Click to edit Master title style · 2020. 7. 14. · Alisa Reckinger, Hennepin County Environment...

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Motivating action to protect the environmentAlisa Reckinger, Hennepin County Environment and Energy

About me

• Communication and

outreach specialist with

Hennepin County

Environment and Energy

• Background in journalism,

environmental studies,

environmental education

• Favorite sustainable action

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Agenda

• Exploring how change happens

• Tips for planning a successful project to motivate action

• Environmental education resources

Hennepin CountyMotivating action to protect the environment

Discussion: How does change (not) happen?

• Think about an action you are NOT taking to protect the

environment

• What is keeping you from taking that action?

• What would motivate you to change?


Efforts to motivate action often

end up looking like this…


Assume that information =

behavior change


Prevalent because:

• Giving information is easy

• Changing behavior is hard

and happens slowly


Discussion: How does change happen?

• Think about a change that you HAVE made in your life to

protect the environment

• What motivated you to make that change?

• What steps did you take to make that change?

• What barriers did you overcome?


States of change

MaintenanceMaintaining the

change

Pre-

contemplationSees no problem.

No intention to change

Established

changeNo longer

tempted

ContemplationAmbivalent about

will & ability to

change

PreparationWants & feels

able to change

ActionMaking changes

RelapseReturned to old

behaviour learning

opportunity

National Social Marketing Centre: www.thensmc.com

http://www.thensmc.com/

Journey to: starting organics recycling

MaintenanceParticipate through

changes; address

new barriers -

smells, fruit flies,

finding best bags

Pre-

contemplationService didn’t exist

anywhere

Established

changeFeels weird to

throw food in

trash; worth

the effortContemplationGenerally

interested,

impatient; didn’t

seem feasible

PreparationSigned up,

gathered

supplies, excited!

ActionFew weeks to

start new

routine, it’s kind

of hard

RelapseCollect organics

in bathroom off

and on

National Social Marketing Centre: www.thensmc.com

http://www.thensmc.com/

Taking action

• In order to take action, people

need to:

• Value the action

• Know enough about the issue

• Believe they can have an impact

• Whether or not they take

action depends on barriers


Successful projects to motivate change

Choose specific actions

Center the audience

Offer custom support

Focus on understanding interests, barriers, motivations

Set goals for actions that are specific, direct, and impactful

Consider audience’s journey and opportunities along the way


Social marketing

Using proven marketing strategies to bring about behavior change for social good

Focus on discovering the wants of a target audience and creating goods and services to satisfy them

Choosing actions: specific, direct, impactful


Selecting behaviors

Donate Low-waste

grocery

shopping /

buying in bulk

Mend/repair

• Specific: Reducing waste vs…

Use reusables Buy used


Selecting behaviors

• Direct


Selecting behaviors

• Impactful: for the environment and your audience16%

84%

Households with service

Households with residential organics recycling service

Households without service

There is moderate to high interest in participating in organics

recycling

• Examples:

• The neighborhood fair on July 1 will

divert 80% of waste to organics

recycling.

• 20 units in my apartment building

will start organics recycling by

December 31.

• My household will use 1 fewer paper

towel roll per month by June 30.

Setting SMART behavior goals

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Realistic

• Time-bound


Getting to know your audience


Develop a deep understanding

• Cultural, social, historical,

environmental, and

psychological forces

influencing behavior

• How the task or issue is

relevant based on their

experiences, beliefs, and

desires


Go beyond demographics

Demographics

• Age

• Race

• Gender

• Income

Psychograhics

• Culture

• Interests

• Attitudes

• Lifestyle

• Values


Identify attitudes, barriers and motivations

• What do they think about

your topic?

• What stands in their way?

• What would motivate them?


(Some) ways to learn about your audience

• Focus groups

• Interviews

• Surveys

• Observation

• Audience segmentation

• Co-design

• Case study research

Journey mapping Personas

More ways to learn about your audience

Segmenting your audience

• Environmentalist choir: Truly committed, will put in the extra effort

• Mainstream environmental helpers: Will do the right thing if not a big burden

• Mainstream resistant: No personal benefit, won’t consider it

Source: Linden Hills Power & Light, Strata Verve, 2010

Potential champions →

Biggest opportunity →

Hard to reach →

• Highly committed:

20% of population

• Committed but

confused:

55% of population

• Not so much:

25% of population

Source: Choose to Reuse audience

research, SuperVox


Common motivations• Visibly see the impact

• Protect the environment

• Save the oceans

• Reduce footprint

• Help future generations

• Payoff is worth the effort

• It’s the right things to do

• Provides a “feel good” benefit

• Save money

Common barriers• Intend to take action but need

motivation

• Don’t care about the action

• Sounds hard, time-consuming, messy

• Confusion or lack of information

• Forget to act

• Lack skills

• Don’t have the infrastructure or tools to take action

Reaching diverse and different audiences

• Develop partnerships

• Ground your learning and

programming in what your

audience knows, has

experienced, and values

• Let the community guide the

learning


Discussion: Working with different audiences

• Think about different communities or audiences you have

worked with

• What have you done to get to know your audience and customize your

programming to them?

