Climate Change, Culture, and Collective Action: A Path Forward

In this series, we discussed climate change from a multitude of vantage points: academia, organizations, corporations, governments, and individuals. We intend to show how each group is distinct in its influence but ultimately interconnected and reliant on each other to propel lasting climate action. 

Regardless of size, every entity is made up of people. Whether it be a community garden led by a few individuals or a larger initiative supported by thousands, people’s desire for climate action is determined by their personal position on the matter. This position is determined by three key factors (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). 

1. What they regard as truth

2. How they see themselves as individuals and society members

3. How they deal with social issues

What they regard as truth

People surrounded by ideologies suspicious of climate research might feel that sustainable policies and guidelines challenge their beliefs and lifestyles and are less likely to regard climate science as true. 

Advocating for climate science is more difficult when surrounded by non-believers who influence local laws and climate policies. Arguing doesn’t tend to get us very far on these issues, but climate science advocates should try to stay resolute amidst these agonizing conversations. 

Denial is a reaction due to fear of the unknown. Starting a conversation with those who deny climate change by providing facts about the issue is a great way to introduce the topic, and framing the facts in a compassionate, community-focused way can propel mutual understanding. Even still, only engage in these conversations when you feel secure and respected by the other party. 

How they see themselves as individuals and society members

In the United States, people tend to think on the basis of individual impact and personal capability. Culturally, Americans believe that they control their own destiny and are ensured liberty and personal freedoms as a basic right. This can be a motivating and freeing feeling, but when trying to improve systemic challenges, individualism can feel limiting as problems feel too big to conquer. 

How people see themselves as individuals is important because it determines how they perceive their impact on the environment. The amount of pollution reduced when one person ditches their car and commutes by bus is negligible. However, the influence that one person might have on their social circle, when they share their commute-decision with others, can cause a ripple effect of sustainable choices that lead to greater impact. 

Decisions, such as the bus commute example, are called contagious behaviors. This is because people are likely to adopt them after seeing them in practice by someone else (Mic). Other examples include participating in peaceful protests, hosting climate conversations, and posting your sustainability efforts to social media. Rather than solely trying to minimize one’s own carbon footprint to fix the climate crisis, collective action recognizes climate change as a problem that requires the contributions of the whole community and not just a small group. 

When tackling climate change, it is important to avoid an individualistic mindset, and rather think about actions in terms of the greater community. How can you challenge norms and inspire others to adopt more sustainable habits? Are there any environmental problems you can call out to make the people around you more aware of the issue? As a member of a larger entity such as a company or organization, how can you make environmentalism more integral to the discussions being had in the spaces where you have influence?

How they deal with social issues

Some individuals are more likely to respond to social issues than others. This can be for social, cultural, or personal reasons. People who haven’t been directly or majorly affected by the impacts of climate change might feel less of a sense of urgency in the matter. Climate change predominantly affects lower-income communities that don’t have the infrastructure to defend against extreme weather events (EPA Report).

Wealthy CEOs don’t push climate practices forward because they don’t feel the gravity of the issue in the same way other people do. Therefore they will continue to perpetuate bad practices that cause environmental damage because they don’t see the benefit in changing their practices at the risk to their bottom line.   

On the other hand, individuals greatly impacted by the climate crisis might struggle to deal with the reality of climate change as well. It can be overwhelming to process social issues like climate change, leading some to avoid discussing it altogether. Not everyone needs to be a climate activist or expert. That’s why it is important to lean on the experts and people committed to this work in order to push climate action forward. 

Even if you don’t have the bandwidth to lead an initiative, think of the smallest step you can take toward climate action. Who are the people in your community pushing the climate conversation forward? In your organization or company, is there a team of people committed to assessing climate change and your company’s impact? If not, who can you raise this concern to that will have the power to implement change?

In Conclusion

The conversation does not end here. Be on the lookout for more of our work in the sustainability space.

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Writing and illustration by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice.

Choice Architecture and Achieving Goals with Apps

The Apple Store offers nearly 2 million apps for download worldwide. Many promise to be personal assistants that help people sleep better, eat healthier, read more, or learn a new skill. But with so many different offerings, how do apps keep users coming back and achieving their goals? Through the art of persuasive design, app designers successfully utilize behavioral science principles to nudge users to do certain actions. 

Nudging is one of the most common ways science is used to influence behavior.  It refers to any influential change in your environment that doesn’t “forbid options or significantly change economic incentives” (Behavioral Economics). 

Receiving bonus points or hearing a celebratory ding after making a selection are examples of nudging in apps that can influence user actions. These features fall under the app’s greater choice architecture, which is the structure app designers create to set the stage for how users navigate the app (Behavioral Economics). There are various nudging techniques, or ways the choice architects design app features, that steer user behavior. 

Users respond to these techniques positively when they feel accomplished or generally satisfied. Apps that help build confidence through positive feedback, relatedness through social engagement, and self-actualization through behavior achievement strengthen the user’s positive associations with the activity and keep them coming back to the app. This idea is called the self-determination theory, which highlights that competence, relatedness, and self-actualization are the three basic psychological needs necessary to maintain psychological well-being during an activity (Behavioral Economics). 

Duolingo, a language learning app, is adept at nudging users to do certain actions and achieve their language goals. It is one of the largest language learning apps in the world with 9.6 million daily active users in 2022 (Statista). Using various nudging techniques, Duolingo keeps users feeling accomplished while satisfying their need for self-determination. 

Framing, a common nudging technique, works by highlighting either positive or negative attributes of a choice to make that choice appealing or unattractive. Duolingo frames the difficult process of language acquisition as an entertaining and rewarding game. User success in the app is measured by his or her ability to play every day to maintain their growing streak.  Duolingo reframed learning and practice into a streak-keeping game that relies on our natural competitiveness. 

