Doing something vs Doing nothing.
One thing that has been on my mind recently is the benefit of doing something, over the cost of doing nothing. I began thinking about this when reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.
In the book, James Clear begins benefits of how committing to being 1% better every day leads to exponential benefits in the long run. If we can get 1% better everyday day over a year this equals being thirty-seven times better in the long run.
This compounding is argued to work for both for good and bad habits — committing to learning one thing every day leads to the habit of lifelong learning whilst the compounding of daily microaggressions, aggravations and frustrations could lead to riots and protests.
Whilst the realisation of this is potentially overwhelming, I really like this concept, as it is a powerful reminder that the choices we make today can have huge implications over time and by choosing no action we are committing to letting things stay the same, but most likely get worse.
I actually find this quite motivating and helps quieten nihilistic side of my mind that just wants to say “don’t even bother trying to write this blog, or spend your weekend working on Mustard none of this shit matters and you’ll be dead one day anyway”.
Following the book’s advice, I have been trying to apply the advice and this month I been trying to meditate every day, exercise regularly, floss and brush my teeth. What this means is that not only I am a walking cliche of a self-help nut, but in the long run, this will dramatically improve my mental and physical health.
The cost of the time today means I don’t scare people off with my horrifically bad breath today and I will hopefully avoid costly dental work in the future. After seeing my dentist driving a supercar to the surgery I began to suspect this was not the way the majority of his patients act.
Over the last month, I begun noticing a trend of how taking action today leads to significant benefit in the future in a variety of different areas and at a scale much bigger than my dental health.
I read in the Big Issue there’s evidence of spending on vulnerable people delivering results for the economy later. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that the total costs of supporting homeless people into the housing between 2018 and 2041 would be £19.3bn — but would deliver benefits of £53.9bn. This kind of report really excites me as it is clear evidence that being proactive reduces the suffering of people those currently homeless and the proves that caring for people actually benefits the economy in the long run.
Then in the medical world, there is a growing trend for doctors wanting to be taught a broader approach to health that goes beyond the current pharmacologically driven one and is instead looking also at tailored choices more focused on lifestyle and nutrition and taking the right action today. This approach will lead to happier and healthier people today, and puts less pressure on the NHS. Just imagine what we can do with the £350million post-brexit NHS budget then?!
And of course, another major area where a proactive approach today will make a massive difference for the future — climate change! You knew we would get there in the end, didn’t you?
The current state of play is that our planet is suffering from the chronic symptoms of a lifestyle that is unsustainable and wherever we choose to take action today or in ten years time, it is going to cost us. How much it ultimately costs us is up to us.
Gunnar Luderer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has argued that if we act quickly and make dramatic changes today that the cost of protecting our climate will cost less than 2% percent of global GDP today.
If we choose not to take action today, it is going to need more drastic action in the future, requiring bigger actions, greater sacrifice and at a dramatically higher cost. The cost will be beyond financial too, Luderer warns that:
“The damage that would result is not something you can measure in money. It will be about issues like the cultural identity of entire island nations, or the survival of very big ecological systems. And it is very difficult to put a price tag on these.”
Another voice arguing for benefits of action today is Chad Frischmann of Drawdown. Drawdown is an organisation that has highlighted the 80 most significant global actions we need to take in order to achieve ‘drawdown’ the point in which more greenhouse gases are being removed from the environment than being put in.
They have estimated that to implement all 80 solutions would cost about 29 trillion dollars over 30 years. I can barely even comprehend trillion dollars, but as he explains in his TED talk, “GDP is over 80 trillion every year, and the estimated savings from implementing these solutions is 74 trillion dollars, over double the costs. That’s a net savings of 44 trillion dollars.”
What I find so exciting about this is that so often these solutions are perceived to be a luxury and expensive but in reality they make financial sense as well as moral sense. You don’t have to be an economist to see that being proactive about tackling these challenges is going to pay off in the long run.
Procrastinating over taking action today is going cost us.
Some of these solutions will require societal change and the only way we will get there is but starting with what we can do. Much of the rest of the other change will be catalysed by governments, businesses responding to individuals. This is why we have compiled on the Mustard site twenty personal actions you can take to dramatically reduce your carbon footprint.
The collective benefit of us all making small changes to our daily life this year is going to help create massive change in our lives, and the lives of others.
Feeling inspired?
Go on to Mustard and pick an area of your life where you want to reduce your carbon. If you don’t know where to start with it, send me an email and I’ll work with you to set up a plan to help take action.
