0:15

Pushkin.

0:23

I would just kind of get this glare of like,

0:25

why are you killing the earth? And that wasn't

0:27

a good feeling.

0:28

Psychologist Liz Done once had a boyfriend

0:30

who liked to remind her to turn off the lights

0:33

a lot.

0:34

That actually made me almost take

0:36

an opposing stance. I

0:38

certainly wasn't like a climate change denier,

0:40

but I was like, oh, you know, technology is

0:42

going to figure this out.

0:43

Liz is no longer with that guy getting

0:45

scolded and shamed. It turns out isn't great for

0:47

romantic relationships.

0:49

It's not my husband to on marry him.

0:50

But these harsh practices aren't great for motivating

0:53

sustainable behaviors either. So what's

0:55

another tactic for slow and global warming? Maybe

0:57

we should scare folks into taking action.

0:59

One of my friends she just sort of imagines like

1:02

her daughters floating alone in a

1:04

raft, you know, And this is like the image

1:06

that she has when she thinks about climate change, and

1:08

there be for she doesn't thinks so much about

1:11

climate change because that's terrible, right, So.

1:14

Haranguing people doesn't work neither just terrifying

1:16

them. What strategies can we use

1:18

to get people to reduce their carbon footprint.

1:21

Maybe we need to give everyone a little bit

1:23

more hope. Twenty twenty three was

1:25

the hottest year on record, and that increased

1:28

heat intensified droughts, storms, and fires

1:30

to devastating effect. These

1:32

scary consequences may make you want

1:34

to turn it away from the problem or just

1:36

cross your fingers and hope that someone will

1:38

come up with some technological fix. But

1:41

what if I told you that facing up to the crisis

1:43

and doing your bit to make things better in twenty

1:46

twenty four could actually make you feel

1:48

surprisingly better. This is

1:50

the Happiness Lab with doctor Lauriy Santos.

1:55

If you want to get drunk quickly at a climate change

1:57

conference, you should drink when you hear

1:59

the words doom, catastrophe, disaster.

2:02

Behavioral scientist Liz Done is a happiness

2:05

expert who's taken a special interest in how

2:07

people react to the climate crisis. Spoiler

2:09

alert, we're not handling it well.

2:11

Seventy five percent of young people say

2:13

that they are frightened of the future.

2:16

Right. You know, fear is great for getting people

2:18

to act quickly in an emergency.

2:20

Right, so if you need to get people to leave a burning building,

2:23

yeah, like, make them scared that's great,

2:25

and I think that's been the approach. You

2:28

know, folks likening Earth to

2:30

a burning building, And to some extent that's

2:32

true. But it's the problem

2:34

is that we can't just all run out of the building and then we're

2:37

good, you know, wait for the fire department to come. It's

2:39

like we are the fire department, and we're going to have to

2:41

get up day after day and work on this problem.

2:43

And so just having that state of emergency

2:45

all the time, I just don't think it is

2:48

an emotionally sustainable

2:50

state to be in.

2:51

Negative emotions have their place in our life stories,

2:54

but when they're the only ones on stage, they can

2:56

be pretty exhausting.

2:58

Even in a tragedy,

3:00

right, you have those moments of

3:02

joy and uplift and humor, and

3:04

you need that.

3:05

It's hard to laugh about climate change. But

3:07

one scientist is trying out that strategy.

3:10

Hey everyone, I'm jay Z. Not

3:12

the cool wrapper, but

3:14

the professor trying to cool the planet through

3:16

behavior.

3:17

Change Change show.

3:19

Jay Z wants to put a happier spin

3:21

on tackling global warming, precisely

3:24

because the situation is so grim.

3:26

It's getting more common to see these

3:28

climate disasters. My parents'

3:31

home was flooded just a couple week weeks ago

3:33

in Hong Kong, and I worry that people

3:35

would become actually numb or

3:37

desensitize because of that.

3:39

But jay Z also worries that the constant pressure

3:42

to change our lifestyles is wearing us down.