The app also utilizes another technique called defaults, an interaction that is already set in the design and doesn’t require the user to make a decision. Upon starting a new language, content is arranged in trees that gradually stack lesson plans. This allows users to focus on language acquisition without worrying about the sequencing of content. This way, they aren’t confused about what they should learn next (Berman, 2021). 

Ultimately, Duolingo is an excellent example of how apps can convince people to achieve positive goals. But not all apps are designed in the best interest of the user. Sometimes persuasive design convinces users to continue bad behaviors, like making purchases (ie. Candy Crush) or perpetuating negative self-image through unrealistic beauty filters (ie. Snapchat). 

App design paves the way for a lot of behavioral design thinking. When it comes to using digital assets to influence user behavior, nudging is a great tool. But nudging techniques can be influential outside of the digital environment, influencing product, system, and service design. In future blogs, we will dive deeper into this, and see how behavioral design can and has influenced people across different sectors and environments.

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Writing By:

Odiraa Okala, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Odiraa is a Master of Public Health Candidate at Saint Louis University in Missouri. He has a concentration in Behavioral Science and Health Education and has extensive experience in public policy and human-centered design thinking.

Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice

Nia-Simone Eccleston is a 2022 graduate of the Georgia Tech Industrial Design program, BSc. She has many years of experience in journalistic writing and has contributed as a design researcher for various social impact projects.

Illustrations and infographic by Nia-Simone Eccleston

Behavioral Science and Tech Pilots: Google Glass Case Study

Two decades after Marty McFly Jr. wore video glasses in Back to the Future II, Silicon Valley hoped to change the face of eyewear. In 2014, Google piloted its first edition of smart eyeglasses. This wearable technology presents information, like weather alerts and text messages, directly in the user’s field of vision using augmented reality (Tech Target). 

Because it was a pilot and not a formal launch, the Google team focused on gaining insights into how the consumer interacted with the product, rather than having a perfected version of the glasses at that point (Bentley University).  This was a completely revolutionary technology that the public had not interacted with before, so Google needed to understand how their glasses could fit into people’s lives. This is where behavioral science became integral to the product launch.

“Behavioral science – from cognitive psychology, to behavioral economics, to social psychology – offers a framework to understand the impact that context and cues have on people’s decision making. The greatest innovation in the world will fail if it is not tailored to the context in which it will be used” (Kantar). 

It was pretty clear that soon after the glasses were released that Google had missed the mark. Consumers didn’t really understand how the glasses were supposed to be an improvement from the capabilities of their smartphones. The high-tech “phone for your face” was reminiscent of a Star Trek look that many considered geeky and unflattering to wear in public. Additionally, businesses and organizations worried that the glasses would record everything– a privacy concern for hospitals, casinos, and other places where confidentiality is important (Bentley University). 

Pilots are meant to have issues. Many times these issues translate to insights that the designers can iterate on to create a better and more useful product. By no means was the Google glass a total failure, but if certain behavioral design strategies were implemented at the beginning of the design process, the Google Glass team might have been able to realize the flaws in the product before spending millions of dollars in the piloting phase.

Based on behavioral science principles, we determined two important considerations necessary for the beginning stages of developing any innovation, whether it be a product, service, or system. 

1. Identify the problem you are trying to solve. 

Instead of identifying the problem that Google glass would solve, Google let the users define how the glasses could benefit their lives. When Google released the glasses, they asked consumers to “submit photographs and videos that communicated who they were and what they would do with their Google Glass.” (Market Week).  

Users didn’t respond well to this because they were overwhelmed by the number of options they had. This occurrence is studied in behavioral science and is referred to as choice overload or decision paralysis. When faced with too many options, users actually have a more difficult time choosing anything (The Decision Lab). In the minds of many consumers, having countless choices about what problem the glasses could solve actually ended up being a problem unto itself. 

2. Identify the target audience

In addition to not explaining what the glasses were for, the target audience also wasn’t clear.  According to marketing expert Laura Lake for The Balance Small Business, a target audience is the “demographic of people most likely to be interested in a company's product or service.” 

Google’s first round of testing was initially for software developers. Later on it was opened up to consumers that Google specifically recruited because they had won their contest for the coolest uses of the Google Glass (Market Week). Essentially, Google artificially created a target audience rather than discovering one.

While creating an audience was a deliberate marketing strategy, it likely introduced selection bias. Selection bias is the tendency for researchers to choose who their user group is, and “is usually associated with research where the selection of participants isn’t random” (Institute for Work and Health). If they had organically identified a target audience by doing an initial test on a random user group, Google could have more easily seen how the broad range of audiences responded to the glasses and chosen the most appropriate audience to design for. 

Conclusion

If you feel like these considerations are basic design-thinking principles, you are exactly right! We aren’t reinventing the wheel here, these considerations are popular because they work. Think of them as a launching point to position your offering in context to your user before committing extensive time and money to the project. 

Large companies like Google are not infallible, which demonstrates that even the most powerful technology still relies on the fundamentals of behavioral science in order to be successful in the market.  There is still a lot to be understood about where behavioral science fits into the design process. In the next blog, we will explore the focused and intentional use of behavioral design to achieve positive user outcomes. Be on the lookout for more content as we continue the series!

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Writing By:

Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice

Nia-Simone Eccleston is a 2022 graduate of the Georgia Tech Industrial Design program, BSc. She has many years of experience in journalistic writing and has contributed as a design researcher for various social impact projects.

Odiraa Okala, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Odiraa is a Master of Public Health Candidate at Saint Louis University in Missouri. He has a concentration in Behavioral Science and Health Education and has extensive experience in public policy and human-centered design thinking.

