Making Shift Happen: Designing for Successful Environmental Behavior Change

by Nya Van Leuvan, Lauren Highleyman, Rod Fujita, Ashleigh Kellerman

Overview

The changemaker's guide to catalyzing environmental behaviour change for a healthy future

To tackle our urgent environmental problems and achieve positive, durable change, we must design solutions based directly on how people think, make decisions, and act.

From hotels that save water and money using simple signage, to energy suppliers that boost participation in renewable energy programs through mere enrollment form tweaks—shifting the behavior of millions for the better is possible.

Based on decades of research into what drives behavior change, Making Shift Happen provides a suite of powerful tools to transform the world. It features A to Z guidance on how to design a behavior change initiative—from choosing the right audience and uncovering what drives their behavior, to designing, prototyping, testing, and implementation.

Clear instructions and real-world examples empower you to apply hundreds of behavioral science solutions including:

• Using social norms to spread positive environmental behaviors
• Selecting and testing stories, metaphors, and values to frame information for each audience
• Catalyzing action by aligning your initiative with your audience's personal and social motivators
• Breaking bad habits and building positive ones
• Capturing your audience's attention and reducing barriers to action
• Connecting people with nature and building empathy for the environment and its inhabitants.

Making Shift Happen is a must-have guide for practitioners in non-profits, governments, and businesses looking to design successful campaigns and initiatives that shift behaviors and mindsets toward positive environmental outcomes and a better future for all.

AWARDS

• GOLD | 2023 Nautilus Book Awards | Social Sciences & Education

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865719484
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	01/11/2022
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	631,624
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Nya Van Leuvan, MA, is a leader in designing and executing programs that accelerate social change by shifting human behavior. She co-founded and directs the not-for-profit Root Solutions to increase the effectiveness of conservation advocacy and policymaking through the use of behavior change, design thinking, and systems thinking. She holds an MA from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State Universityand a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She's from San Francisco, California.

Lauren Highleyman, MS, is a communications and behavior change strategist with experience designing and implementing effective and engaging initiatives across a variety of environmental issue areas. She is passionate about applying insights from the social and behavioral sciences to inspire action and strengthen collaboration among diverse environmental stakeholders. She holds an MS in Natural Resources and Environment with a focus in Environmental Behavior, Education and Communication from the University of Michigan and a BA from UC San Diego. She lives in Marin County, CA.

Rod Fujita, PhD, is a leader in the theory and practice of aligning incentives with good conservation outcomes. He co-founded Root Solutions and is the Director of Research and Development at Environmental Defense Fund's Oceans Program, where he has been working to improve fisheries for more than 30 years. Rod has served on numerous state, regional, federal, and international advisory bodies and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, as well as many popular articles and the well-received book, Heal the Ocean. He lives in Oakland, California.

Ashleigh Kellerman is a Senior Associate at Root Solutions, where she focuses on framing for improved environmental communication and behavior change. An alumna of UC Berkeley with a background in psychology and economics, she has dedicated her career to shifting the frames, narratives, metaphors and values that underpin many of the world's most pressing social issues. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Table of Contents

IntroductionSection 1: The Making Shift Happen Process
Process Chapter 1: Foundations with Karina Mudd
Process Chapter 2: Initiate with Karina Mudd
Process Chapter 3: Uncover with Nicole Hilaire
Process Chapter 4: Design
Process Chapter 5: Implement
Process Chapter 6: Methods with Nicole Hilaire

Section 2: The BEHAVIORAL Building Blocks™
Building Block Chapter 1: Highlight norms to leverage BELONGING
Building Block Chapter 2: Make it EASY
Building Block Chapter 3: Cultivate powerful HABITS with Nicole Hilaire and Susan Schneider
Building Block Chapter 4: Activate ATTACHMENT
Building Block Chapter 5: Design it to be VIVID
Building Block Chapter 6: Leverage our need for consistent IDENTITY
Building Block Chapter 7: Empower through active OPTIMISM with Karina Mudd
Building Block Chapter 8: Judiciously use REWARDS with Nicholas Janusch and Susan Schneider
Building Block Chapter 9: Frame for the appropriate ASSOCIATIONS
Building Block Chapter 10: Expanding the self to ensure nature's LONGEVITY with Jess Beebe

Conclusion
References
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors
A Note About the Publisher

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book gives us a gift we have needed for a long time—an engagingly written, scientifically grounded treatment of what specific steps we each can take to combat the specter of climate change and its toxic effects. Count me impressed."
—Robert B. Cialdini, author, Influence and Pre-Suasion

"Making Shift Happen brilliantly reveals that the only way to make meaningful progress on complex environmental issues is to understand that they must be addressed as human issues, requiring far more than traditional, facile solutions. I sincerely hope the remarkable wisdom and practical guidance offered here will be embraced by practitioners and funders. It would be transformational."
—Steve McCormick, managing director, Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation, former president, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, former president and CEO, The Nature Conservancy

"Making Shift Happen democratizes the research and best practices behind what influences people to make lasting positive change for nature and people. The brass ring is durable, systems-level change and this book is meant for practitioners looking for just this kind of impact."
—Meg Caldwell, deputy director, Oceans, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