3:44

It was the subject of her ted talk entitled

3:46

how to phancuy your Fridge and other happy

3:49

climate hacks.

3:50

Drive less, eat less meat, shopless

3:53

less, less less. Now, I'm

3:55

a behavior scientist, so trust me when I say

3:57

this, this framing doesn't make us

3:59

feel great.

4:00

If you want people to change their consumer habits,

4:02

framing it as a sacrifice isn't very

4:04

effective. Pleasure is one of the main

4:06

drivers of human behavior, and sacrifice,

4:09

even for an important cause, just isn't

4:11

very fun.

4:12

Who will actually sacrifice

4:14

their quality of life for the environment.

4:17

Very few people. And it's not sustainable

4:20

because you might do it once or twice, but you're not going

4:22

to keep doing it for a long time. So that

4:24

narrative needs to really fundamentally change.

4:27

Psychologist Liz Done had been having exactly

4:30

that same thought.

4:31

I was biking to work one day and thinking

4:33

about climate change as you do, and

4:36

kind of thinking about how Oh, it's sort of too

4:38

bad that my life's work on happiness has

4:40

no bearing whatsoever on the most important existential

4:42

challenge of our time. That's when I sort of started

4:44

thinking about biking and realizing, Oh, I'd bike to

4:46

work that day because it put me in a good mood.

4:49

Oh.

4:49

Actually, like, tons of the things that we should be doing

4:51

to help the climate are actually

4:53

good for individual happiness as well. And so that

4:55

was sort of the moment when I realized

4:58

that by focusing on climate change

5:01

just as the sort of harbinger of doom and gloom, they

5:03

were actually missing out on a way of tackling

5:05

it that might be more helpful

5:07

for some people.

5:08

As luck would have it, Liz and jay Z happen

5:10

to work together at the University of British

5:12

Columbia, so Liz decided to bring a

5:14

new idea to her colleague.

5:16

She said, Hey, jay Z, can we do

5:18

something that's not only good for the climate

5:21

but also good for all own happiness? And

5:23

that's when the light bulb went off in my

5:25

head. That's my AHA moment, thinking,

5:28

Wow, I have never heard climate

5:30

and happiness mentioned in the same sentence,

5:33

and this is an excellent idea.

5:35

We should do it.

5:36

Jay Z and Liz have now identified a whole

5:38

series of these so called sweet spots, actions

5:41

that increase our happiness and enjoy while

5:43

at the same time decreasing our carbon consumption.

5:46

It's a concept they've christened happy

5:48

Climate.

5:49

The core idea is that we can give

5:52

people a new way of thinking about climate

5:54

change, not just as this dark

5:56

cloud on the horizon that's coming for

5:58

us no matter what we do, but

6:00

rather as an opportunity to kind

6:03

of rethink the way we live our lives.

6:04

I think one misconception here is this idea

6:07

that if we're happy about what's going on in the climate,

6:09

or we find joy or we're optimistic, then

6:11

we won't take the necessary action that we

6:14

need.

6:14

That's right. I mean, it's not that you feel

6:16

content and satisfying

6:19

so you don't do anything. I think that's

6:21

not the happiness that I'm describing here. I

6:23

think the happiness I'm talking about is this uplifting,

6:26

kicking you into action type of positive

6:28

emotions that don't be being driven kind

6:30

of actions that you want

6:32

to do something that will continue to make

6:34

you feel good.

6:36

So what are these sweet spots that can kick us

6:38

into action? Lizen jay Z group

6:40

them into three main areas, diet,

6:43

transport, and shopping. First off,

6:45

diet.

6:46

Yeah, so I think this is such an interesting example

6:48

because when people think about food,

6:50

their assumption is I, okay, I have to give up

6:52

meat, or maybe I even have to give up all you

6:54

know, dairy products. Again, I just don't think

6:56

that's going to be a sustainable choice

6:59

behaviorally for many people. And so, you

7:01

know, there's really good news here, which is that when you

7:03

dig into the science, it

7:06

isn't the case that you actually have to give up all meat

7:08

in order to have an impat So in particular,

7:10

beef is really like the bad boy of the

7:13

meat world, along with lamb has a really

7:15

outsized impact on carbon emissions.

