How increasing your happiness can help solve climate change (w/ Jiaying Zhao and Elizabeth Dunn) episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 17, 2026 · 41 MIN

How increasing your happiness can help solve climate change (w/ Jiaying Zhao and Elizabeth Dunn)

from How to Be a Better Human

The conversation around climate change is often bleak and terrifying, but it doesn’t have to be that way, says climate behavior scientist Jiaying Zhao, or JZ. In this episode, JZ and happiness researcher Elizabeth Dunn join Chris to discuss why we need to account for happiness in climate solutions. JZ and Elizabeth argue since happiness is contagious, making happiness-driven decisions go further in influencing behavioral change than fear-based tactics. They also talk about an anesthetic gas that releases more carbon than CO2 and why you should google if your bank is investing money in fossil fuels.Featured guestFollow JZ on X, LinkedIn, and at psych.ubc.ca/profile/jiaying-zhao/Follow Elizabeth Dunn at https://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/Learn more at https://happyclimate.org/Buy Leave the Light OnConnect with the teamFollow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.comBuy Chris’ book, Humor Me Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDPodsFollow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTokFor the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscriptsFill out our survey at bit.ly/BHSurvey6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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