Make Water Work Podcast Featuring Jennifer Tabanico

Episode 52 - Catalyst Collab: Jennifer Tabanico

On this Catalyst Collab episode, Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Jennifer Tabanico, President of Action Research and a Catalyst 2026 guide, who has spent more than 20 years using behavioral science to help water and environmental organizations change what people actually do. From a childhood in Arizona where water felt invisible, to wanting to train Shamu, to a career in conservation psychology, Jennifer shares how water found her and why education and awareness alone rarely move the needle.

In this episode:

• How did water find Jennifer? From SeaWorld dreams to conservation psychology
  
• Where education and awareness campaigns fall short, and what community-based social marketing does differently
  
• Why every behavior has its own barriers and motivators, and why one message can’t fit all
  
• “Check After You Mow”: how nighttime observations and a lawnmower hang tag cut sprinkler runoff
  
• Where low-budget, low-capacity utilities can start: get out of the boardroom and talk to people
  
• Reaching “the middle” instead of only hearing from your biggest fans and loudest critics
  
• What to do when one angry call or social post threatens to derail a good program
  
• Using social norms and community data to drive participation
  
• A preview of Jennifer’s hands-on session at Catalyst 2026, where guests became behavioral scientists for an afternoon