The Power of Starting Local: Community Outreach and Climate Action

When we think about climate change, it’s easy to feel hopeless. The greater entities that influence our daily lives, such as corporations and governments, seem to have a stronghold on the path forward for climate action since their influence is so resounding. They inform our everyday decisions, for example: how we recycle, how our food is packaged, and the cost of solar-paneling our roofs. But individual people also have the power to influence the systemic issues that propel climate change, particularly through collective action. In fact, by getting everyday people involved throughout the process, communities can build resilient and established networks that will be pivotal in adapting to moments of instability.

A resilient community network needs a local champion to unite and lead the group. This group can tackle local politics, development and planning, or even grassroots initiatives to improve the local environment. 

For example, a small group in the town of Wellington, UK applied for seed funding so they could build a community garden and wildlife habitat in an abandoned part of their neighborhood. In a report to the Resilience program team member Helen Gillingham underscored how simple it was to get the initiative off the ground (Resilience).

“Sometimes people look at us and seem to imagine we are a massive group with huge knowledge and experience. But we’re not! You only need a few people to lead on projects and then a lot of people who are willing to help and to fit that in around their work.”

- Helen Gillingham

Finding a group of enthusiastic people to initiate a project is an important part of building sustainable communities. Change starts with people who have unique perspectives and creative solutions. In fact, solutions developed by community members can grow into government-funded initiatives. In Wellington, the district and town council bought 63 more acres of land to build a green corridor after the community's initial action (Resilience). Sometimes all that is needed is momentum and a project framework to spur further development. 

Being a champion for local, sustainable development is as much social activism as it is environmental. For years, communities of color in the United States have not had access to nature, with 74% of them lacking significant natural areas or green spaces, compared to 23% of predominantly white communities (The Wilderness Society). 

Environmental activist Leah Thomas is another great example of how a single person can propel change on this issue. As the founder of the Intersectional Environmentalism organization and author of a book with the same name, Thomas believes that environmental action must amplify the contributions of individuals from all backgrounds and abilities. 

By understanding that climate change does not impact every community equally, Thomas has started this organization to make climate action more inclusive and accessible. Her organization provides consulting and support to fashion brands, non-profits, and other companies, helping them raise awareness and expose the public to the contributions all different types of people are making in this space. 

Additionally, Green Heart Louisville is a Kentucky-based organization monitoring air quality in Louisville, a city with a large black and white population. Friend of OSB Dr. Natasha DeJarnett is working directly with this team, investigating how an increase in green canopies will decrease pollution and benefit the local community. The advisory board for this project is composed of local members who work alongside researchers like Dr. DeJarnett to make sure the project’s evolution supports the needs of their community.

Intersectional environmentalism means more people can feel included in the growing movement to protect the planet. Community members of all kinds need to raise their voices and champion the perspectives of marginalized groups who have been historically ignored, making space for different perspectives in the ongoing climate conversation. 

Like with everything else related to climate action, there is no “one size fits all” approach to being an active participant in a sustainable community. If you are interested in supporting your community’s climate initiatives, find opportunities near you by contacting your local non-profit organizations.

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Writing by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice.

Illustration by Hannah Ranieri, Design Strategist.

Neo-Retail: The Evolution of the Department Store Experience

Before the internet, the most convenient way to get trendy and affordable clothes was to go to the department store. Now, with Amazon and other online retailers, physical shops must compete with online stores that offer low prices and quick delivery. 

It might be natural to think of online shopping in competition with physical retail. As consumer preferences change, online retailers can more quickly reflect new trends and demands faster than physical stores can restock their shelves. However, physical stores provide consumers the opportunity to see how a product looks and feels in the real world, without having to buy it first. But the future of shopping is not quite so either/or, emerging neo-retail is a new model that blends digital assets and physical experiences, shaking up the conventions of commerce.

Showfields and Neighborhood Goods, department-esque stores in NYC,  are successful takes on this new wave of experiential retail. They are more like showrooms, with exhibits that leave products on display like art. There is an emphasis on perusing the store like a gallery as opposed to combing racks full of the same product. Each brand is highlighted with its own unique story, and consumers can rally behind the mission of a small-scale creator whose product might be in support of BIPOC, LGBT+, feminist, and/or sustainable goals.  

Displays at Showfields, NYC.

Because of the open, museum-style layout of neo-retail,  there is an opportunity to play with the function of the space without upending the store and moving everything around. Outside of business hours, Showfields and Neighborhood Goods quickly renovate their stores into yoga classes, conferences, and family events that locals can enjoy.  This is particularly important in New York City, where real estate is valuable. 

Unlike traditional department stores, neo-retail spaces are designed to host people, not just get paying customers in and out. This reinforces that neo-retail is just as much about community as it is about commerce, which reflects the values of a growing class of consumers who want to feel more connected to the brands they spend money on and the companies they support. 

Screenshot of Showfields website. Event posting.

Window-shoppers can explore products without feeling pressured to make a purchase. In fact, in-store shoppers are encouraged to go to the store’s website and get products shipped straight to their houses. This can help to reduce online returns, which have increased sharply since the pandemic. In fact, around 218 billion dollars of all online purchases were returned in 2021 (National Retail Federation). Neo-retail’s diverse product offerings, from makeup to clothes to baby formula, should help mitigate the issue of returns across the board by giving consumers a one-stop shop for in-store-first, online purchases. In this neo-retail model, backroom inventory does not exist in-store, which makes the goods feel more exclusive, but also positions the customer to shop from the company website after seeing the product in person.

