Kelly connects with happiness scientist Elizabeth Dunn and climate scientist Jiayang Zhao to discuss their new book “Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species.”   

So, the idea of a happiness expert and climate expert coming together to write a book about confronting this issue with joy started on a bike ride? 

“Yeah, so I was biking to work, and I was thinking about climate change. And I was thinking how it’s kind of a bummer that my life’s work on happiness had no bearing whatsoever on what I believe is the most important existential challenge of our time. But then I just started reflecting on biking. So, I choose to bike to work because I arrive in a much better mood than if I fight traffic. But of course, biking is also one of the most environmentally sustainable forms of transportation. And then it sort of dawned on me that in fact, so many of the things that we need to do as individuals and as societies to tackle climate change are actually good for our happiness too. So, when I got to work, I made a beeline for JZ and shared this idea with her. JZ is one of the world’s leading experts on the behavioral side of climate change, so I knew she was the right person to talk to. I kind of spilled out this idea to her. I think I had like a crazy look in my eye because I was super excited.” 

JZ, is this how you remember the origin story of this book? 

“Yeah. So, Liz approached me at the end of a faculty meeting to ask, you know, ‘Can we make climate action feel happy instead of miserable?’ And that gave me a light bulb moment when I realized that happiness is the missing ingredient in the fight against climate change. In fact, I haven’t heard ‘happy’ and ‘climate change’ in the same sentence before. It was such a brilliant idea. And that was over seven years ago. And ever since then, we started working together on this idea.” 

My favorite part of the book is when you tell us how we can help with climate by eating delicious foods, like maple syrup. 

“Maple syrup from Quebec is one of the few negative carbon foods in the world. Meaning the more you consume, the more carbon actually gets reduced from the atmosphere – from our world. In fact, every teaspoon that you consume for, let’s say, a day, for a year is enough to put one maple tree into production. So, the lesson there is to eat as much maple syrup from Quebec as possible. I can’t speak to the maple syrup production outside of Quebec, but at least in Canada, Quebec, that is carbon negative. And if you pair bacon with maple syrup, that’s my recent discovery, that’s even better.”