image courtesy of John Althouse Cohen

I’ve been battling a cold the last several days, and have been spending some time catching up on my newsreader. I came across some wonderful things—some inspiring, some thought-provoking, and some pure policy wonk stuff—that I wanted to share with you.

First off—a place where inspiration and policy-wonkness meet! The Center for American Progress and the United Nations Foundation have released a new study that shows that, in addition to being the smart and right thing to do, cutting carbon emissions makes great economic sense. If we put our efforts on the lowest-hanging fruit—energy efficiency, reforestation, and renewable energy technology—we stand to save $14 billion over the next 10 years. That’s a lot of ducats to put into further changes.

Next up is an essay reminding us of an important distinction in our conversations about climate change. The systems that support our societies are far more vulnerable and less resilient than is nature itself. So when we talk about environmental devastation, we should be clear that what’s on the line are the achievements of human culture—the levels of health, wealth, material security, education, morality, and understanding that we’ve achieved through coming together in ever-larger groups. Do you want to leave your kids a Mad Max world or a bright green one? That’s really the question we are answering.

Now for a few links from the personal development angle. Since I first read it a month or so ago, I keep revisiting Penelope Trunk’s piece on How to have more self-discipline. What she writes resonates with me and also reiterates a point from Rapt (the book on attention that I keep talking about!)—the more we can direct our attention, the more we get done and the happier we are.

I think it goes deeper than mere productivity, though. It’s a matter of intention. When we decide that something is important enough to break the crust of habituation that normally rules our days, and we put time and effort into it, that gives our lives meaning. Rather than being bounced around by momentary impulses, we’re pointing in a direction that we’ve consciously, deliberately decided upon.

Finally, I wanted to point to an article that came out in The New York Times about the effects of your social network on your behavior: “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” When researchers looked into the details of different social ties within groups, they found both positive and negative behaviors seem to spread across the entire group: if your friends quit smoking or gain weight, you are more likely to do the same thing.

It seems like this research is very much on the cutting edge and not too many conclusions can be drawn yet, but it’s fascinating to me in terms of creating a bright green future. If I become more positive and proactive, can I influence my friends in those directions, too? It will be exciting to see our understanding of this develops over time. The possibilities boggle the mind!