7:17

But chicken, for example, actually has

7:20

a pretty low carbon impact. You don't

7:22

necessarily have to go

7:25

cold turkey, right, You can kind of keep some

7:27

of those foods that you especially appreciate

7:29

and enjoy. And it's about like, okay, let's reevaluate

7:33

our diet. And so you know, in my

7:35

own experience recently with my husband, you

7:38

know, my husband for a while had again

7:40

decided he was completely vegetarian.

7:42

So, for example, one night I was

7:44

making a salad top with chicken for

7:47

my son and I, and then I made this separate

7:49

dinner of salad with hallumi for him.

7:52

But then JZ actually helpfully calculated

7:54

the carbon impact of each of our dinners. This

7:56

is the fun thing about hanging out with like a human carbon calculator

7:59

all the time. So you can be like, here's what I had for dinner. Can

8:01

you tell me if my husband was right or I was right?

8:03

Anyway, so she's like, yeah, Michael, my husband,

8:05

I'm going to just go ahead say his name, throw on another bus. His

8:08

carbon impact was actually higher with

8:10

his hallumi dinner than ours was with the

8:12

chicken dinner. And so again I think it's about going,

8:14

oh, we you know, we don't just need to act

8:17

out of these assumptions. We can stead look

8:19

at a little more carefully and think through, you

8:21

know, what food choices we're going to make.

8:23

And so for me, I also

8:26

just struggle with the notion of completely

8:28

giving up meat. But I do like this idea

8:31

that when I have it, I should notice

8:33

it and be like I am going to appreciate

8:35

this, and especially you know, I have not even completely

8:38

given up steak. I will still we don't

8:40

have it at home anymore. So it's something that I'll have, like

8:42

out at a restaurant and I'm like, oh,

8:44

this is, you know, a special night. I'm

8:47

having steak, I am definitely an order glass

8:49

of wine. I'm going to max out my pleasure

8:51

here. And so recognizing that when

8:53

we're you know, indulging in some

8:55

carbon, instead of feeling guilty about that,

8:57

we could go, Okay, you know what, this is a special

8:59

treat, and then you know, in our daily

9:02

lives, try to be having more of these low carbon meals.

9:04

And the science really supports the idea that when we do

9:06

these things like less often and

9:09

we do them with more savoring, they can increase more

9:11

pleasure. Right.

9:11

Yeah, So one of the problems with having good things

9:14

all the time is that we tend to lose

9:16

our capacity to really appreciate them. And

9:19

this is a fundamental principle of happiness

9:21

science. But let me illustrate

9:23

it with just one very small little

9:26

lab study that we did way back in the day.

9:28

So in the study, we brought students

9:30

into the lab and we asked them to eat some chocolate.

9:32

Then we politely asked one

9:34

group of these students to please refrain from

9:36

eating any chocolate for one whole week, and

9:39

then we told other students, guess what, we

9:41

have a little gift bag for you. Here's a giant bag of

9:43

chocolate. Please eat as much as you comfortably

9:45

can over the next week. And finally met a

9:47

control group of people who we didn't give any chocolate

9:49

related instructions. So then we bring everybody

9:51

back into the lab a week later, we have them eat some more

9:54

chocolate. We measure their savoring using

9:56

both self report and behavioral measures, and the first

9:58

thing that pops out of the data is that people just

10:00

enjoy eating the chocolate less the second time

10:02

than they did the first time. And this is like the sad reality

10:04

of the human experience encapsulated in a single

10:07

study. So people just enjoy a pleasurable

10:09

thing less, you know, when they repeat it than

10:11

they did originally. But there was this exception,

10:13

so people who had given up the chocolate

10:15

for a week enjoyed it just as much the second

10:17

time as they had the first. So they showed this preserved

10:20

capacity to savor. And so

10:22

that's what I think about when I think about, you know,

10:24

having some high carbon foods occasionally,

10:26

is like, oh, yeah, I really do notice

10:29

them and appreciate them in a way that I

10:31

didn't when I was just having them on the regular

10:34

without even thinking about it.

