\u201cBehavior is generally easier to change when habits are already disrupted, such as around major life events.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nSo, how do we do this? We educate, engage, and motivate people to make sustainable lifestyle decisions and take action. We provide them a path to follow!<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHumans are creatures of habit. We are also social creatures needing intimate interactions (trusting relationships) before acting upon any proposed changes.<\/em><\/p>\nTrusting social relationships and continued conversations with those who are leading the change are essential. <\/em><\/p>\nA model like 3-2-1-GO! that allows leaders to employ behavioral change strategies is essential for any social change movement to advance.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u2014 Thomas Sommerfield, PhD, LPC;
Supervising Clinician, CT Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services; Assistant Professor, U of Maryland in Europe graduate programs (2004-2014)<\/p>\n
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By understanding human habits and what motivates people to change, the 3-2-1-GO!<\/em> model integrates various triggers to help shift behavior. These triggers include: make it easy, make it fun, make it personal, make it social, make it competitive, and make it rewarding.<\/p>\nIn terms of a reward system, nothing speaks louder than a financial reward. This is where the local business community, ideally, a local green business community, becomes a key component.<\/p>\n
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Local Business Community: <\/strong><\/p>\nEveryone likes a financial reward, so we\u2019re rewarding residents that make positive lifestyle decisions with tangible, financial rewards from our local business community. This is good on at least three levels: one,<\/p>\n
\n- Residents get a tangible financial benefit instead of just a \u2018high five\u2019<\/li>\n
- Residents are rewarded for making the decision to buy local which reduces their carbon footprint in itself<\/li>\n
- It is good for the local business community; a community that is trying to rebuild after a long drought in business.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
This reward system is provided by the local business community, which can include the chamber of commerce, the green business network, the sustainable business network, and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur businesses are anxious to open their doors and to continue to serve their community as they did before. They are looking for competitive advantages and are especially interested in being able to make sustainable green claims. In turn, Certified Green Businesses are especially excited about the opportunity to serve people that share their same belief in sustainability. We\u2019re excited about programs, like the 3-2-1-GO! model, that can track and reward consumer behavior on this front.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nJo Fleming, Executive Director, California Green Business Network.<\/em><\/p>\nIn a nutshell, our residents earn points by making sustainable lifestyle choices that can then be redeemed for discounts at their favorite local businesses.<\/p>\n
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Municipality: <\/strong><\/p>\nThe third, and final, primary stakeholder in this model is the municipality, or the City. The City is a big part of setting overall goals, strategy, equality, approach, policy, programs and initiatives, and messaging. For many cities, much of the framework already exists in the form of a climate action plan. As part of the Governance program, the City is the recipient of data. Data that is key for understanding which programs are working and not working, how programs are received in the various populations, and for reporting on and communicating emission reductions that have been achieved as a result of their planning.<\/p>\n
Our model focuses on minimizing the time and money required from the City, while still providing governance and delivering data for program and initiative analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Marketing Program: <\/strong><\/p>\nAs with any public outreach campaign, a solid marketing strategy is critical to its success. This is where a \u2018steering committee\u2019 and a local volunteer team comes in, both of which free up time for the municipality. Ideally, the steering committee and the local volunteer teams would be supported or led by local economic development groups or environmental groups.<\/p>\n
Governance Program: <\/strong><\/p>\nLike other social programs, a strong governance program is needed to maintain course and to ensure that objectives are met. We may find that the participants in the governance team differ from community to community, but the model will not. In many communities, the participants will be the same that make up the steering committee of the 3-2-1-GO!<\/em> model. The governance program is responsible for setting goals and objectives, determining KPI\u2019s, measurement and reporting on data, and communications with the public.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Product: <\/strong><\/p>\nLastly, this all relies on a software platform that includes a mobile app as the residential touch point. The mobile app is the most effective tool to connect with and engage the individuals that we\u2019re asking to make lifestyle decisions and changes. The software platform provides personalization, the motivational features mentioned above, and organized data collection and reporting. On top of that, using an app can make the program more fun and interactive for users, by adding gamification.<\/p>\n
As we continue to fight the COVID-19 virus, and transition into a post-pandemic world, we can do more than just make progress relative to climate change, but we can accelerate our actions when executing a plan that is based on research, testing, and return on investment.<\/p>\n
Want to learn more? Please reach out to me<\/a>. We\u2019d love to share more detail, get your input, and discuss potential collaborations and pilot projects. Whether you are a municipality, a local volunteer group, an economic development group, an environmental group, or local business network, we\u2019re interested in engaging with others who share our values.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 6 Part Model for Residents & Cities Working Together to Reduce Carbon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,13,11],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/urban-housing.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":810,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathtoagreenhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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