092: Paternalism and pride: why fly to Africa to eek out minor efficiencies when we waste hundreds times more?
First world people pollute hundreds of times more than third world people yet the material prosperity doesn’t translate to greater happiness. Specifically, according to the National Academy of Science, “The striking thing about the happiness–income paradox is that over the long-term —usually a period of 10 y or more—happiness does not increase as a country’s income rises.”
We could reduce our waste by 75% while improving our quality of life, yet we claim we can’t do it.
Yet we travel to the third world to change them!
Leaders are more effective when humble than proud. Paternalism rarely helps any relationships.
In this post I explore how we in the first world act with paternalism and pride to justify our extravagant, wasteful behavior, missing how we could learn from others.