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So, improvisation and humor really lubricate the skids for creativity as a group, and then, also, allow people to not censor their ideas too prematurely, which is obviously really important.

if you’re laughing, you’re more likely to have a more relaxed state of mind and you’re more likely to be in a creative state of mind. Humor removes some of the barriers and some of the self-consciousness.

make it so people are very comfortable working with ambiguity and fighting through setbacks and failure, in order to solve problems in more creative ways.

However, research conducted concurrently by several different firms, including the Associated Press, suggests that while Harvard might have benefited well from its oil and gas investments in the past, the marketplace, with the world’s increased focus on climate issues, was changing. “Fossil fuel free” investments now stand to earn more

In 2005, in response to increasing pressure from student and human rights groups, the university announced it would be divesting from overseas companies like PetroChina and Sinopec that allegedly had ties with Sudan. However, two years later, the student-run paper, Harvard Crimson, reported that the university still maintained investments in those overseas companies.

What President Faust’s letter didn’t address was the relationship between investment and reputation. Harvard’s reputation is shaped by what it invests in, not just in what it teaches or promotes in research. So is its brand as an impartial, but forward-thinking institution that doesn’t want to be perceived as a “political actor.” But climate change is altering not only how we harness energy but how we view the political landscape. As a poet once told me, “everything is political.” It’s how we deal with that landscape and the choices we make that shapes how others view us.

The most effective way to affect change in personal ownership is a combination of education and guilt.  Guilt (and a little positive encouragement) changes behavior. It is known that guilt can be a great motivator for environmentally responsible behavior.  The Green Guilt survey also showed that 29% of Americans admit to suffering from “green guilt,” defined as the knowledge that you could and should be doing more to help preserve the environment. The findings also show that Americans increasingly feel an obligation to recycle.

The right combination of knowledge, access and personal responsibility is the foundation needed to move from apathetic to active participant.

The most challenging hurdle is apathy. When consumers feel disconnected from the benefits of environmentally responsible behaviors—or from the dangers present in its absence—it is easy to just not care