Everyday Systems

I came across this book about the power of habit. I haven't read it yet, but I think it looks promising. It's excerpted on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/books/titles/1471926 ... pt#excerpt

I saw the author on The Today Show last week and thought the book sounded interesting, but I've not read it yet.

Yeah, this looks great (I'll be listening to the audiobook version as soon as I finish Tale of Two Cities).

He wrote a new york times magazine article a couple of weeks ago which was fascinating, focusing on how marketers are tapping into the power of habit to get us to buy stuff. I don't like to get hung up on the Evil Corporations angle, but hey if it works for them it can work for you.

Reinhard

I work in environmental outreach and there's a lot of discussion right now about changing the communications paradigm from "Save the Earth!" types of messages to leveraging behaviors and habits for "green". Many issue oriented groups are slowly coming around to this method. At the end of the day, I think it behooves all of us to ensure that we are using our power (of habit) for good and not evil.

As an aside, I think that No S is intrinsically green. While local/organic/seasonal /vegan has its place, I think the highest bang for buck in terms of reducing environmental impacts from food production is for people to just eat less, especially eat less highly processed and packaged foods which are - not surprisingly - usually snacks and sweets. Earth Day is coming up so maybe there's a promotional tie in somehow.

Read The Power of Habit on Wednesday. The first part is highly applicable to no S. Starting The Willpower Instinct now. I had thought about mentioning The Power of Habit here... glad someone else did.