10:35

And I love this idea because again it fights against

10:37

this sacrifice notion, but actually doing something that's

10:40

sustainable for the environment, maybe eating less beef,

10:42

maybe eating less dairy, you enjoy it

10:44

more. So you're actually you're not changing the pleasure

10:46

impact that you would have gotten over time, but you're

10:48

still doing something that's helping the planet.

10:50

That's right. You can get more pleasure out of less

10:52

frequent episodes. So maybe like your total

10:54

pleasure is the same or even higher than it would have been,

10:56

but your carbon's lower.

10:58

But there's another way we can bring a happy climate

11:00

hack to our diet, one that's not so

11:02

much about the food we actually consume, but

11:04

about the stuff we never really get around to eating.

11:07

I don't think the fridge is designed with human

11:09

behavior. It's funny. I wish that the more behavioral

11:11

scientists working for fridge companies. We're

11:13

told to put perishables

11:16

in the drawers or at the back of

11:18

the fridge where it's coldest. But what happens

11:20

then is that we don't see those foods,

11:23

and we don't remember those foods. So

11:25

I often waste things that rot in

11:28

the drawers and I really hate

11:30

that.

11:31

To solve this problem, Jaz adopted

11:33

a practice that she calls fengshuing

11:35

the fridge.

11:36

What this means is literally

11:38

do the opposite. We produce perishables

11:41

at the door of the fringe and move

11:44

condiments those things that last

11:46

into the drawers, and after functuring

11:49

our fridge, we have not wasted a single piece

11:51

of food. And this is

11:53

because you know, when we open the door, we see

11:56

right away what's at the door, what's rotting.

11:58

I literally caught a piece of lettuce about

12:01

rot last night and I ate

12:03

it. I was like, oh, I saved it. One

12:06

critique I've heard from people is, oh,

12:08

but if you put produce at the door, don't

12:11

they wilt faster?

12:13

They become soft and soggy. And

12:16

my response is, yeah, they do, but

12:18

you eat them faster too.

12:20

So there we have it, a quick trick that can save

12:22

you money, stave off depressing food waste,

12:24

and reduce your carbon emissions all at the

12:27

same time. After the break, we'll

12:29

hear about another happy climate hack that can

12:31

turn the worst part of your day into the

12:33

best. The Happiness Lab will

12:35

be right back commuting,

12:50

we sit in traffic alone board,

12:53

usually stressed, stewing as the

12:55

seconds tick down until we have to clock into

12:57

work. Not that you needed science to

12:59

tell you this, but many studies show that commuting

13:01

is one of the least happy activities in most

13:04

people's lives. Moments where we get to

13:06

socialize, on the other hand, are among the

13:08

happiest.

13:09

So the sort of sweet spot here,

13:11

I would say is if you have to

13:14

drive, like drive to work, drive other

13:16

people, right, and especially it's got to be people you

13:18

like, and so thinking about, oh, are there some

13:20

of them that live in your neighborhood, for example, that you could

13:22

drive and you would like get to know these

13:25

interesting people and maybe have possibly

13:27

what might turn out to be the best conversation of the day

13:30

during that car ride. And this is valuable

13:32

because driving just two other people

13:34

is equivalent to taking the commuter rail

13:37

in terms of your carbon impacts, and at

13:39

the same time, again, you're actually improving your life.

13:41

The thing is, though it does take a second, right, it's

13:43

like easier to just jump in your car and drive

13:46

to work and not be coordinating anything with anybody,

13:48

right, So it's legit that we need to recognize

13:50

that that is a little bit of a barrier. And so this

13:52

is why I think people have to kind of step back

13:54

and go, all right, I want to make some changes

13:56

in my life. I'm going to reckon with the fact that we've got

13:58

this climate crisis. What are the changes

14:01

that I'm able and willing to make, And then like

14:03

putting a little bit of time, like you got to put it in your calendar

14:05

that you're going to figure out some time to do this,

14:08

and like, it really helps if there's other people

14:10

around you who are also motivated to care about

14:12

these things and maybe could sort of team up with you to

14:14

work on them.