In the 90s and early 00s, shopping was all about buying the right brand. Stores like Abercrombie and Fitch had a monopoly on clothing culture and lifestyle; they promoted white centrism and social exclusivity. In neo-retail, we are seeing micro-brands explode into popularity, with BIPOC and LGBT+ creators popping onto the scene with small-scale, mission-based offerings. Stores like Showfields and Neighborhood Goods give a physical platform to many of these brands that once only had access to digital marketplaces, like Etsy and Instagram. Ultimately, these offerings speak to the lifestyle aspirations of young people that want the products they buy to represent their values and intersectional identity.  

Screenshot of Showfields website. Search products by social mission.

Neo-retail stores like the ones in NYC represent a trend we see across the country. In the decisions people make every day, they want to feel like they are having a positive impact and are contributing to the greater good of society. Additionally, customers want customizable products fast, and at their fingertips, without sacrificing the quality that is often questionable with online ordering.  With these trends in mind,  retailers can begin to rethink their existing digital and physical assets to draw audiences and entice existing customers in new and valuable ways. Neo-retail has the potential to become a more efficient hybrid of existing retail options; Showfields and Neighborhood Goods are just the beginning. At Orange Sparkle Ball we are excited for the opportunity to see and shape what comes next.  

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Writing and research by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice.

Photos and research by Ashley Touchton, Design and Startup Strategy Consultant

Introducing: Behavioral Science and Innovation

In our work supporting client innovation, we have seen great ideas fall flat because the design and implementation failed to address user reactions to the solution and, more importantly, how the solution would fit into their daily lives.  From technology startups to government departments, the importance of understanding human behavior is paramount to creating a solution that people actually want and will reliably use. 

Some companies have gotten increasingly good at determining what makes people change their behavior. Research around human decision-making has enabled them to produce products and services with real and sustained value for the end-user, encouraging positive behaviors such as eating healthier or reading more. Conversely, this research can be used to convince consumers to buy products or services that encourage negative behaviors, such as fast-food consumption or prolonged social media use. 

This research is called behavioral science. Properly defined, it refers to the study of human behavior through the use of “systematic experimentation and observation” (Chicago Booth).

This series is going to explore behavioral science as it pertains to innovative technology and strategy. As an impact agency, we are always looking for examples of innovative ways to approach a problem. Innovation, in the OSB definition, is actionable progress. Here at OSB, we stress the importance of finding the smallest, most viable element of a possible solution and testing it, iterating on that opportunity until we have something worthwhile. 

At OSB, we never claim to be subject matter experts, and we refer to behavioral scientists and researchers for the principles that inform our work. Throughout the series, we want to emphasize how anyone can draw from the insights of behavioral science and apply them to their own projects. 

Understanding human decision-making allows us to maximize the positive impact and value of a project. Under the umbrella of behavioral science exists behavioral psychology, economics, and design. In our series, we will be focusing on behavioral economics and behavioral design, the pillars that most impact our work. Their definitions are listed below.

Behavioral economics: the study of choices and how people make them in a world with limited resources, or scarcity (SUE Behavioral Design). 

Behavioral design:  “the systematic understanding of how people think and how they make decisions. This understanding forms the basis of designing interventions that lead to behavioral change” (SUE Behavioral Design). 

Throughout the series, we will provide case studies and examples that bridge the gap between behavioral science and innovation, focusing on how economics and design are pivotal to innovative thinking. 

We are excited to cover a range of topics that help push the conversation about the complexity of human behavior. If at any point in the series you have any questions, feel free to send us an email at hello@orangesparkleball.com

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Writing By:

Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice

Nia-Simone Eccleston is a 2022 graduate of the Georgia Tech Industrial Design program, BSc. She has many years of experience in journalistic writing and has contributed as a design researcher for various social impact projects.

Odiraa Okala, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Odiraa is a Master of Public Health Candidate at Saint Louis University in Missouri. He has a concentration in Behavioral Science and Health Education and has extensive experience in public policy and human-centered design thinking.

Public Health + Care Economy

Recap

In May’s Public Health+ Webinar, OSB design innovation strategist Sophie Becker sat down with Sara Gardner and Meghan Kluth from the Center for Public Partnerships and Research at the University of Kansas. In their conversation, they discussed the care economy, a sector that considers the multiple types of care across lifespans and its economic implications.

With a background in working at nonprofits as a fundraiser, Gardner has an economic approach to how to address the problems that affect caregivers, care receivers, and their families. Kluth’s journey in this space started with her diagnosis of a chronic illness in college, which has since strengthened her passion for supporting the accessibility and affordability of care for all those in need of it. 

"There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.” - Rosalynn Carter

Both Kluth and Gardner emphasized that caregiving touches every person’s life. It can look like a parent taking care of their newborn, a teenager caring for their neighbor with dementia, or a family that works together to support someone with limited mobility. Because it is so pervasive, care is one of the biggest sectors of the economy. According to Kluth, it is worth an estimated 648 billion dollars.

In this conversation, Gardner and Kluth focused on the value of accessible quality care, explaining how investing in caregivers will have positive returns in improving the wellbeing of communities. Gardner emphasizes the importance of seeing caregiving as something that doesn’t just affect those in need of care, but the community as a whole.

“We are social beings, we are interconnected, whether we want to think of it or not. To not recognize the ripple effects of our connections when it comes to need for care is really short-sighted” - Sara Gardner

Overall, Gardner and Kluth believe that improving care in communities has to start with involvement from the local level. Attached to the idea of caregiving are many stigmas that challenge community investment in care.

“Slowly chipping away by having a conversation, asking and normalizing the conversation around caregiving is one thing people can do today to push the boulder slowly to break down that stigma” - Sara Gardner

Reflection 

1. Care is universal, almost everyone will be impacted by caregiving in their life.

We will all experience being a part of the care economy. Finding ways of caring that allow people to share that burden can only help improve the experience for everyone.

