Individual Action Vs Systems Change PART 2: A Continuum Of Six Buckets Ep58

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

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.

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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

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