I (for one) have tried dedicating all my time to doing activism that seemed “more important” (HIV in Africa) rather than the activism that is most interesting to me (various types of sexuality stuff in America), and I was both less happy and less effective
There’s a story I like to tell when I hear this. Louise and Claire are both concerned about global warming. Louise is full of passion for the subject and does what moves her most; through her hard work persuades a thousand people to unplug their phone chargers at night. Claire can’t get worked up about it even though she understands it’s important; in a drunken conversation one night she persuades one friend to turn down their central heating one degree.
Claire’s choice of an efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions absolutely swamps the difference in enthusiasm; she does considerably more good than Louise.
There’s a story I like to tell when I hear this. Louise and Claire are both concerned about global warming. Louise is full of passion for the subject and does what moves her most; through her hard work persuades a thousand people to unplug their phone chargers at night. Claire can’t get worked up about it even though she understands it’s important; in a drunken conversation one night she persuades one friend to turn down their central heating one degree.
Claire’s choice of an efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions absolutely swamps the difference in enthusiasm; she does considerably more good than Louise.
This makes me wonder if giving out free clothing vouchers in winter might be an effective global warming hack.
Things like this are why I love Lesswrong.