14:14

But honestly, you know, I talk even to my students

14:17

about the fact that they're not meeting with their friends as much,

14:19

and they're like, oh, well, I'm so busy. It takes some time.

14:21

Right, This is the way that you can put that time

14:23

in that you're going to have to put in any way for socializing,

14:25

but also help the planet at the same time.

14:27

You know, A great way to think of this too, is is there

14:30

somebody in your life that you

14:32

really enjoy spaying time with but that you just don't

14:35

end up getting to see that often, And like if

14:37

they live kind of on your way and you maybe

14:39

work at the same place or work in the same area, or you

14:41

live in the same suburb and work in the same city or something

14:44

like that. I mean, this is a great opportunity to make

14:46

a bit of a difference for the planet

14:48

and also really build some socializing

14:51

back into your day. I think this is probably one of the best

14:53

ways, you know, if it's something that fits into your life,

14:55

to take advantage of a sweet spot.

14:57

And so this is our day to day transportation, but

14:59

you've also talked about kind of the big moments

15:01

of transportation, like when we fly somewhere for

15:03

a conference, which is salient for you right now

15:05

because we're having this conversation in New Haven, Aale

15:07

and you've come over from the West Coast to do this. What

15:09

are ways that we can boost our happiness but

15:12

also kind of make good on that climate

15:14

moment as well.

15:15

Yeah, so flying is the one that gets

15:18

me and gets a lot of my close friends,

15:20

because you know, we're just at a stage of our careers

15:22

where we get these exciting opportunities

15:24

or there's people we want to see and it's

15:26

really challenging. I mean, flying is like the

15:29

worst for climate. But

15:31

on the flip side, if you're somebody who flies frequently

15:33

and you can cut even one cross country

15:36

flight, I mean it makes a huge difference. It's equivalent

15:38

to months and months and months of driving.

15:40

You know.

15:40

One thing that I try to think about is

15:43

just being pretty choosy about

15:46

what flights to be willing to take.

15:48

Right is it necessary that I go. Is

15:51

there somebody else that could do this

15:53

instead of me? Maybe somebody for whom you know it would

15:55

be a great opportunity and they're closer by, even

15:58

though if they have to fly too, if it's a shorter flight

16:00

for them, that even makes a big difference. And

16:02

then the other piece that I think about is, Okay,

16:05

if this is something I want to do, can I bundle it

16:07

so for this trip, for example, instead

16:09

of just flying right back to Vancouver

16:12

cross country flight after this two day conference,

16:14

I am hopping on the train to Boston

16:17

tomorrow, and then I'm going to see some of the people

16:19

that I care about most and that I haven't seen in a

16:21

long time. And so that's creating

16:23

this opportunity for happiness, really

16:25

increasing the value like the like

16:28

happiness per carbon.

16:30

If you're going to use up a ton of carbon, you want to get

16:32

a ton of happiness out of that, and do it really consciously

16:35

rather than just sort of burning carbon willy nilly

16:37

without even thinking about it, really

16:39

maxing out that value. And then I'm going

16:41

to not go anywhere for like a while,

16:44

because I will have fully scratched the itch

16:46

to go, you know, talk and meet

16:48

people and everything.

16:49

And I think that's the important flip side of this, though.

16:51

When you do that calculation, you're like, this is worth it.

16:53

Let me make it more worth it. Let me make this kind

16:55

of carbon impact even boost my happiness

16:58

more. But the flip side, if you're secretly

17:00

like, oh, I don't know if this is worth it, it

17:02

kind of gives you an excuse to protect the thing that

17:04

we know is so important for happiness, which is our free

17:06

time exactly.

17:08

And so I think think time affluence, This feeling

17:10

of having enough time to do the things that are important

17:12

to us is really critical. And I have been

17:15

known to get myself into situations where I have

17:17

very little time affluence. And I say, this is somebody who

17:20

studies the importance of time affluence for happiness.

