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How to Apply Atomic Habits to Climate Action
Why James Clear should be advising the President(s)
Finally, after months of being badgered to read James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, I sat down and absorbed what could be the most important environmental treatise ever written. To be clear (pun intended), I am certain that James Clear had no intention of writing a book that would be as vital to the environmental movement as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle. In fact, James Clear doesn’t mention the environmental movement or climate change anywhere in his New York Times bestseller. His book is a deep dive into human behavior, and it explains how individuals and organizations can achieve remarkable results by focusing on tiny changes. Anyone sympathetic to the environmental movement can see the very obvious and very necessary application of Atomic Habits.
Suggesting that James Clear’s book could be the most important environmental treatise ever written is quite an assertion. In order to agree with this assertion, it is necessary to agree with just one basic assumption — that climate change and environmental degradation are entirely about human behavior. In order to see the book as an environmental treatise, you must first understand (or at least accept) the Theory of Anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change. In short…
