LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Photos of trash strewn beaches and dizzying stats on the thousands of pounds of trash pulled from Tahoe may not be hitting the mark on changing litter behavior, according to a psychologist brought into Tahoe’s litter conversation.

“It can be a little bit worrisome to spend too much effort focusing on problem behavior,” Dr. Renee Bator explains, “Instead, try to find what’s going well and what people are doing right.” That’s because learning what others are doing, can be very influential in what people decide to do, the State University of New York Plattsburgh professor says.

This information has Tahoe environmental organizations and government agencies preparing positive success stories for messaging as they head into summer—the fourth of July lurking just around the corner.

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“We need to be establishing a cultural baseline that this is Tahoe,” Cara Hollis with Clean Up The Lake says, “We are clean and we take care of our natural resources.” It’s a cultural baseline they hope visitors adopt.

Bator says social approval and disapproval can strongly influence behaviors, so emphasizing that people approve of certain actions or look down on others can also be powerful.

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People also tend to be more influenced by what they can imagine or visualize, instead of data points. “Even though data can be useful in driving decisions, in terms of influencing people,” the psychology professor says, “it might be better to have a story that rings true for people.”

Bator presented this information at the Clean Up The Lake’s second annual Lake Tahoe Litter Summit on May 15, where stakeholders came together to find solutions to prevent litter. The focus of the meeting was also its backdrop as attendees spent the day at the lakeside Thunderbird Lodge.

As they now turn to creating these positive and vivid stories, Hollis says there are many success stories they can tell. “There are lots of clean beaches and there are lots of success stories that previous litter hotspots have been turned into places that people have been taking care of.”

In fact, Daniel Cressy with the USDA Forest Service says they saw overall improved behavior last fourth of July. “Of course there was some extreme impacts at Zephyr Shoals last year. That was really an anomaly across the basin.”

In addition to creating these positive stories, summit partners plan on coordinating the messaging across all organizations, including the Tahoe Fund, and the League to Save Lake Tahoe as well as federal, state and local government agencies.

“We’re in an area with five counties. You’ve got a city. You’ve got two states. You’ve got federal government on a U.S. waterway,” Colin West with Clean Up The Lake says, “Collaboration could not be any more important.”

All these collaborators are also coming away with plans to form two committees, the Preventative Action Committee and Data Unification Committee.

West says the Preventative Action Committee ensures summit action items don’t remain talk. The committee will organize under the Destination Stewardship Plan and is set to have its first meeting in June. That’s when they will set deadlines to implement solutions.

The Data Unification Committee brings together data on litter from different partners to better understand the problem and create solutions.

Other solutions discussed include bringing more infrastructure to target trash in non-developed locations, as well as adjusting with changing tourism trends where tourists are utilizing the shoulder season more and more.

Attendees discussed the need for a multi-prong approach targeting the different types of visitors, from the casino crowd to the outdoor crowd.

Solutions were not in short supply. Receiving a beer in exchange for a full trash bag was a consideration.

Within these solutions, Hollis conveyed the need to avoid the “us versus them” narrative. This locals versus visitors narrative, well known around Tahoe, is fueled, if not caused by the litter problem, but can actually negatively impact the progress. “If you see that us versus them,” Bator explains, “then no one is collaborating towards a solution.”

She recommends finding a common ground and working together towards a shared goal.

Summit partners hope to start sending positive messaging regarding litter mid-June.