How to Hack Minds to Inspire Climate Action

This #WorldEarthDay, our Senior Behavioural Strategist Chloe Foy shares top tips on How to Hack Minds To Inspire Climate Action taken from the McCann Worldgroup TED@Work Sustainability Series that she hosted.

1. Are people becoming de-sensitized to the ‘doom and gloom’ of negative communications when it comes to climate change? ?Given the fact we like doing things that make us feel good and happy, perhaps we need to create some more fun, joyous and rewarding instead.
2. We think our rational, conscious brain makes all the decisions but it’s in fact our unconscious old reptilian or ‘animal brain’ that decides for us. The more we can tap into the unconscious mind, the more we can influence behaviour – hopefully towards good things like being more sustainable!
3. Social norms are powerful nudges – for example, by simply telling people who often stay in hotels that other previous guests staying in the same room re-used their towels, it will persuade them to do the same – meaning we can see an increase in towels re-use of up to 33%!
4. Nudges can also have unexpected results. For example, when pilots were incentivised to use less fuel by donating any savings to a charity of their choice, it resulted in a 6.5% increase in job satisfaction.
5. Climate change nudges should also aim to benefit the individual (e.g. switching to good for gut foods) and they can have a social advantage too, such as supporting small businesses by using reusable containers.
6. Go beyond communications - think fun activations - from giant fish on beaches to litter picking to colour changing showers to use less water.
7. Studies show that spending more time connecting with nature helps us to show more sustainable behaviours (my favourite bit!).

If you're interested in finding out more, get in touch with the Synergy team.