“When you look at care roles and care needs across life spans, it really represents a significant portion of the population in the United States and across the world. ” - Meghan Kluth 

In public health, we often talk about the importance of examining issues across lifespans. Despite the relative unfamiliarity of the term care economy, it truly is a sector that we all interact with and is prevalent in all our lives. At the start of our lives, the vast majority of us will receive care from a parent or relative as children and adolescents. As we age into adulthood it’s likely that we will join the 53 million Americans who are looking after a friend or relative - with 61% of us doing so while we might be employed in some other capacity (Caregiving in the U.S. 2020). Finally, as we enter old age, particularly in our late 70s and beyond, many of us will receive anywhere from an average of 25-38 hours of care per week from another relative. Most of this will be uncompensated and informal. Addressing issues like caregiver burnout, loneliness, and isolation would benefit us all either now or in the future. Additionally, given that many of us will both give and receive care, finding ways of caring that allow people to share that burden can only help improve the quality and sustainability of that care. 

2. There needs to be consensus and legitimacy around caregiving language.

As noted by Meghan Kluth, one of the issues around intervening in the care economy is the issues that come with defining a caregiver. Many people take on the role of caregiver at various points in their lives. However, only a small percentage of them formally take on the title of ‘caregiver’ or even consider themselves one.

Not having that shared language can make it difficult to assess their needs and formulate a strategy to address those needs. For example, the needs of a stay-at-home mother of four will look very different from a middle-aged man taking care of his elderly parents. Yet, both fit the role of caregiver and will experience stresses and challenges because of that role. As Kluth noted, “We tend to try to put caregiving in a box, but it doesn't tend to fit in one simple box, it’s a complex issue.” 

Kluth noted that there's sometimes a stigma attached to the role that makes people reluctant to consider themselves part of that group. This can also particularly affect those who are being taken care of or helped by a caregiver. Especially if the title isn’t designated as part of a formal job, it can be odd to consider oneself a caregiver.  Yet, the only way to start addressing those needs is to start looking more expansively at the role of caregiving and preparing people for what to expect when they enter into that space, rather than if. 

3. Caregivers deserve adequate compensation.

Another difficulty in understanding and negotiating the care economy is adequate compensation. One of the issues raised in the seminar concerned identifying productivity. After all, there’s a reasonable challenge in identifying how much someone’s time and money is worth without any external reference to work off of. 

This isn’t a new realization. In a phenomenon noted by economists several decades ago, working mothers were noted to put in “second shifts” when taking care of their families after work. All of this work usually goes uncompensated, even though it helps the economy and society as a whole. After all, well-fed and educated children tend to eventually turn into productive members of society (broadly speaking). However, at no point in time do they get compensated for this time spent. 

“We already have the mechanisms to pay caregivers, it’s called Medicaid and Medicare. We have to make some policy changes to open up the billing code. We have to generate the public will to make that happen… I think change happens from the ground up, it's about informing people about giving people the language to use, it's about communities demanding different ways of doing things." - Sara Gardner

Fixing this unjust oversight will require reimagining ways of measuring productivity. Collecting, aggregating, and sharing data will be important for this effort. It will also require a broader reorientation of our ideas around just compensation and what roles in society need to be valued more. While this won’t address all the stresses and challenges that caregivers face, it would be a start toward healthier participation in the care economy for all caregivers and their loved ones. 

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Writing By:

Odiraa Okala, Public Health Innovation Analyst  & Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice

The OSB Guide to Eco-Conscious Innovation

Reflecting on our experience supporting startup and corporate partnerships has given us insights into scaling sustainable technologies. We are sharing some of those insights that we have developed over the years to spark ideas in others or give context to the current landscape of sustainability as it relates to business and innovation. 

Here are 3 strategic opportunities that make environmentally-sustainable technology implementation successful.

Assess areas of opportunity, then start small. 

Hannah Ranieri has been an innovation and strategy consultant for OSB since 2021. She has worked in the food service space to guide pilots that implement carbon-neutral food delivery across the country. In her experience, many of the obstacles to implementing sustainable technology within an industry are not shortcomings of the technology.

“For sustainable technology like autonomous delivery or compostable packaging, the technology solutions exist, but most corporations do not have the business model or existing infrastructure to integrate these new solutions. By piloting, we are able to gradually chip away at those existing barriers and prove the feasibility and necessity in an incremental way,” Ranieri.

For startups and corporations alike, pilots can be invaluable. Pilots allow us to test, at a small scale, the feasibility of the technology. Many times new technology can seem promising but isn’t actually suitable in a real-world scenario. So, before dedicating significant money, time, materials, and energy to scale technology across an industry or organization, conducting a series of small tests beforehand can be financially savvy and environmentally resourceful.

Even so, there is a lot of background work that goes into starting a pilot. “Typically, we begin with a market landscape scan to identify and understand the types of technology that exist, existing legislation/regulations, key partnerships within the space, relevant trends, and existing opportunities. With that background information, we look at how this technology could apply to our client’s business and identify potential use cases. We’ll make a roadmap of how we want to strategically test use cases. From there, we’ll identify interesting/innovative startups in the space and structure pitches and deal flows to hear their proposals for what a pilot could look like. Once we pick one, or several, we’ll begin piloting,” Ranieri.

Lean on what makes the technology different and communicate it simply.

Sophie Becker has been a design innovation strategist for Orange Sparkle Ball since 2020 and has experience working with alternative energy startups. She knows many companies in this industry default to greenwashing practices that highlight sustainable values, without explaining what differentiates their technology. 