17:22

Glad it's not just me, by the way, Yeah.

17:24

It's really hard because each thing in isolation

17:26

sounds like a good idea, and then you end

17:29

up with no time. And so even

17:31

just making yourself pause to consider the carbon costs

17:34

is a good way to cut back on travel.

17:36

And people also are actually pretty understanding.

17:38

And you know, I'm not saying it as

17:40

a like excuse. I

17:43

really mean it that this is something that is important

17:45

to me, and so I frequently say no

17:47

to invitations for the genuine reason

17:49

of like, I just don't think it's worth the carbon.

17:51

I say it in a nicer way in the email, but

17:54

you know, often it wouldn't necessarily

17:57

provide the value that it

17:59

needs to provide in order for it to be worth

18:01

the ton of carbon that the flight's going to require.

18:04

But in some ways, I think for those of us, especially who

18:06

don't want to disappoint colleagues or disappoint family

18:08

members who ask us to come visit, there's

18:10

this moment where by trying to protect

18:12

the planet, we can kind of protect ourselves

18:15

too. You know, sometimes we don't want to make the decision that helps

18:17

our happiness, but if it helps someone else's happiness, if

18:19

helps a planet happiness, that actually

18:21

makes it a little bit easier.

18:23

I think that's right, and you know, I love that on

18:25

Google Flights, for example, you can see exactly how

18:27

much carbon you're going to burn, and so it's really easy to

18:29

quantify, you know, just how

18:32

much this flight is kind of costing

18:34

the planet. And in contrast, I think

18:36

sometimes it's easy to lose track of how much

18:38

these trips are costing us in terms of our time,

18:41

especially because we're often making these plans way

18:43

in advance, and so it doesn't really

18:45

seem like a big deal. You don't know how crazy

18:47

everything's going to be when it actually comes time to be

18:49

like rushing to the airport. And

18:51

so for me, you know, I think this

18:53

has led me to take long swaths

18:56

of time where I'm just not going

18:58

anywhere, and that's kind of magical when

19:00

you actually have a big stretch of time where you're

19:02

at home and you are you know, people

19:05

say, oh, you want to come for dinner or

19:07

whatever, and you're like, why, yes, I will be in and

19:09

I do have time, you know, and that's actually

19:11

a pretty great feeling.

19:13

Another sweet spot where being friendly to the environment

19:15

can boost our happiness involves shopping for

19:17

clothes, but not for any clothes.

19:20

It turns out that fast fashion, those garments

19:23

were encouraged to buy one season and replace

19:25

the next, is bad both for the planet

19:27

and for feeling content.

19:29

Fast fashion is really detrimental

19:31

to the environment. It actually emits more

19:33

greenhouse gases than flying and

19:35

shipping combined every year. So instead

19:38

of shopping often, like shopping every

19:40

week and throwing clothes

19:42

away, what we should do is more

19:44

mindful fashion. Buy a

19:46

few pairs of high quality clothes,

19:48

jackets, jeans, with shoes that you love

19:51

that you can sort of splurge on, but

19:54

wear them, use them for a long time, making

19:56

things last. That can cut emissions

19:59

and waste, but also increase your own

20:01

appreciation of the items

20:03

that you own. The other idea is

20:05

thrifting. My students do this a lot. This

20:07

is actually that are number one favorite

20:09

action that they will do with clothing

20:12

with shopping is they love

20:14

going fifty because it's like a treasure hunt.

20:17

They will go through the fift stores and

20:19

then find treasures at incredibly

20:21

low prices, and that brings them so much

20:23

joy.

20:24

Liz and jay Z's Happy Climate approach is

20:27

all about the power of the individual and

20:29

the difference that one person can make by behaving

20:31

differently. That impact is something

20:34

that people tend to underestimate, which

20:36

is understandable given the scale of the problem

20:38

we're facing. We started this special

20:40

season on Climate Hope by interviewing Harvard's

20:42

Dan Gilbert, who argued that the only

20:44

meaningful contribution any of us can make

20:47

to slow global heating is at the ballot

20:49

box.

