I can’t remember how I came about Katie’s book, How to Save the World, in 2019 but it almost seemed too good to be true. A research-led practical guide to create environmental change, combining gaming, behavioural psychology, design, and storytelling! It just meshed so perfectly with the work I was doing at the time with my science communication exhibit project, Earth Arcade. With the book, Katie combined all of these disciplines into something that is incredibly accessible, enjoyable, and also beautiful. It has been a key influence and reference guide for my work since.

Katie Patrick is an environmental engineer and action designer passionate about seeing positive environmental action. Her work focusses on empowering people to be leaders in their own communities, turning grassroot movements into societal shifts. Her key tools are science and creativity – she takes the latest peer-reviewed research in behavioural psychology, gamification, and marketing and translates and transforms it into something that is accessible, applicable, and aesthetically pleasing. She has a rare and incredible talent.

Her clients include the United Nations Environment Programme, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the European Commission, among many others. She regularly posts tips and guides on social media, in podcasts, and through webinars. Last year she launched Hello World Labs to equip sustainability leaders with the skills to transform their community engagement, with lots of free events, a newsletter packed with tips, and opportunities for 1-to-1 mentoring and to join the School of Climate Action Design.

Katie’s work does not explicitly cover my professional realm of flood risk but much of her work can be easily applied to the practice of community engagement for flood resilience. For example, it could be used alongside the Environment Agency’s ‘Applying behavioural insights to property flood resilience‘ report to better help protect people from flooding.

I asked Katie a few short questions about what imagination means to her:

Why is imagination important to the work you do?

Environmental sustainability needs a vision, a goal, and destination we can work towards. It needs to be a practical engineering solution AND it needs to be an exciting wonderful movement we can believe in. 

How do you keep your imagination sharp?

I like to meditate on an energy question and just idea flow through me. I think making a meditation about a question is key to putting the mind in a state to answer that question.

What are you currently working on you would like to shout about?

The school of climate action design! I am building a community and 6 week coaching program to teach action design and environmental psychology.

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