Our community’s goal of ‘tripling everything in ten years’ depends in part on tripling (or more) the number of Americans taking action on climate and clean energy issues in sustained ways that build political power and encourages behavior change.
We know from past failures that facts alone are often not enough to get people to act on climate. But where facts alone fall short, behavioral science can provide a path forward, and help ensure we build on mass turnout events like the Women’s March, the People’s Climate Marches, and the highest voter turnout for a mid-term election in 104 years.
This means tapping into people’s sense of identity, their sense of connection to other activists, and their belief that their actions can make a difference. In addition to public engagement, behavioral science also has much to say about lifestyle and other personal choices; if we can nudge people to act privately, we also know we can nudge people to act politically.
Through social science, data, polling and experiments, this presentation covers insights on how the sector and especially philanthropy, can use behavioral science to scale public engagement, impact human consumption patterns, and translate that into more power and more wins on climate.