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Summary

What if the most effective ways to fight climate change made you happy? Psychologist Elizabeth Dunn and climate behavior scientist Jiaying Zhao challenge everything we think we know about sustainable living. While most climate advice demands self-denial--eat less, travel less, want less--this groundbreaking book offers a counterintuitive truth: you can make your life better while saving our species at the same time. The authors reveal how tweaking everyday decisions around food, travel, housing, and shopping can nudge us toward a tipping point of mass action--without tipping us into burnout. You will discover that: Joy is a powerful climate strategy. When you enjoy the changes you're making, you're more likely to stick with them--and spread them. You don't have to go vegan or give up flying. Smart substitutions (chicken over beef, carry-on over checked bags) make a real dent in emissions with less personal friction. Small talk matters. Normalizing climate conversations with friends and family helps shift social norms and catalyzes cultural change.

Give yourself permission to leave the lights on. Focus on higher-impact actions instead of smaller interventions. Leave the Lights On is a bold invitation to reimagine climate action not as a burden, but as an opportunity to build a brighter future--without guilt, without gloom, and without giving up the things that make life worth living. With warmth, clarity, and a refreshingly optimistic voice, Zhao and Dunn reframe what it means to 'do your part.' Because sustainability doesn't lie in doing everything, it lies in doing something, joyfully.

Where to get it?

Amazon.com

Penguin Random House

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master pollinator
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Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
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Personally, I think there is great wisdom in this sort of approach.

I think the hyperventilating doomie narrative -- "we're all going to die in xx years!" is now threadbare. Perhaps the intention was to stampede the herd to drive change.  Yes we have giant problems to solve, but obviously we're all not going to die anytime soon. Panic does not last, and people eventually tune out (or backlash) when bombarded with endless negative messaging.

I hope my local library can hook me up with an ebook version.
 
steward and tree herder
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I think paul would agree: the solutions are embarrasingly simple
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