• What other tips or strategies do you have for getting to know your

audiences and making your topic relevant to them?


Develop your strategy and customize your approach


Build commitment

• We’re more likely to act if

we’re being held

accountable

• We want to be consistent

• Enhance motivation when

the action is valued


Promote social norms


• We’re more likely to act if we

think others are doing it

• We want to fit in (more than

we’ll ever admit)

• Enhance motivation when

the action isn’t valued

Encourage social diffusion

• We make decisions based

on the recommendations

of others

• We rely on trusted

sources

• Offer support to build

knowledge and skills


Develop skills

Introduce the

concept

(pilots, rollouts)

Conduct skill-

building

activities

Share tips and

tricks



we feel competent

• We don’t want to be

embarrassed or do it wrong

• Provide a safe space for

people to try an activity and

ask questions

Make it easy to act

Develop

infrastructurePromote best

practices

Provide tools

to take actionBe creative


it’s convenient

• We do what’s easiest or

the default


Use prompts and reminders

• We operate on auto-pilot

and forget to act

• Remind people of actions

they intend to take as close

as possible to where they’ll

take that action


Create effective communication

We’re more likely to act when we know why it’s important and what to do

• Easy to remember

• Integrate goals and impact

• Personal and local

• Concrete and actionable

• Use all of your channels

• Help address barriers and plan for action

Use opportunities and momentum

• Capitalize on trigger and

major life events

• Celebrate successes

Hennepin CountyMotivating action and engaging the public

Select strategies that address barriers

What you may hear Barrier Strategy

“I’ve been meaning to do that.” “That sounds interesting.”

Lack of motivation –value action

Commitment

“That sounds hard.” “I’m not interested.”

Lack of motivation –don’t value

Social norms, social diffusionIncentives and tools

“I always forget to do that.” “I can’t remember how to take action.”

Forget to act Prompts

“How does that work?” “What happens when I take that action?”

Lack of information CommunicationSocial diffusion

“I’m afraid I’m going to do it wrong.” Lack skills; anxiety Let people try an activitySocial diffusion

“I can’t take that action.” “I don’t have that service.”

External barriers Make it easy to act: infrastructure, tools, supplies

Customize to your audience

Discussion: Strategies that worked for you

• Thinking of a time that you have made a change or that you

have worked with others to make a change

• What strategies were successful in getting yourself and/or others to

change?


In summary

• To motivate action:

• Choose a specific action: direct and impactful for the environment and

your audience

• Get to know your audience: interests, values, barriers, motivations

• Customize your approach: consider your audience’s journey and

support you can offer along the way


Resources

• Fostering sustainable behavior: www.cbsm.com

• Psychology of Sustainable Behavior: www.pca.state.mn.us

• Social Marketing Association of North America: www.smana.org


http://www.cbsm.com/

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/

http://www.smana.org/

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Environmental education resources

Environmental education resources

hennepin.us/environmentaleducation

Communication resources and print materials

• Articles, social media posts,

images, videos, and more

• Order form for print

materials and handouts –

currently not available

Activity guides

• Topic background, activity instructions, extensions, appendix materials

• Air, energy, and climate change

• Recycling

• Organics recycling

• Reducing food waste

• Toxicity and hazardous waste

• Protecting land and water

Environmental education kits

• Activity supplies and event

displays

• Topics include:

• Food waste prevention

• Packaging waste reduction

• Green parties and events

• Recycled products

• Organics recycling

Tours and field trip transportation

• Brooklyn Park drop-off

facility

• Hennepin Energy Recovery

Center

• Pre-approved field trip list

Green Partners environmental education program

hennepin.us/greenpartners

• Environmental education grants

• Activity supplies

• Network meetings

http://www.hennepin.us/greenpartners

Stay in touch and interact

• Newsletters

• Green Notes: monthly environmental news

• Green Partners: monthly tools and resources for partners

• Master Recycler/Composter: quarterly resources and topics for MRCs

• Social media

• Hennepin Environment on Facebook

• @hennepinenviro on Twitter

Thanks for being an MRC!

[email protected]

Alisa Reckinger

mailto:[email protected]

Click to edit Master title style · 2020. 7. 14. · Alisa Reckinger, Hennepin County Environment...

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