In this episode I offer an alternative strategy to shaming or criticizing small individual eco-friendly behaviors. I explain how you want to see social change like a staircase with many levels. Often taking a small individual action, like using a paper straw or driving less, is the first step a person makes on their staircase of influence. The goal is to inspire the person to step up from their small individual actions to a new set of more advanced actions that have the power to influence many people, instead of only one person (themselves).
Please share this episode every time you see an environmentalist shaming or criticizing small green individual actions! We need to get better and encouraging people to move up the staircase, not shaming them for being at the first stair. This is a design challenge for us all.
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How to Save the World is a podcast about the psychology of what gets people to do eco-behaviors and take climate action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product.
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