Happiness that doesn’t cost the Earth

Everyone has a basic human need for a happy and fulfilling life. For many, this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve during a period of economic upheaval and rising energy prices. With the climate crisis looming large and internationally agreed temperature limits looking precarious, it is imperative that we rapidly reduce emissions that threaten the wellbeing of people around the world.1

This presents a dilemma: at both the policy and personal scales, wellbeing has conventionally been pursued through increasing income and greater consumption of goods and services; yet—leaving aside inflationary pressures to earn more in order to stand still—higher levels of income and consumption are themselves among the strongest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions.23

Fortunately, a careful unpicking of these connections shows routes to accomplishing a good quality of life at the same time as pursuing effective climate action.

Measures of subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction—happiness, by other names—do increase in general with personal income and a nation’s GDP. However, this is a more complex relation than is often assumed. For those on lower incomes, who may be struggling with the cost of living, substantial gains in life satisfaction can be had from even modest improvements in material circumstances. But higher levels of income lead to ever diminishing returns, with some research even indicating that the association between income and happiness goes into reverse at around the $100 000 salary mark.4

While growth in happiness tends to peter out as income rises, there are no signs that the relation to a person’s carbon footprint lessens in a similar way. Globally, the richest 1% of people—roughly speaking, anyone above that same $100 000 income threshold—are together responsible for carbon emissions that add up to twice the combined total of the poorest half of the world’s population.3 High levels of income may have questionable benefits for life satisfaction, but they have been unquestionably damaging to the planet.5 Given the world’s rapidly diminishing carbon budget, any further use of fossil fuels is much better directed towards lifting people out of poverty, a task that could be achieved with relatively small increases in global emissions.6

The happiness of a society does not depend solely on its overall wealth, but rather on how that wealth is used and distributed. Within Europe, nations with strong healthcare and education systems provide the best foundation for citizens’ life satisfaction.7 More equal societies perform better on a wide range of societal indicators including stress, anxiety, depression, and addiction8; analysis of the US over a period of decades has shown that people have on average been happier during periods of relative equality in income.9

The good news is that those same societal conditions that underpin people’s wellbeing—higher quality public services and health coverage, as well as greater income equality—are able to do so with relatively low levels of energy use.10 More unequal societies can require as much as twice the energy consumption to secure decent living standards, compared with that needed in a more egalitarian set of circumstances.11

It is also worth considering which types of activities or ways of spending one’s income are most closely linked to happiness. Is it a weekend shopping trip across the Atlantic, or a walk in a nearby wood with friends?

Research from positive psychology shows that many sources of happiness—whether linked to a person’s disposition or way of life—are not contingent on consumption behaviours or much, if any, use of energy. Happiness can come from being kind to others,12 spending time in nature,13 listening to music, or even just daydreaming.14 In richer countries at least, it would appear there is little connection between a person’s level of energy use and how happy they are.15 In terms of our engagement with consumer society, a more materialistic mindset and lifestyle has been reliably shown to have a negative relation with subjective wellbeing.16

A final piece of the jigsaw is the reciprocity between environmentally friendly practices and happiness. A range of studies has shown that sustainable lifestyles and a happy life are not only compatible, but that each has the potential to reinforce the other.17 Doing things that are positive for the environment can help to meet people’s desire to live according to their values and to make a positive difference in the world; at the same time, people who are happier in themselves may be more inclined to be good citizens. The link between green lifestyles and happiness has been observed across a range of behaviours, but appears strongest for actions that require personal effort or interactions with other people.17 Cross-national research that we have carried out has found that green behaviours such as conservation volunteering and buying environmentally friendly products are associated with subjective wellbeing in countries including India, China, Brazil, and the UK—with no evidence that these effects are moderated by personal income or national wealth.18

All told, some of the most valuable uses to which energy and consumption can be put are to meet people’s needs, quality of life, and personal happiness efficiently and equitably. With only so much carbon left to go around, it’s time to ask what really makes us happy, and whether that needs to cost the Earth.