Can Behavioral Economics Jump-Start Green Leadership?
If you’ve eaten in a hurry in New York City lately, then you’re no stranger to the type of behavioral nudging that can be done by making you aware of hidden facts behind your purchases. Fast-food and other chain restaurants are now required to provide clearly visible calorie data to their New York customers, in menus, on signs and pretty much everywhere. I have been shocked to discover just how many calories were in my seemingly harmless chicken Caesar salad and have adjusted my lunch orders accordingly. If calorie numbers can change the eating habits of New Yorkers, could environmental data change the purchasing habits of the average consumer? After all, what you don’t know can actually hurt you, and it seems that once you do know, you’d really prefer to have it stop hurting you (and possibly the environment). In his new book Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything, psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman argues that comprehensiv
