Watershed Outreach Professionals’ Behavior Change Practices, Challenges, and Needs

Background

Insights and Recommendations for the Chesapeake Bay Trust

Authors: Meghan Kelly, Samuel Little, Kaitlin Phelps, Carrie Roble Under the guidance of Dr. Michaela Zint   Published By: School of Natural Resources and the Environment, UM-Ann Arbor Published Date: April 2012

Key Concepts

Chesapeake Bay Trust - a publicly funded nonprofit organization based in Annapolis, Maryland. The CBT funds environmental stewardship efforts through a variety of grants, and recently expanded their Outreach and Community Engagement (OCE) Grant Program to include a specific Behavior Change Program Track allocating funding for ERB-related programs.

Environmentally Responsible Behaviors - ERB can be defined as an “approach to seeking information, making decisions, and valuing a stewardship ethic” (Monroe, 2003). . . Research-supported evidence from social science disciplines, especially conservation psychology, reveals that individual ERB can have a measurable and significant environmental impact (Dietz et al., 2004; Dietz et al., 2009). During the last 40 years, there has been a growing literature base on effective interventions that strategically motivate individuals to adopt ERB (Heimlich & Ardoin, 2008). However, there is a lack of research investigating ERB from the perspective of organizations conducting outreach programs, particularly in the context of watershed conservation and restoration.

Outreach and Community Engagement -

Survey Research

Methods To determine the practices, challenges, and needs of the CBT OCE grant applicants, the team developed and distributed a survey to applicants of the grant program since 2005. Survey measures were created based on interviews with leaders of programs funded by the OCE grant as well as observations of funded programs. The purpose of the survey was to verify if the information collected from the interviews and observations applied to the majority of grant applicant programs, as well as acquire a broader understanding of environmental outreach programs (EOPs) in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (See Appendix 5: Survey Instrument). The survey explored the following themes: organizational background; program goals, practices, challenges, and needs; and use of outreach best practices and behavior change strategies (Table 2: Survey Principle Research Questions).

Results Type of Organization for Which Respondent Worked: Non-profit - 69% Governmental Agency - 19% Academic Institution - 13% Grassroots Organization - 9% Other - 3%   Respondents’ Involvement Within Their Organizations’ EOPs: Implement EOPs - 88% Design EOPs - 82% Write grants for EOPs - 79% Evaluate EOPs - 62% Other - 7%   Goals of Respondent Organizations' EOPs: Increase audiences' awareness of environmental issues - 91% Increase feeling that audience can personally help - 89% Provide audiences with knowledge and skills - 84% Engage audiences in restoration activities - 80% Change audiences'  attitudes - 77% Engage audiences in outdoor experiences - 73% Share how audiences can personally benefit - 67% Help to reduce audiences' barriers - 61% Stress how audiences can help future generations - 60% Other - 8%   Effective Elements of Respondents' EOPs: Providing information, training, and/or education - 27% Providing hands-on, active experiences - 35% Strengthening relationships, through collaboration, with community and other stakeholders - 16% Using normative messages to motivate others’ actions - 9% Providing an intrinsic and/or extrinsic incentive - 12% Making connections between human welfare and the environment - 21%   Themes Seen Throughout Survey Responses: Targeting other audiences Concerns about evaluation Limited funding leading to competition Connection to nature leads to behavior Too many under-funded groups Small organizations, training, and social marketing Increased organization collaboration   Information and Experiences Informing Respondent Organizations'  EOP Design: Personal experiences - 84% Collaborations with other organizations - 76% Evaluations of your organization's EOPs - 50% Audience data collected by respondents' organization - 40% Academic research on changing conservation behaviors - 32% Audience data collected by another organization - 28% Social marketing - 25% Other - 10%                    

Strategies to Promote ERBs

Strategy - Definition - Example

Appealing to Positive Emotional States - Appealing to emotions such as hope and enjoyment as a way to change people’s behavior Stressing the enjoyable aspects of gardening Commitment - Using verbal or written agreements, such as pledges, to encourage people to adopt a behavior - Asking people to sign a pledge to only use organic fertilizers on their lawns Extrinsic Rewards - Using money, food, or prizes to motivate behaviors - Rewarding households that save water with tax rebates or entering them in a raffle for a prize Feedback - Providing people with information about their level of success or need for improvement in response to a particular behavior - Providing homeowners with information on their electricity consumption throughout the year Highlighting Personal Benefits - Pointing out the health, financial, or other benefits that may result from a behavior - Emphasizing how using less fertilizer on one's lawn will save the property owner money while also contributing to improved water quality Increasing “How-To” Skills - Providing people with information and/or training on how to carry out conservation behaviors - Teaching installation, maintenance, and usage skills through a hands-on composting demonstration Intrinsic Rewards - Motivating individuals to perform an activity because of the personal satisfaction it can offer; this may include stressing values, morals, or how an activity can be enjoyable or interesting - Stressing that using resources wisely and avoiding waste is "the right thing to do" or encouraging individuals to participate in a river clean-up because it will be fun and enjoyable Participatory Programs - Involving members of the community in program design or implementation to create a sense of community ownership over the program - Creating block leaders to customize and oversee a neighborhood water conservation program Positive Nature Experiences - Exposing people to nature via an outdoor experience - Sunset kayak outing that allows people to engage and connect with the Bay and/or local waters Prompts - Short, simple reminders to perform a desired behavior - Displaying signs to turn off the lights or turn down the heat Social Marketing - Adapting the outlook and techniques from the field of marketing to help promote environmental and social change (Definition of Social Marketing, 2008) - In 2004, the Chesapeake Bay Program created a campaign to reduce nutrient pollution flowing into the Bay. Because much of this pollution is the result of excess lawn fertilizer use, the campaign targeted homeowners with lawns in the Washington, DC region...  Social Norms or Modeling - Demonstrating the importance of a behavior to people either by describing the behavior as socially acceptable or unacceptable, or by having individuals perform the desired behavior around others to influence their behavior - Encouraging people to talk to their neighbors, family, and friends about installing rain barrels Stories - Personal verbal or written tales sharing what others are doing to solve environmental problems, or tales with embedded environmental messages - Sharing a story about one's experience fishing in a littered river that motivated them to no longer litter and support river cleanup efforts