Leadership Styles: A Whack On the Side of the Head or a Nudge?
Researchers have long shown that spending money on others makes us happier than spending it on ourselves. New research, presented recently by Ashley Whillans at the Science of Philanthropy Initiative in Chicago, has found that people randomly assigned to spend money on others are not only happier but also experience lower blood pressure. Inside the Nudge Unit – a term coined by David Halpern – behavioral scientists around the globe are showing how “small changes can make a big difference.” Making the RIGHT choice the DEFAULT choice can be made through simple policy changes or single word choices. People, says Elspeth Kirkman, with the Behavioural Insights Team, feel successful when innovative city, state, and national government agencies make it easy for them to do the right thing. Nudging can be used to reduce logistical barriers for college applications, to help people overcome obesity and make healthy food choices, and even guiding citizens to choose a more sustainable...
Art At Christie’s Paris Paired With Actions At COP21
#ClimateAction On 9 December at 8pm at Christie’s Paris, 15 contributing artists will offer 30 works paired with 14 on-the-ground actions that are supported by 12 NGOs. The sites were chosen with the UN to embody the scope of action in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East. #COP21 @UNFCCC...
Astronauts Send A Message to UN Climate Change #COP21 From Space
A call to home to Earth: If the UN Climate Conference in Paris were held in space, delegates would align as ONE as they remember that we are all citizens and stewards of Spaceship Earth. In this YouTube video, astronauts from around the world share their love of Planet Earth and their desire for a treaty in Paris that reflects a rapid shift to sustainability, and a new way of living on Earth to make sustainability long lasting and enduring....
What Children Really Want for Christmas
Image: Shad Finney – Just One Planet (2015) #COP21 @alexiaparksWhen Obama Leads, Will The U.S. Congress Follow?
Paris – COP21: President Barack Obama won standing applause at COP21 when he stated that parts of the global warming deal being negotiated in Paris should be legally binding on the countries that sign on. These are fighting words, reports the AP, because it could set up a potential fight with Republicans at home. —My response to the Associated Press news report is this: Does approval of the UN treaty by the U.S. Congress really matter any more? If the weight of public opinion is strong enough, “We the People” have the right to VOTE the nay-sayers out of office in Election 2016. —In addition, this is not the only time that the U.S. Congress has been unable, or unwilling, to “do the right thing” when it comes to collaboration on a global scale. For example, in 1995, the U.S. signed but Congress never ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In its isolation, by refusing to ratify the treaty, it remains the ONLY country in the world that refuses to recognize the human rights of children. In Paris, the focus will be on securing a global CLIMATE TREATY. Here are three reasons why I believe it will happen. 1.) President Barack Obama has made it his legacy project; 2.) More than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion in assets have made some form of divestment commitment from fossil fuels; 3.) And, like it or not, on a world stage, actions by the GOP-Led Congress are only a minor sideshow. As the first accredited blogger for the UNFCCC (Bali-2007), I personally witnessed and wrote about the *obstructionist*...
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