20:49

I think it was Al Gore who said, if you really

20:52

care about the climate, instead of changing

20:54

your light bulbs or worrying about carbon offsets,

20:56

you should vote, because that's how

20:59

we in the democracy. It can create mass

21:01

action, that's how we can create a response

21:04

that actually is the size of the problem.

21:07

Voting is very important. Jay

21:09

Z thinks we shouldn't discount our own small

21:11

actions.

21:12

Our actions are conspicuous. We

21:14

let's say, driving in an electric vehicle

21:17

is a public act. People see

21:20

Tesla's evs more and more

21:22

now these days, which is great, and that sends

21:24

a signal that oh market's changing. People

21:26

are driving these cool cars looks, and

21:28

they're paying very little on their electricity

21:31

bill as opposed to my gas bill. So

21:34

I think that helps to get more people on

21:37

board. That diffusion process, I think

21:39

is already happening. Also

21:41

using you know, reusable bags or bottles,

21:44

eating a plant based meal that also

21:47

has a bit of full effect because you're showing

21:49

to other people you are not using you know, simple used

21:51

classics or containers, so you're more

21:54

an environmental person, and

21:57

that can help get more people on

21:59

board, especially if you're enjoying it.

22:01

At the same time, I would

22:03

say it's really changed the way that

22:05

I think about climate change.

22:07

Liz says she's come a long way from those days

22:09

when her ex boyfriend's nagging Droveford

22:11

to totally ignore climate change and just

22:13

hope someone else would sort it out.

22:15

First off, like, let's just focus on the stuff that actually

22:17

matters as opposed to some more symbolic

22:19

actions. So turns out you can leave your lights

22:22

on and doesn't really make that big a difference.

22:24

I think one of the things this reminds me is

22:26

that as I'm trying to be sustainable, I'm

22:29

probably not going to be perfect because nobody's

22:31

perfect, right, Like, we're not like these perfect sustainability

22:34

robots. We're all going to mess up. And so is that really

22:36

part of it too, Where the ideas to really

22:38

give ourselves grace when we're sort of putting our

22:40

happiness into the climate equation.

22:42

Yeah, I mean I would say perfection is basically impossible.

22:44

But when we make climate change a

22:46

purely moral issue, it's really easy

22:49

to get into that perfection mindset. And I mean

22:51

climate change is a moral issue in that like the

22:53

survival of humanity kind of depends

22:55

on it. But also we

22:58

are all kind of doing our best in addition

23:00

to protecting the climate. You're trying

23:02

to get your kid to volleyball practice and get

23:05

food on the table and all of that, right, And

23:07

so I take more of a

23:09

sort of mathematical approach rather than

23:11

a moralizing approach. So like, let's do

23:13

the math and figure out what are

23:15

the changes that really would have an impact

23:18

that I can make that are within my capacity

23:21

with my current level of bandwidth and the other constraints

23:23

I have from other things going on in my life. What are the things I

23:25

can do and expect of myself, And

23:28

then also just accepting that it's not always

23:30

going to work out, Like you can set up a carpool and

23:32

then it falls through. You know, you can plan

23:34

to eat one thing or one type

23:36

of you know, stick to a particular type of diet,

23:39

and then as I was last night, you're running

23:41

through the airport and there's not you don't have time

23:43

to do that. It's just like you're just going to grab what you can grab,

23:45

right, and that's going to be how it is. And so I think

23:48

extending some compassion to ourselves is

23:50

super important in terms of approaching this. And again,

23:52

you know, I think that's critical in being able to

23:54

sustain this over the long haul, because this is

23:56

not it's not about making changes for a week.

23:59

If it were, then that like perfection approach

24:01

might actually be pretty cool. We can't

24:03

do perfection for years and years, so we need that sustainable

24:06

approach.

