Hello! I'm Katie. I'm an environmental engineer and software designer.
I'm the the author of the book and podcast How to Save the World, and a TEDx speaker on the critical role of creativity, optimism, and imagination in the craft of social and environmental change.
I design "Fitbit for the planet" apps that help social impact entrepreneurs and sustainability professionals implement powerful data, game design and behavior-change techniques that create real and measurable change. You can see my concept designs here.
My approach is to design interfaces, products, and campaigns that sharply tap into people's motivational core. I can help you use these principles drawn from the latest research into environmental behavioral psychology, data science, and game design to unleash your greatest innovations, inspiration and creativity, so you can experience the joy of implementing a project that really does change the world.
If you think a gamified Earth sounds fun, you might enjoy joining these Fitbit for the Planet video hangouts I do each month with our community of world-changers and a special expert guest.
I'm the co-founder of Energy Lollipop and Urban Canopy in San Francisco — startups that are devoted to bringing down the peak CO2 released by the electricity grid. You should install this neat Chrome extension we just launched that show's the grid's emissions in real-time.
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @katiepatrick, Instagram @katiepatrickhello and Linkedin for new ideas I post regularly!
You and I probably have a lot in common
You want to wake up every morning tingling with excitement to get to work on an insanely awesome project that is making a difference on a cause you really care about.
You want to be using the latest new technology, leaning in to future innovations, and always learning exciting new things from within your projects.
But it's likely that’s not quite what’s going on if you work for most NGOs, government departments, or universities - or in coffee shops while you're interneting about trying to find your calling. It’s actually pretty rare to see this full picture in action.
You are very motivated and you are working hard, but not moving the dial enough on the cause that you care about. You’re often stuck under some bureaucracy that feels impossible to shift. People tell you demoralizing things like "But no one is really ever going to change", when you see fertile signs of change everywhere. You can see a vision of how much better the world could be.
I used to be like this too. Until the lightning bolt finally hit me.
As an environmental engineer with 20 years experience in environmental change, founding a multi-million dollar environmental media company, and living the Silicon Valley #hackerlife (yes, just like the TV show), I really believe I've cracked a critical part of the code of social change.
I show future-leaning entrepreneurs, cities, NGOs and activists like you how to:
> Unleash epic new innovations and ideas by effectively using data science and new hardware to make change instantly measurable.
> Make the game of change really fun and effective by using gamification techniques that tap into our motivational core and pursuit of happiness.
> Unlock the doors of motivation in your audience's psyche by using behavior-change techniques that work.
> Turn your stakeholders into cheerleaders for your cause by using the power of narrative design.
> Make your cause go viral with comunity-based social marketing and by hacking the concept of social diffusion to spread your message.
Since I learned all these techniques, I actually now do live the world changer's dream. I work on the world’s most interesting projects. I get to meet the world’s most interesting people. I get paid to do what I love - and I actually shift the numbers on issues I care about! I can't do it all, but I can teach you, so we can all get to work making saving the world the greatest game we've every played.
Get an in-house lesson with Katie to learn how to apply game design and behavioral psychology techniques for environmental change. Book it >>
Public speaking and holding workshops that people love, usually in California's Bay Area. Join the meetup here for the schedule.
Katie Patrick is an Australian-American environmental engineer, designer and computer programmer. Her company, Hello World Labs applies data-driven, gamification and behavior-change techniques to solve the world’s biggest environmental problems. She is the creator of the behavior change game and Youtube channel Detrashed, the author of Detrash Your Life in 90 Days - The Art of Zero Waste Living and the creator of Zerowastify an app designed to better measure municipal solid waste.
Katie has been a media spokesperson on environmental issues and has been featured regularly on TV, radio and in print publications including Vogue Australia. She was CEO of the VC-funded green-lifestyle magazine Green Pages Australia and was appointed environmental brand ambassador by the Ogilvy Earth advertising agency for Volkswagen, Lipton Tea and Wolfblass Wines.
She has served on the board of Australia’s national eco label, Good Environmental Choice Australia, and won the Cosmopolitan Woman of the Year Award for entrepreneurship. After graduating from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a B.Eng in Environmental Engineering, she worked as an environmental design engineer for building engineers Lincoln Scott in Sydney on some of the world’s first platinum-LEED-certified commercial buildings.
Katie lives in San Francisco with her young daughter Anastasia.