I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast on my walk the other day, and I heard something astonishing: someone described a colleague’s best quality as “he is lazy.”
How can that be?
The “lazy” person here is Richard Thaler, known as the father of behavioral economics. And laziness is his best quality (as described by his colleague) because he is only willing to work on things that are important.
(This guy won a Nobel prize by being lazy! How do we sign up?)
You might be thinking “What a luxury! I have to deal with lots of things that aren’t important.” But what if we took ourselves out of that way of thinking for a moment?
The “Lazy” Way of Living Green
Many of us think of “living green” as a distant ideal, involving such a major change in our lifestyle that we think it is unrealistic, too expensive, and too difficult. And so we give up on it.
Instead, why not take a “lazy” approach and focus on the most important part of living green? What if you found one area where your efforts could make a difference? And what if you set the intention to take the first step in that area?
Focus on What’s Most Important for You
The most important “green thing” for you might be different than for your family in another state, or even your neighbor. But it is likely that the most important thing is one of these three:
- Reducing your home energy use
- Changing the source of the energy supplied to your home
- Reducing your gasoline consumption
How do you find out which one, and how do you get started? I’ll talk more about those topics in future posts.
Overachiever Corner
You can learn more about your carbon footprint by going to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website.
Leigh Aaron-Leary
5 Jan 2019Well done. Catchy and succinct. Good food for thought
Leigh Aaron-Leary
6 Jan 2019My first priority is more a shift from being a consumer so fewer purchases =less shopping. Organizing what I do have (clothes, food etc) helps break the buying habit. Ideally this leads to less fuel consumption and a economy of scale