EC 015: Tips for Encouraging Environmental Behavior Change

Summary

In this podcast, I play the recording of the presentation I gave at the 2nd Annual Green Festival Expo in Portland on Dec 11, 2016.

I talk about the misconception that education is sufficient to get people to change behaviors. I review a study on getting hotel guests to reuse their towels, and show a few videos about washing hands and reducing electricity at home. I talk about the Coffee Cup Campaign program I’m working on with Recycling Advocates, and how the Influencer model can be used to make changes using six sources of influence, specifically around reducing disposable coffee cup usage. I end with some tips from the book Switch, along with some other recommended books.

The presentation is about an hour long, but hopefully you’ll find it worth the time. Contact us if you would like a copy of the slides.

You can watch the video of the presentation below. One productivity tip I like to save time and be more efficient is to listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos at 1.5x speed. It’s still audible at that speed, and you save 33% of the total time. You could cut down the time from 60 minutes to 40 minutes (60 / 1.5 = 40).


Watch on YouTube

Links

influencer model by VitalSmarts
Green Festival Expo – Portland
Recycling Advocates – Disposable Coffee Cup Reduction Campaign
Hotel Towel Reuse Study
Influencer – Hand Washing Video
oPower – Reducing Electricity
Tufts University study – Charging for Disposable Cups

Reference Books

Switch
Fostering Sustainable Behaviors (Community-based Social Marketing)
Nudge
Drive
Checklist Manifesto