I introduce a new endeavor I've been secretly burrowing away at. It's called ECOPIA and it's my ultimate dream project. ECOPIA's mission is to create child-centric properties that are built and designed for families to raise children together, as it's meant to be done, in groups (and with all the eco-friendly, zero-emissions, zero-waste features an apartment could need!) Modern parenting is deeply broken. Parents are more burned out, lonely, and stressed than ever before. Childcare is painfully expensive. The systems for daycare, play-dates, maternal support, afterschool care, and activities are profoundly inefficient. What should be the happiest moments of a parent's life are often steamrolled by stressful duties we could design around: near-constant death prevention (cars, falls, poisons, sharp things, running off etc) and being a daily taxi service. Parenting is hard, largely, because the architecture is broken. Suburban homes were made for a different time when housing was cheap, marriages were conventional, and women had an average of four children – all of whom could play together in a backyard. Alternatively, apartments are built cheaply for profit - not for kids or mothers. By taking a child-centric lens to apartment buildings, we can create supportive communities that center around safe places for children to play in groups with the amenities that parents need. They say "It takes a village" for a reason. It does. That's why I'm putting my best effort forward to build the village we've always needed. Learn more about ECOPIA at https://ecopia.us and sign up to join the waitlist for future residents, building partners, and developers. * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠ Join 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: Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/ ---Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/katiepatrick/message

How do you know that your project is REALLY changing what you want to change in the world? And how do you know if you are doing it effectively? In this episode, I share the core mechanism of what change is. This is such a fundamental primary principle that we tend not to see it. You MUST have these three axioms active for change to happen. If you don't, then no change is occuring. Unfortunately, most environmental projects fail at one or all three of the axioms and invest much time and effort with no change occuring. If you build your ideas and campaigns up from these three core principles - and you need all three in a trifecta - you'll shoot right to the center of what you need to do. Get my free Climate Action Design Tips: ⁠https://helloworlde.com/actiontips⁠ * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠ Join 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: Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/ ---Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/katiepatrick/message

In today’s episode, we chat with behavioral and environmental psychologist, Dr Reuven Sussman, head of the Behavior and Health Program at The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). He conducts research about, and advocates for, energy efficiency in buildings and transportation - a sector that makes up the lion's share of carbon emissions. Dr Sussman is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and currently sits on the editorial board of The Journal of Environmental Psychology and The Journal of Social Psychology.  We dive into his recent paper he authored titled “Context and Meaningfulness in Energy Efficiency Labeling for Real Estate Listings”  which explores the real nitty gritty of how to get home energy labels to work and exactly how to design them. We discuss the psychological foundations of how people respond to these labels, the kind of policy that is required to get them going, and how they can best be used to influence the real estate market to decarbonize buildings and drive greener choices. We also talk about another important concept called “framing” which is a technique that can be used to help sell the often tricker and more demanding energy efficiency upgrades to homeowners. * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠ Join 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In this episode, I share the four social-science-backed reasons for why you need to be heavily immersed in images of the positive eco future you are working to create. We'll cover the psychology of motivation, technical problem-solving, leadership, and systems-change. This epsides explores the deeper reasons why I put together the new Ecopia Store at ecopiastore.com where you can purchase art prints, hoodies, t-shirts, and calendars that show positive eco-futures. For years, I've struggled to get access to high quality environmental reimagings of cities. I started creating an abundance of my own in MidJurney and have selected favorites available as prints on the new Ecopia Store. These images aren't just inpsiring and fun; they are critical ingredients to building your own energy and building social movements of change. It's the green "I have a dream" speech and it's fundamental to rolling out change. Get a copy of the hugely popular 2024 Positive Eco Futures Wall Calendar at ecopiastore.com * * * 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 Get inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars and all Katie's action design trainings at ⁠ecopiastore.com⁠ Join 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: Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/ ---Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/katiepatrick/message

In this episode, I share an idea I designed and. I want you to steal it. It's called the V-Score. See the V-Score app design here. The most important factor that determines the health and environmentally friendliness of food is whether it comes from a plant or an animal. The measurement-driven design I teach is based on identifying a core metric of change. We can simplify the proportion of plant-to-animal calories into a simple metric called "The V-Score." Calculate the V-Score of each meal on a menu and for each restaurant on a street. This data is the basis for gamification and action design that works. Bringing attention to the data behind the problem is the first step to creating change. The ratio is easy to understand and gently 'nudges' a person in a positive direction without demanding drastic lifestyle changes.  The V-Score app is based on the principle of public disclosure of data. We make the ratio of plant to animal foods open and transparent which naturally causes people to change in a positive direction to improve their score. See the V-Score design here: http://katiepatrick.com/vscore-homepage * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠ Join 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