24:06

I really love this because I know that I'm really

24:08

pro into what psychologists often refer

24:10

to as the what the hell effect, where you're kind of planning

24:13

something and as soon as you mess up, you're like, oh whatever,

24:15

and I'm just going to rationalize completely screwing

24:17

up. And I can watch myself sometimes with

24:19

sustainability do that where it's like, oh, you

24:21

know, for whatever reason, I'm forced to take this long international

24:24

flight and then I think, well, oh,

24:26

well screw it. Like I was, you know, eating more

24:28

plant based before, but now that doesn't matter because I'm taking

24:30

the flight, and this not perfectionist

24:32

approach can kind of get us back to Okay,

24:35

I'm doing my best, and it's important that I do my

24:37

best. It matters that I do my best. I'm going to

24:39

do it with a little self compassionate and

24:41

not with beating myself up over it all the time.

24:43

That's right, And I think on the flip side too, we could also

24:46

kind of celebrate our achievements and go,

24:48

hey, look, you know what, we've eaten eighty

24:50

percent plant based foods for the past

24:52

month. Good for us. Whatever else happens next

24:55

week, we did it this month. You know that's

24:57

something. Right. Celebrating those wins

24:59

and giving ourselves some compassion when

25:01

we don't win is probably a much more you

25:04

know, sustainable approach over the long term.

25:06

And this also raises a different question, which is

25:08

not just being compassion in it to ourselves,

25:10

but thinking about compassion to other people.

25:13

And I think this gets tricky, right because you know, if

25:15

you care about the climate, then you don't just care about

25:17

your own actions, you care about other people's actions.

25:19

But do you think that the same approach is pretty helpful,

25:22

like, you know, not lecturing and pasting

25:24

people. Is there a kind of kinder, gentler, happier

25:26

climate approach for other people's climate actions

25:28

too.

25:29

Yeah, I mean, I think, for example, flight shaming other

25:31

people is overrated. You know, people are

25:33

going to do what they need to do and you don't necessarily

25:35

know what kinds of constraints that they're facing. And

25:38

so rather than telling anybody

25:40

else what to do, just doing it yourself, again,

25:42

relying on this principle that behavior is contagious.

25:45

People see what you do.

25:46

You don't have to be like even preaching about it.

25:48

You can just do it and other

25:50

people will notice it, right,

25:52

even if they don't comment on it, even if it's not a subject

25:54

of conversation, it's there. And then

25:56

I would say, you know, be that person

25:59

who organizes the carpool,

26:01

Be that person who is

26:04

organizing a dinner party, and it's

26:06

all really delicious, plant based foods, fun,

26:10

bring people into the fun, and

26:12

that's going to be a party people want to go to.

26:15

If the very mention of climate change tended

26:17

to make you switch off in horror, or you assume

26:19

that taking action would require painful,

26:22

annoying, happiness decreasing sacrifices,

26:24

I hope lizen jay Z's Happy Climate approach

26:27

has changed your mind. Even if

26:29

you're not worried about global heating, things

26:31

like carpooling, savoring your food, and

26:33

cutting back on the kind of air travel that leads

26:35

you frazzled can improve your happiness massively

26:37

in twenty twenty four, So why

26:40

not commit to these mood boosting practices in

26:42

the new year. It's a great way to be nice

26:44

to yourself at the same time as you

26:46

do something nice for the planet. In

26:49

the next episode, we'll hear more about ways

26:51

to boost our hope and happiness by investing

26:53

in climate action. We'll meet an overworked

26:55

scientist who figured out a way to reduce

26:58

his sense of helplessness and climate anxiety

27:00

by jumping headfirst into the struggle to

27:02

reduce global heating.

27:04

Sometimes I have losses and sometimes I have wins,

27:06

and sometimes I'm encouraged, and sometimes I'm discouraged.

27:08

But I feel a strong sense of purpose, and I

27:10

feel what I'm doing is already meaningful.

27:12

We'll hear his tips on how to gain even more

27:14

unexpected joy from climate action next

27:17

time on the Happiness Lab with me Doctor

27:19

Lauriy Santos