"Making Shift Happen brings behavioral science alive, weaving research findings with practical examples. The book provides foundations and principles that can be used to advance a sustainable future. It's timely, grounded in behavioral science, and practical."
—Wesley Schultz, Professor of Psychological Science, California State University

" A fascinating workshop-in-a-book that takes practitioners through the entire intervention design and implementation process of creating the conditions under which change happens, grows, and endures. Importantly, the self-care of practitioners and their audience is dealt with in some detail, providing evidence-based explanations of the process involved in and the means of securing resilient, long-term engagement in environmental stewardship. After all, burned out people can't heal the planet."
—Raymond De Young, professor, Environmental Psychology and Planning, University of Michigan, co-author, The Localization Reader

"Completely fascinating—we've learned a lot about the ways minds work in the last decades and that may help us figure out how to appeal to our better angels more effectively than in the past. Rest assured that people who want to sell us junk are paying attention to these insights—the rest of us better do so too!"
—Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature

"Provides some much needed, research-based, practical advice on how change agents can actually bring about desirable reductions in human pressures on the environment."
—Paul C. Stern, PhD, president, Social and Environmental Research Institute

"As environmental advocates and policymakers work to create lasting cultural changes, they need tools to complement their existing methods. Making Shift Happen is an excellent guide to utilizing select tools from a spectrum of disciplines that have explored how to change the behavior of individuals or communities. It will be an invaluable tool for all practitioners in the environmental space."
—Rainer Romero-Canyas, lead senior social and behavioral scientist, Environmental Defense Fund

"An invaluable resource for program managers in non-profit groups, government agencies, and companies. Blending a sophisticated understanding of social science with an obvious concern for the environment, this book will become a standard guide for designing behavior change programs."
—Michael P. Vandenbergh, professor, David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law, director, Climate Change Research Network, Vanderbilt University Law School

"Behavior design is the next frontier in environmental policy. We know what we need to do to build a just and sustainable world, but humans are creatures of habit and inertia, and changing course is hard. That's where Making Shift Happen comes in. This is the tool kit to get people and institutions moving in the right direction to usher in a much greener and healthier era."
—Jason Scorse, director, Center for the Blue Economy, Monterey Institute of International Studies

"A much-needed overview of research-based best practices for encouraging pro-environmental behavior. The authors have sorted through a wide range of cutting-edge and often confusing and complex behavioral science from multiple disciplines and broken these down into a manageable set of behavioral building blocks. The result is a great cheat sheet of guidelines for anyone trying to shift people's behavior on climate change, environmental conservation, or other environmental topics."
—Kaitlin T. Raimi, PhD, associate professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

"Developing and designing effective communication approaches to help frame pro-environmental behaviors in ways that are compatible with people's personal and social motivators is crucial to behavior change initiatives. Making Shift Happen includes research-based recommendations on how to do just that, and it does so in a manner that is very user-friendly and easy to digest."
—Katie Abrams, PhD, associate professor, Center for Science Communication, Colorado State University

"If humans came with a manual, this would be it. You won't find a more comprehensive resource for designing effective behavioral interventions."
—Kim Wolske, PhD, research associate professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

"Addressing our most pressing environmental challenges often requires behavioral change from community to global scales. Making Shift Happen provides critical understanding, tools and approaches needed to design and implement effective change strategies. It is both practical and thought-provoking."
—Eric Schwaab, senior vice president, Environmental Defense Fund, former acting assistant secretary, Conservation and Management for the US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

"Too often those trying to move society toward sustainability are unaware of the research on decision making and social change. Making Shift Happen does an impressive job of introducing science-based strategies for change. It is useful in and of itself and a good starting point for further exploration."
—Thomas Dietz, University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University

Editorial Reviews

"This book gives us a gift we have needed for a long time—an engagingly written, scientifically grounded treatment of what specific steps we each can take to combat the specter of climate change and its toxic effects. Count me impressed."
— Robert B. Cialdini, author, Influence and Pre-Suasion

"Making Shift Happen brilliantly reveals that the only way to make meaningful progress on complex environmental issues is to understand that they must be addressed as human issues, requiring far more than traditional, facile solutions. I sincerely hope the remarkable wisdom and practical guidance offered here will be embraced"
— Steve McCormick, managing director, Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation, former president, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, former president and CEO, The Nature Conservancy

"Completely fascinating—we've learned a lot about the ways minds work in the last decades and that may help us figure out how to appeal to our better angels more effectively than in the past. Rest assured that people who want to sell us junk are paying attention to these insights—the rest of us better do so too!"
— Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature

"Making Shift Happen brings behavioral science alive, weaving research findings with practical examples. The book provides foundations and principles that can be used to advance a sustainable future. It's timely, grounded in behavioral science, and practical."
— Wesley Schultz, Professor of Psychological Science, California State University

"A fascinating workshop-in-a-book that takes practitioners through the entire intervention design and implementation process of creating the conditions under which change happens, grows, and endures. Importantly, the self-care of practitioners and their audience is dealt with in some detail, providing evidence-based explanations of the process involved in and the means of securing resilient, long-term engagement in environmental stewardship. After all, burned out people can't heal the planet."
— Raymond De Young, professor, Environmental Psychology and Planning, University of Michigan, co-author, The Localization Reader

From the Publisher