Upset about the plastic crisis? Stop trying so hard

We make good-faith efforts to help the planet by recycling, but what we really need to do is even simpler

• All the plastic ever made: the fate of 8.3bn tons

Did you ever decide to get off a jammed freeway and take the backroads even though deep down you knew that it wouldn’t be any faster? Are you constantly switching to the faster lane on a busy freeway even though you notice that cars sticking to their lanes keep catching up with you?

Both are examples of action bias, the phenomenon in which people prefer doing something over doing nothing, even if the likely outcome of the action is worse than the outcome of inaction. Research has shown that actively managed portfolios tend to do worse than passive investments. And one study found that soccer goalkeepers prefer to jump left or right during a penalty kick, even though the best thing would be to stay put in the middle.

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from World news | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2YeVcde