I like a capella singing, and one of my favorite groups is a slightly edgy group called “The Bobs”. One of their best songs is about a shopper trying to decide whether to place items in a paper or plastic grocery bag. Check it out.
Today, the answer to the question might seem straightforward (NEITHER paper nor plastic you orangutan, bring your own bag!), but believe it or not, there have been real debates about this question over time.
Consumers have to make all sorts of big and small decisions. I have two upcoming big decisions: whether to put solar panels on my house, and what kind of car to buy. My journey with LOT has taught me that I need to make decisions like this with at least two kinds of costs in mind: cash costs, and carbon costs. However, there may be even more kinds of costs I need to consider.
Take for example the decision to buy a used electric vehicle. The electric vehicle itself is probably more expensive than an equivalent gas vehicle, but electricity is way cheaper than gasoline these days. On the carbon cost side, there are zero emissions running the vehicle, but charging takes electricity, and sometimes electricity is generated in coal-fired plants. I assume I’ll do most of my charging at my house, and I hope to install some solar panels soon, which will give me more confidence about the electricity.
But peel the onion a little more, and we discover more murk. The materials in the car battery are currently damaging to the environment in other ways, and some materials are obtained under dubious labor laws in Congo. What is to be done?
So, how can I optimize my decision, given a whole lot of uncertainty at this particular moment? I need a car soon, even though industry and science are not yet ready to give me the best answers. Here are my thoughts:
Dig: We have been trained by clever marketers to avoid having to think about decisions we make. Why consider a different brand if we are already comfortable with the one we’ve always used? Unfortunately, making the best environmental choice is not as well packaged. In fact, brand claims for minimal environmental impact may be false, or at least misleading. My electric car example demonstrates the value of digging a few layers to make a decision. I think a good rule of thumb is to dig at least one extra layer on your own when considering environmental impact.
Care: We may believe we can’t actually make a difference. I mean, who am I among 6 billion people living on the earth? I think we need to be optimistic that our own decisions can make a difference, and that others around us will make a difference. This will be driven by a sense of caring about the consequences of our actions. I believe we can all muster this level of car.
Decide: We may have imperfect information, but we need a decision right now. Welcome to life! This is the way it works. We try to decide better this time than we did last time. You can’t be blamed if some things turn out differently than the scanty evidence suggested.
Move On: I want to believe I make the absolute best decision every time, but it’s just not true. Making a well-reasoned, educated decision within significant constraints is about all I can hope for.
So, Dig, Care, Decide, Move On: my advice is live life, and make the best decisions you can with the information currently available. Try hard to do what’s right. Don’t beat yourself up if you turn out to be wrong.
(Also, check out The Laundry Cycle. Hilarious!)
