God Bless Us, Every One

Dinner day two in Seattle was ten of us - some colleagues, some clients, and a few other interesting characters as well. I have been craving gnocchi for some unexplained reason and was thrilled to learn that this restaurant, in addition to specializing in gluten-free Italian food, also home-makes their own gnocchi from Yukon Gold potatoes, perplexing me briefly for the moment it took me to remember that gnocchi is made from potatoes.

While not focused on my gnocchi, I enjoyed the conversation of the group. We covered everything from sustainability to other aspects of sustainability and I once again made a mental note to actually learn something about this subject area in which I am asserting expertise.

One exchange that particularly tickled me went like this.

Me: If you could wave a magic wand and affect some change in the world in the service of solving global warming, without just directly solving it, what would you do?

DCTML: Are you familiar with "A Christmas Carol" ?

Me: Yes. So...?

DCTML: I would do that.

Me: [blank stare. what happened to all my gnocchi?]

DCTML: I would bring the Ghost of Climate Change Future to visit everyone in the present and show them the impact that they are having, but while there is still time to change their ways.


Isn't that simply delightful?

A colleague of mine then chimed in that fear is actually not the greatest motivator of human behavioral change and that smokers who were given antidepressants were able to quit because they were happier.

So it seems clear that the solution to global warming lies somewhere between reading more Dickens and putting the world on prozac.