Projects
We guided strategic efforts to identify high-impact programs, collaborating with public and private institutions to conduct audience research and design evidence-based solutions that leverage the science of how people think, learn, make decisions, and act.
We equipped practitioners, policymakers, and philanthropists with the essential tools to fully achieve their program goals.
Below, we describe some of our past projects and partnerships.
We provided a behavioral lens to advance CCTA’s six major pillars (part-time transit lanes, express lane completion, advanced transportation technologies, shared mobility hubs, automated driving systems). Our work to encourage alternate modes of transport along Interstate 680 included marketing strategies and extensive research to understand which audiences and behaviors to focus on.
We developed a commitment campaign and social media toolkits for a statewide campaign in Oregon - Rise Above Plastics - to reduce the use of single use plastics and its impact on the marine environment.
As part of a multi-year planning process for foundations within climate philanthropy, we prepared a strategic roadmap for leveraging behavioral science and systems thinking to shift protein consumption and achieve a food system for a livable climate.
Using decades of research and our real-world experience, we created this comprehensive award winning guide for environmental 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.
We worked with a new cohort of universities to both help them succeed at eliminating the use of desktop printers on their campuses (a powerful behavioral shift for reducing paper and energy use) and to understand the determinants for this behavior across campuses. We developed a resource to share these barriers and benefits, the interventions that address them, and other findings from this multi-year project.
Alongside partners UCSB and NCEAS, we conducted audience research and outlined our findings and recommendations in the report Strategic Communication to Achieve Carbon Neutrality within the University of California.
We provided science-based evidence to optimize user engagement with the Climate Action Now App – a top-rated platform that empowers individuals to become agents of positive change in the fight against climate change.
We partnered with the Seabird Protection Network - a project of NOAA’s Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary - to conduct audience research to shift pilot behavior thereby limiting wildlife disturbance over critical nesting habitat.
What behaviors will make the biggest impact and have the greatest likelihood of success? We worked with the Marine Mammal Center to determine the actions visitors are most likely to take to solve the dangers facing marine mammals.
We worked with the Greater Farallones Association, the non-profit partner of the federal Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, on a project for NOAA to reduce plastic shotgun wads, a form of marine debris, on north-central California coastal beaches.
We worked with Surfrider Foundation, on a project for NOAA to reduce cigarette butt littering, a pervasive form of marine debris. We conducted extensive audience research on different segments of the target population to determine barriers to behavior change, and designed interventions and messaging that would resonate with each segment.
Grantees are working to change human behavior whether they are encouraging policymakers to draft a law or citizens to adhere to it, advising investors to consider climate-related risks in their decision-making, or prompting business-owners to use sustainable energy sources. Grantmakers are in an optimal position to help build the capacity of the environmental sector to use cutting-edge behavioral strategies, and Root Solutions has partnered with several philanthropic institutions to facilitate this shift.
We worked with cohorts of universities to train and mentor them on the development of behavior-based paper saving programs. We developed a resource to share the process for selecting target audiences and behaviors, understanding barriers, and selecting the appropriate interventions to change behavior.
We conducted behavioral determinants research and developed a campaign to reduce paper use at the Haas School of Business.
We partnered with 511 Contra Costa to help them in the development of an app to make sustainable transportation easier for the public. We conducted audience research on app usage, researched motivators and barriers to sustainable transportation, and created a rubric for evaluating the effectiveness of candidate apps.
We partnered with ChangeLabs and The Nature Conservancy to apply systems thinking and behavior design principles to create lasting solutions for the California drought.
We partnered with Rising Sun Center for Opportunity to ensure their home auditing protocols led to decreased energy and water use.
We conducted framing and audience research in efforts to promote the adoption of energy efficiency upgrades among small to medium size businesses.