Does giving people long lists of multitudes of eco actions help people do more green things? Or does it overwhelm, and hence hinder action? And how does the type of action on that list make a difference?  Today’s guest is Dr. Rueben Kline Ph.D. He is the Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Behavioral Political Economy at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York. In our conversation, we bring evidence-based academic rigor to those big lists of climate and green actions. We’ve all seen them (or we’ve been the ones who created them!). "Top 10 Green Things You Can Do at Home," "101 Ways the Save the Earth From Your Bedroom" etc. We explore his paper titled “Too Many Ways to Help: How to Promote Climate Mitigation Behaviors” and the theory of “choice architecture" and "choice overload.” Reuben reveals unexpected findings about green behaviors depending on whether they are perceived as "easy" or "hard." Reuben is also the co-author of a fascinating book coming out soon titled “Climate Games - Experiments on How People Prevent Disaster” which is about game theory and climate. * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠⁠ Join 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: Instagram ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/katiepatrick/message

Today’s podcast is about an zero waste idea that is desperately needed in women’s bathrooms: a vending machine that sells reusable women’s period products like silicone cups, cloth pads, and period undies. * * * 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 inspired with positive eco futures art prints, organic t-shirts, hoodies, calendars, and all Katie's action design training at ⁠⁠⁠ecopiastore.com⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at ⁠⁠http://katiepatrick.com⁠⁠ Join 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

The compost-a-TRON is an idea to encourage public composting, inspired by a curious behavioral study 30 years ago about a giant eagle shaped garbage can. 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 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In today’s episode, I talk with environmental and behavioral psychologist, Dr. Karine Lacroix Ph.D, about if a person’s individual eco-friendly behaviors (like riding a bike, composting, or eating less meat) can cannibalize or steer people away from taking actions that might influence bigger systems-wide change (like trying to influence your local Mayor, or meeting with a senator. Think of it like this. Does directing people reduce their own environmental impact for themselves (just one person) reduce that person’s potential to do actions that might affect other people beyond themselves (many people)? Does the effort or bandwidth involved with one trade off the other? Karine focuses on experiments that target the barriers and motivators around climate change behavior and health. She was a post-doctoral associate at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication is now an Advisor to the Behavioral Insights Team (also known as the Nudge Unit or BTI). We will dive into her recently published paper titled “Does personal climate change mitigation behavior influence collective behavior? Experimental evidence of no spillover in the United States.” * * * 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 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

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

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

This is the second part of the conversation with Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin AND the Executive Director of The Institute for Diversity Science, Dr Markus Brauer about what makes up real evidence-driven gamification.  Markus is the social scientist behind a behavior-change game called Cool Choices - a card game that gets workplace employees into groups with the goal of competing around energy and environmental behaviors. Markus gives us an understanding of the theoretical underpinning and real causal mechanisms that drive the psychology behind the kind of gamification that does succeed in our quest for real and measurable change. We explore his paper published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology titled: Making Cool Choices for Sustainability: Testing the effectiveness of a game-based approach to promoting pro-environmental behaviors. * * * 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 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

Games sound fun, but do they really work to get people to actually do climate and eco-friendly things? And if so, why do they work?  Today's we’ll be talking with Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin AND the Executive Director of The Institute for Diversity Science, Dr Markus Brauer about what makes up real evidence-driven gamification.  Markus is the social scientist behind a behavior-change game called Cool Choices - a card game that gets workplace employees into groups with a goal of competing around energy and environmental behaviors. Markus gives us an understanding of the theoretical underpinning and real causal mechanisms that drive the psychology behind the kind of gamification that does succeed in our quest for real and measurable change. We explore his paper published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology titled: Making Cool Choices for Sustainability: Testing the effectiveness of a game-based approach to promoting pro-environmental behaviors. * * * 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 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:  Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/katiepatrickhello/ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In this episode, I share a fundamental principle to guide your design thinking. You should always ask yourself, is this idea based on "primary principles?" And what are "primary principles" anyway? In order to make a campaign or startup that really works to get people to buy a green product or change a behavior, you need to build up your concept from the primary principles of how human beings function. Often we don't do this. We design our environmental projects based on on abstractions and nebulous hypotheses on how we "think" people might respond - and this is a major cause of eco project failure. I'll share the main primary principles that are proven to trigger core behavioral mechanisms in people and how you can use them as a baseline for your social change thinking. * * * 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:  X-Twitter ⁠⁠@katiepatrick⁠⁠ Instagram ⁠⁠@katiepatrickhello⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/

In this episode, I explore the power of pledges in driving pro-environmental action and behavior. Pledges are seen as commitment devices, where individuals make promises or commitments to themselves or others. We highlight the effectiveness of pledges in engaging people and closing the value action gap. The episode delves into the various forms of pledges, such as written notes, online commitments, or public displays, and discusses the astonishing evidence from behavioral literature on their impact. Pledges can increase engagement in actions by 30% to 70%, making them powerful tools for maintaining eco-friendly behaviors and winning environmental campaigns. * * * 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:  X-Twitter ⁠⁠@katiepatrick⁠⁠ Instagram ⁠⁠@katiepatrickhello⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/