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

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

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

In this episode of the How to Save the World podcast, I talk with Dan Stokols, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at the University of California Irvine.  Dan has recently published a book, Social Ecology in the Digital Age, and he talks to us about what the field of *social ecology* is all about. In a world that often compartmentalizes issues into bite-size boxes, Dan illustrates the importance of taking a “systems thinking” view – and urges us to look more deeply at the interdependence of the many systems around us and how the very small, such as a piece of litter, is governed by a larger system of forces. Dan explores the need to look at the human behavioral dimension of environmental issues to truly understand how to solve the planetary challenges we’re facing in the 21st Century.  Sign up to join the live group "Fitbit for the Planet" 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

You can easily see the number of calories in your peanut butter and your car’s safety rating. But this publicly available data comes from hard-won battles - and the numbers behind many of our most crucial issues in healthcare, environment, and finance are either under lock and key -  or they are simply not even measured. In this month’s podcast episode I interview Harvard University Professor Archon Fung Ph.D. about what happens when we turn important data that is often hidden and contentious into a publicly available resource for the world to see.  Sign up to join the live group "Fitbit for the Planet" 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

This episode is the recording of a talk I put together about my thoughts and theories about why creativity is the missing link in saving the world. This talk covers the technical creative process, the positive constrictive imagination, the neuroscience of optimism and creative productivity, and most of all, it makes a powerful and scientifically robust argument why we need a positive vision of a future world in order to solve the world’s biggest problems.  Sign up to join the live 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

Planet Labs has launched nearly 200 very small satellites in the atmosphere that take high-resolution images of the earth just about every single day. Today’s guest Joseph Mascaro is a Ph.D. tropical ecologist. He is the Director of Academic Programs at Planet Labs and has the fascinating role of helping conservation groups and academics use these spectacular images of the earth for good. We talk about how fast-paced agile technology development can be used to support environmental protection, how images help us emotionally connect with issues in a way that plain data tend not, and how (counter to popular environmental belief), going to Mars is essential to protect life on earth. Don’t miss out on this fabulous episode! If you are a conservation organization wanting more information on forest cover, ice-cover, fires, or anything you can see from the air, check out planet.com Sign up to join the live group "Fitbit for the Planet" 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

This understanding lead me to coin the term, the “two lenses” approach to social change. The two lenses approach means, 1) Your problem needs to be understood through the lens of measurement or data. and 2) Your solution needs to be understood through the lens of behavioral psychology. This is the cornerstone of the design work I do. From my book, How to Save the World, page 7. Sign up to join the live group "Fitbit for the Planet" 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

It’s easy to talk about saving water, but how do you *actually* get people to make real water reductions that you can measure? Environmentally friendly actions are known by psychologists as one of the most difficult things we try and get people to do. A new technology company called WaterSmart has been developing an app that shows you how much water you use compared to your neighbors – and it works. We talk about the technology behind modern water smart meters, what it takes to design for behavior change, and how the water industry’s new immersion in big data is changing how we get people to change for the better.  Sign up to join the live group "Fitbit for the Planet" 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

In this video, I interview Xiaojing April Xu Ph.D. about what it takes to motivate people to do eco-friendly things. It turns out that it’s often not what you think it is. We talk about interesting phenomena like the Value-Action-Gap, The Crowd-Out Effect, and whether financial or environmental information is more motivating to get people to change. Xiaojing April Xu conducts post-doc research in the behavioral science of energy efficiency at The University of Tennessee. Sign up to join the live 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx

Have you ever felt like you had a special kind of skill, or a calling, or some bigger reason for existing on the planet? Have you felt like there is more to life than just working a regular nine-to-five job? Or being a struggling activist working for a pitifully low salary in a sweet but ineffectual non-profit? Do you get that weird feeling that “there’s gotta be more to life than this?” I’ve had this feeling forever. I think you probably have it too. I believe this feeling is a calling that is telling you that you are not operating from your creative genius zone and that you really need to be. From my book, How to Save the World, pg 41. Sign up to join the live 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. Thank you to Jordan, Nader, Mike, Gary, Alex, Ben, Dee, and Ian for contributing! Xx