“Making sure that companies in this space are able to differentiate themselves and have impact requires benchmarking both competitors and the market landscape. Once you have that baseline understanding, then you can strategically examine how to position the client. Where will they stand out? What are their differentiators?” says Becker. 

Distinguishing what makes the technology stand out is important, but translating those differentiators into an easily understandable offering is equally important. To ensure constructive partnerships between startups and corporations, the values and vocabularies used to explain the technology and its differentiators must be clear enough for both parties to understand. That’s where strategic translation, the work we do at OSB, becomes important. By understanding the points of view of the start-up and corporation, we help to contextualize the startup’s technology within the broader scope of the corporation's organization. 

“Being generalists, we are great facilitators since we can see outside perspectives and translate ideas and language between groups. Startups can often be so in the weeds of their offerings that they don’t grasp that everyone else isn’t even clear on the basics of their products. We can come in, take the time to understand, and then translate it more broadly. You don’t want a [partnership] to fail because of a simple communication error,” Becker.

Utilize change management strategies to guide all stakeholders.

Diego Pérez has been an innovation and strategy consultant for OSB since 2017. In his role, he has worked with food service organizations to guide the implementation of sustainable packaging. When integrating new technology, Diego has seen the success of creating a roadmap and accompanying toolkit for all in the organization to use.

“This approach provides a collection of tools, steps, and strategies that when used collectively, can be very effective for implementing new programs, projects, initiatives, and proof of concept pilots.”

This approach provides clarity on the project and action steps for all stakeholders. Because we are always introducing something new, we utilize this approach to keep all stakeholders on the same page when implementing a technology that's never been used in the organization before. 
“When we think about roadmaps and toolkits, we are looking to bridge the gap between implementation and practice. This change management approach provides an action plan so people know what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and why to do it, as well as what language to use. Sustainable goals can be obtained by providing a well-thought-out plan that can be understood and followed by all stakeholders,” says Pérez.

Conclusion

Ultimately, strategy is vital to implementing sustainable technology. Not only does it help get the technology to market, but it also helps get stakeholders on board to try something new that might feel risky. 

“I think the main way strategy can support eco-conscious innovation is by making it more easily digestible to people who are risk-averse. By creating a roadmap for strategically testing use cases within an overarching initiative, it’s more actionable and directional and can help outside stakeholders understand more clearly how they may fit into the process,” Ranieri.

It's easy to forget that behind every new, sustainable technology, there was a strategic process that helped that technology get to the market. This is the work that we do at OSB, and we are proud to continue accelerating sustainable startups and challenging corporations to prioritize sustainability in their practices.

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Writing by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice.

Illustration by Hannah Ranieri, Design Strategist.

Science and Society: The role of the academic community in climate resiliency

A largely undisputed fact in the scientific community is that human activity accelerates climate change, and the ramifications of this are causing extreme weather conditions that put populations across the globe at risk of food scarcity, displacement, and disease (NASA). 

However, academics and researchers haven’t come to a consensus on what they should do with their scientific insights. Some scientists feel that their only responsibility is to come up with the data, and contributing any more would be succumbing to the humdrum of politics, which can immediately soil their reputation as biased and take focus away from their actual work. 

In addition, there are climate-change professionals with experience as data analysts, visualization experts, infographic designers, and journalists who make it their whole life’s work to communicate complex scientific data to everyday people. Bearing all this in mind, why then, should scientists be morally responsible for sharing information with the public and advocating for climate change?

In short, scientists and researchers have credibility, which makes their perspectives influential in society. Hearing straight from the people doing the research, in a way that is digestible and engaging, inspires the public. Emily Zheng, a former public health innovation analyst for OSB, tells us that speaking in a common language is the first step scientists and researchers need to take to bridge the gap between data and discourse.

“In academia, we fall into this trap of using language or terminology that reflects the degree of education to which we have achieved. But then we forget that not everyone has had that privilege. Some [research] never leaves the academic community, and I challenge the academic institution to not only train their students how to relay information to the common people but also use it to take action.”

To Emily’s point, students in academic institutions should be trained to speak to the public in a way that is informative and useful, so the future generation of scientists feel like they can and should contribute directly to public debate. One of the three pillars of the Universal Ethical Code for Scientists is responsibility. The ethical code states that scientists have a responsibility to, “...discuss the issues that science raises for society, [and] listen to the aspirations and concerns of others”.

We have seen research stimulate discourse before. American marine biologist Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962, a book on the harm of pesticides on wildlife biodiversity and health, that left a huge impact on how America views pollution and climate change. Before her book was published, no government on the planet had a department or ministry of the environment (Academic Matters). Following Carson’s book, protecting the environment from toxic chemicals has become a common-sense issue that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversees.  

What stalls climate action is the gridlock of many seemingly conflicting elements: science and politics, supply and demand, equity and limited resources. Academia alone cannot create the framework to protect communities vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. Ultimately, scientists and researchers must stimulate conversation within academic and non-academic communities. When academics empower people of all education levels with their research, they build bridges of understanding that can be the first step to social change. 

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Writing by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice. Research by Emily Zheng, Public Health Innovation Analyst Intern. Illustration by Sophie Becker, Design Innovation Strategist.

Public Health + Social Entrepreneurship

RECAP

In April’s Public Health + Season 2 Webinar, Isabelle Swiderski, Founder of Seven25, sat down with Dr. Ndunge Kiiti to discuss the intersection of public health and social entrepreneurship. Dr.Kiiti currently serves as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University and at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. With more than 30 years of experience in international development, she has expertise in education, communication, health, and entrepreneurship. To date, Dr. Kiiti has worked across numerous communities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.

