You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hew.

You've heard tactical changes we should make to curb climate change.

Drive less, eat less meat, shop less.

But what if the key to saving the planet is actually about being happier?

Behavioral scientist Jai Ying Zhao thinks so.

When most people think about climate action,

they immediately default the things

that have to give up for the planet.

This mindset is so ingrained in us,

partly because the current narrative on climate action

is about personal sacrifice. Drive less,

eat less meat, shop less, less. In this talk from 2023, Jai Ying and her colleague Elizabeth Dunn,

a happiness scientist, set out to answer a question nobody had quite asked before. What if the

things that are good for the planet

could also be good for you? She calls it the happy climate approach. Let's take a look at

perhaps the messiest part of everybody's home. The fridge. I don't think the fridge is designed

with human behavior in mind. We often forget about the things in the drawers,

and that can lead to a lot of food waste and emissions. So what's the happy climate action here?

Fong Shui your fridge. That's coming up right after a short break.

And now our TED Talk of the Day.

Hey, everyone. I'm Jay-Z. Not the cool rapper, but the professor trying to cool the planet through behavior change.

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