November 5, 2026: Special edition

By Jennifer Kitt

Years ago, at a moment when I was feeling some scarcity, my husband gave me a small rock with one word written on it: Abundance. 

For a year, I carried it in my pocket as a reminder to look for abundance around me. What might I be missing when I was afraid? Each time I reached for that rock in my pocket, it pointed me back toward possibility. I learned that sometimes simple reminders, repeated often enough, can help us live into a new, more expansive mindset.

For me, that led to leaving a career in the law to help people be generous. I moved into philanthropy, and today I lead Climate Lead, where we advise philanthropists interested in entering climate giving. 

During New York Climate Week, I had the chance to explore the science behind some of what I’ve witnessed throughout my career alongside Elizabeth (Liz) Dunn and Jiaying Zhao, behavioral scientists whose research on happiness and scarcity informs their new book, Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species.

Together, we explored a deceptively simple question: What helps us make choices that are not only good for us, but also good for the world? 

(Watch a short snapshot of the session.)

One moment really stayed with me. Jiaying shared her research on just how profoundly financial scarcity can affect the way we think: When people are preoccupied with money worries, their cognitive performance drops by the equivalent of 13 IQ points.

Scarcity constrains how we think — impairing the very capacity we need to find our way out of it. And it doesn’t just affect individuals. We see it in systems as well. 

In philanthropy, only a little over 2% of global giving goes to climate solutions. The organizations doing this work are brilliant and committed and ambitious. But when funding arrives in increments, even extraordinary organizations can find their dreams limited to increments.

Scarcity can compress what entire systems believe is possible — or even dare to imagine. 

Abundance invites us to start somewhere different: with the outcome instead of the constraint.

Rather than asking, What can we accomplish with what we have? we can ask, What would it actually take to solve this problem? Then we can mobilize the resources to get to the outcome that the world needs.

Liz’s research adds another dimension. Generosity can be good for the giver, too. And its rewards are greatest when we give freely and by choice, we feel connected to the cause and we can see or feel the difference our contribution makes. 

What excites me most about this “generosity effect” is that it doesn’t stop with the giver. It spreads.

Jiaying and Liz shared research showing just how much we influence those around us, often without realizing it. In one study at a café, if one person ordered lunch, the person behind them became 72% more likely to order the same thing. 

They saw it in climate behavior, too. Solar panels spread in clusters across neighborhoods. Electric vehicles experienced the same phenomenon in clusters across geographies. One person acts, and suddenly an unfamiliar choice becomes more visible, and more possible, to someone else.

We see the same thing in philanthropy. When people move from scarcity toward abundance, they unlock their own creativity. They can see more and dream bigger. When people begin to tackle problems together, there is immediately more joy because there is community and shared purpose — and when things are hard, they have each other.

That joy matters because climate work requires resilience. There will be setbacks, headwinds and promising ideas that stall. Progress will not always be linear, and joy can help give us the resilience to stay in the work.

And we all need to stay in it, because we do not have a shortage of climate solutions. There is so much we can do right now. At Climate Lead, we have analyzed hundreds of high-impact climate solutions, with 80 of the most urgent being able to put at least $5 billion to work today. 

But resources can mean many things. Money, certainly. But also your voice, your credibility, your network, and your willingness to invite someone else in. 

That little Abundance rock stayed in my pocket for a year. Eventually, I was speaking with a friend and realized: Oh, I don’t need this anymore. She does. So, I passed it on. 

Maybe we all need a touchstone to remind us to look for what’s possible. When we begin to see the abundance and generosity around us, we can recognize what we have to give — and help others see the possibilities, too.

Jennifer Kitt is the founding president of Climate Lead, a free, impartial philanthropic advisory organization that empowers philanthropists to take bold climate action. You can learn more about Climate Lead’s work to accelerate climate philanthropy at ClimateLead.org. 

Copyright © 2026 TED, All rights reserved.

You received this email because you subscribed to it on TED.com.

Was this forwarded by a friend? You can sign up here: countdown.ted.com

Our mailing address is: 330 Hudson St Fl 12, NY, NY 10013.

Unsubscribe | View in browser