 “A human becomes a human because of other humans.” - African Proverb 

Growing up in rural Kenya, this proverb was the cornerstone of Dr. Kiiti’s upbringing and has largely influenced her career path. She learned at an early age that “life is about people, it’s about relationships.” Within her work, she recognized that the key to success is being willing to engage in mutual learning and humility with others.

She uses this quote from colleague Ravi Jayakaran at Medical Assistance Program (MAP) International to describe development as “a process of reducing vulnerabilities and increasing capacity.”

For Dr. Kiiti, helping create sustainable businesses that will actually make an impact on the ground means creating intentional partnerships. She believes in the bottom-up approach to “work and walk alongside people… asking them what their needs [and] what their issues are.“ 

Throughout her years of experience, what continues to give her hope are young people. Her call to action for young people is “to remain open, to engage globally… understand the world as is.. to put volunteerism and service into their educational process and to stay engaged.” 

Reflection: 

From her experience working globally and across different cultures, Dr. Kiiti reminds us that we are all human beings. Regardless of our education level or experience, we can learn from one another. It is critical to recognize the biases and assumptions we hold when trying to help people. In order to accelerate social entrepreneurship and deal with challenges faced across communities, here are some key lessons we want to highlight:

1. Focus on assets not deficits

An important takeaway from Dr. Kiiti’s experience is that one of the keys to successful development is focusing on assets. “There are so many assets we ignore because we are not listening.” Many of us are trained to identify the problem and develop a brand new solution. Rather, we should shift our thinking to recognize that it’s not about trying to change existing systems but instead “build and strengthen what they already do.”  

2. Invest in people 

Dr. Kiiti believes it’s important for development approaches to have a long-standing impact. She makes a point to consider “what is doable, what is sustainable, and what will really make a difference on the ground …”  For Dr. Kiiti, investing in people is key to creating lasting social change and education is a prime example.

“We’re seeing [educated youth] turning back and saying ‘let me educate my younger sister, my younger brother, and the community.’ That is what is sustainable to me in helping these families come out of poverty.”

3. Build intentional partnerships

Dr. Kiiti has learned over the years that  “the most unique partnerships are those who you never expected to work with.” However what many people fail to remember is that partnerships take time, resources, and in actuality are a lot harder to do and maintain. Both Swiderski agrees with Dr.Kiiti, noting in her own work that “collaboration in practice is a lot more difficult than collaboration in theory.”  To build successful and sustainable partnerships, one needs to be able to listen, willing to learn, and ready to invest in growing mutual relationships. 

Social entrepreneurship is the future of many economies and so it’s critical that we operate within the cultural context of the society rather than working against it. Dr. Kiitti reminds us that openness and humility are key. 

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Writing By:

Emily Zheng, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Emily is a Master of Public Health student at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. She is part of the Behavioral, Social, Health Education Sciences department and is also pursuing a certificate in Social Determinants of Health.

Liris Stephanie Berra, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Liris is a Master of Public Health student at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. She is part of the Global Health department, pursuing a concentration in Community Health Development and a certificate in the Social Determinants of Health.

Public Health + Clinical Medicine

Recap

In March’s Public Health+ Season 2 webinar, our very own Meaghan Kennedy, Founder of OSB and epidemiologist by training, sat down with Dr. Michael Mina, the Chief Science Officer at eMed Digital Healthcare to discuss the intersections of public health and clinical medicine. 

Dr. Mina comes from an incredibly diverse background with cross-sectoral experiences that positions him to work at the crossroads of public health and clinical medicine. 

He began his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth University’s School of Engineering, Dr. Mina took a pivotal career shift, opting to practice Buddhism as a monk in the mountains of Sri Lanka. During that time a tsunami caused Dr. Mina to evacuate to a refugee camp. There he recognized his experience in engineering with his interests in public health and medicine could come together. 

He returned to pursue an MD and Ph.D. at Emory University, where he studied bacterial co-infections and live attenuated vaccines. The culmination of his studies led him to a professorship at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and School of Medicine. When the pandemic struck, Dr. Mina had a unique opportunity to use his experience as a physician, epidemiologist, and immunologist in the midst of a public health crisis. He decided to leave academia once again, but this time to join eMed, a pioneering digital health company. eMed offers telehealth services and at-home test kits that empower people with affordable and convenient access to healthcare.  

He joined eMed to “break down barriers to keeping people healthy” and join their mission to democratize healthcare, because he believes that “if there’s any human right that we should have, it should be knowing what’s going on inside our own bodies, on our own terms.” 

Dr. Mina spoke greatly on the failures and successes of public health and medicine. It had been made very clear during the pandemic that medicine and public health are “not always in sync with each other” and the decisions made are a “reflection of the erosion of public health and medicine and being able to bring them together in a constructive way.”  

He believes that “public health thinking and medicine [need to be brought] together in a constructive way.” In order to produce the problem-solvers that transcend disciplines, we need to transform educational systems to avoid being too dogmatic in thinking that their training is the only “right way.” In the meantime, Dr. Mina hopes to continue to build sustained public health initiatives that combine all his cross-disciplinary training to build momentum to accelerate applied public health solutions.  

Reflection

Dr. Mina gave us a breadth of information to think about, but there were two takeaways we wanted to focus our attention on: 

1. Public Health and Clinical Medicine are not in sync with each other. 

As Dr. Mina stated, the poorly defined roles of both these disciplines have led to poor decision-making and confusing messaging for the general public. An example given in the webinar is the recommendation of quarantining someone (i.e. isolation). 

“That is absolutely not a medical practice, that is purely a public health practice. I have never met a doctor who has prescribed isolation for [the patient’s] own benefit. It gives [their]  family a benefit and it gives the people around [them]  the benefit that [the patient doesn’t] infect them.” 

That’s where there has been tension. The role of medicine is focused on the individual, the patient sitting in your exam room, whereas public health is looking broadly at the entire community. “Medicine comes in when public health has failed.” The two disciplines are undoubtedly intertwined in that they both are working to achieve the same thing: to keep people and communities alive and healthy. 

The problem is there needs to be a better way to work together and the pandemic was not the ideal time to figure that out. As Dr. Mina says, “A pandemic is not a time to be tunnel visioned, it’s not a time to keep silos up, it needs people being able to talk across the table to each other, it needs economists, public health people, physicians to all carry equal weight.”  

2. Cross-disciplinary thinking is the way forward. 

As students and professionals, we find ourselves isolated in the thinking and teachings of our respective majors, departments, or fields. We hold our new knowledge as convention and the only “right” way of doing something. Dr. Mina claims that:

“The most important challenges are going to be solved today and in the future by bringing disciplines together… We've done a lot of fundamental research over decades and centuries and millennia to really understand pieces. But the real change that has happened in society has come when disciplines are woven together.“  

It’s important to remember that each discipline and field only offers a single perspective or framework for problem-solving. So imagine how much more powerful the solutions can be when these disciplines are brought together. To put it simply, we need more team players who are committed to life-long learning and are willing to go against what we are traditionally taught and trained to do. 

Rather than this webinar just being about how public health and clinical medicine intersect, it is a wake-up call for all of us to examine in our own lives and professions how to break down silos and better work together to accelerate impact. 

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Writing By:

Emily Zheng, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Emily is a Master of Public Health student at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. She is part of the Behavioral, Social, Health Education Sciences department and is also pursuing a certificate in Social Determinants of Health.

Liris Stephanie Berra, Public Health Innovation Analyst 

Liris is a Master of Public Health student at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. She is part of the Global Health department, pursuing a concentration in Community Health Development and a certificate in the Social Determinants of Health.

How to Build Sustainable Communities

U.S. residents have a carbon footprint four times the international average (Nature magazine). It's no surprise considering how the U.S. government incentivizes the burning of nonrenewable fuel for energy, despite the environmental repercussions, as we discussed in our last blog.

Every region of the world has different social, economic, technological, and regulatory barriers that make their environmental impact unique. Even still, in investigating the efforts of the world’s most sustainable communities, we determined commonalities that could serve as a blueprint for U.S. cities that struggle to reduce their environmental impact. 

Across the board,  all the sustainable communities we investigated emphasized the importance of having community members at the forefront of climate action. The residents of the Brickland community in Singapore participated in the Towards Sustainable Living: Role of the Community and Consumers workshop, which gave them leadership skills to lead local climate action. These workshops were led by Nanyang Technological University students and served to “connect and engage residents with interests in sustainability to channel… initiatives [from the] ground up within the community” (EurekAlert). Workshops teaching project management skills enable locals to spearhead culture shifts through their own sustainability projects.The value of workshops in building sustainable communities is further understated in Stockholm Sweden’s Royal Seaport community. 

Royal Seaport, Stockholm is one of the largest urban development localities in Northern Europe (Stockholms stad). The city has laid out a Sustainable Urban Development Program that serves as a roadmap for the community's trajectory to reduce environmental impact. Royal SeaPort’s comprehensive program shows the importance of having a plan that substantiates actions made during development. For example, one tier of this plan is to “encourage participation and learning” among community members. To satisfy this, the city hosts workshops for local entrepreneurs and developers that communicate new urban development requirements (Stockholm workshop report). One such international innovation workshop was co-led by climate action organizations, private sector stakeholders, and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. The goal of the workshop was to “identify potential technical solutions for seasonal storage of electricity” and discuss innovative partnerships in this space (Stockholm Royal Seaport 2019 Sustainability Report). As Royal Seaport continues to grow, workshops empower city stakeholders to be adaptable and embrace infrastructural changes that reduce environmental impact. 

Being adaptable is not just a trait specific to the Swedish city of Stockholm. As natural disasters become more volatile as a result of climate change, the sustainable cities we investigated underlined the need to design communities that are resilient to climate volatility such as dramatic changes in landscape and weather. A community’s resilience is determined by its ability to prepare for anticipated hazards and adapt to changing conditions through preparedness that focuses on prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery (National Institute of Standards and Technology).  Similar to Royal Seaport, Uruguay has developed a comprehensive plan in response to the climate crisis. Called the National Adaptive Plan (NAP), it focuses on creating communities that can adapt to the extreme weather events using “urban greening” strategies (Relief Web). According to the plan, these NAP cities will develop resiliency solutions on a case-by-case basis through community workshops, communication strategy, and analysis of adaptation options. One example of a solution occurring in Uruguay’s coastal region is the offering of alternative “activities in coastal areas to mitigate the impact of sun and beach tourism” (Uruguay NAP). 

Ultimately, every community has to self-determine the most reasonable way it can tackle climate change. Documenting this self-assessment in a holistic climate resiliency plan is a great way to start. Furthermore, hosting workshops to engage the community members who are impacted by changes in culture or policy can further solidify the plan and garner support. There is no one way to respond to the climate crisis, but being proactive and unified in the mission is the first step to building climate resilient communities. If you are interested in knowing how resilient your community is, explore this US climate resiliency map, by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, to determine where your community might stand in the face of a crisis.

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Writing by Nia-Simone Eccleston, Design Strategist Apprentice. Research by Nia-Simone Eccleston and Emily Zheng, Public Health Innovation Analyst Intern. Illustration by Hannah Ranieri, Design Innovation Strategist.