How does Greentist reduce its environmental footprint?
Anand Raj
Climate Enthusiast September 01
Welcome to our support group for people whose planet is literally keeping them awake at night. Please take a seat, grab some chamomile tea, and prepare to discover why your 3 AM staring-at-the-ceiling sessions aren’t just about work stress anymore.
Scientists just analyzed 23 million sleep records from 214,445 people and delivered the most exhausting news possible: for every 10°C temperature increase, we lose nearly 10 minutes of sleep and face 20% higher odds of sleep insufficiency. By 2099, under current emission trends, we could lose 33 hours of sleep per person annually.
But here’s the real nightmare fuel: rising temperatures specifically target our deep sleep - the phase crucial for physical recovery and brain detox. Climate change isn’t just making us tired; it’s systematically sabotaging our body’s nightly restoration process. It’s like having a home security system that gets progressively worse at protecting your house while charging you more for the privilege.
Hi, my name is [redacted], and I’m a climate insomniac.
Last night, I lay awake in 28°C heat, scrolling through my phone (blue light disruption bonus!), worrying about global warming while my AC unit pumped out the exact emissions that are making future sleep even more impossible. The irony was so thick I could taste it- along with the microplastics we discussed last week.
I’m part of the generation that lived through the coolest temperatures our grandchildren will ever experience, and somehow I’m surprised that my sleep quality is deteriorating. I contribute to atmospheric warming every day, then complain when the atmosphere won’t let me rest. It’s like poisoning the well and being shocked that the water tastes terrible.
The profound contradiction sits heavy in my consciousness: my comfortable modern life requires energy consumption that makes comfortable sleep increasingly difficult for everyone.
Let’s examine our collective sleep disorder, because misery loves company and data loves precision:
The Demographics of Doom: Women lose more sleep than men due to physiological differences in temperature regulation. We start cooling our bodies earlier in the evening, making us sitting ducks for higher bedtime temperatures. Plus, subcutaneous fat that helps in cold weather becomes a heat-trapping liability during warm nights.
The Age Penalty: Adults over 65 experience nearly twice the sleep disruption of younger people. A 1°C temperature increase hits the elderly more than twice as hard as other age groups. So basically, the demographic that’s lived through the most climate change gets punished the most for it.
The Economics of Exhaustion: People in lower-income countries experience three times the sleep disruption of those in wealthier nations. Limited access to cooling technology means climate change literally robs sleep from those who can least afford it. Meanwhile, the wealthy can air-condition their way out of the problem while contributing more to the emissions causing it.
The Geographic Lottery: Some regions will lose 42 hours of sleep annually by 2099. That’s more than a full work week of lost rest every year. South, Central, and Eastern regions face the worst projections, creating a climate-sleep inequality map.
The Ironic Adaptation Failure: People already living in hot climates lose even more sleep per degree of temperature increase compared to those in cooler areas. Instead of building resilience, repeated heat exposure makes populations more vulnerable to sleep loss. Our bodies aren’t adapting; they’re surrendering.
Since we’re living in a timeline where the planet’s fever is giving us all chronic fatigue, here’s our group therapy homework:
Step 1: Acknowledge the Absurdity Accept that we’ve created a world where air conditioning is simultaneously the problem and the solution. We cool our bedrooms using technologies that warm the planet, making everyone else’s bedrooms harder to cool. It’s the perfect closed loop of climate irony.
Step 2: Practice Radical Acceptance Recognise that your sleep problems aren’t just personal failures - they are symptoms of living through a planetary health crisis. Your insomnia has a carbon footprint, and your carbon footprint has insomnia.
Step 3: Embrace the Contradiction You can care deeply about climate change while still using AC to sleep. You can advocate for emission reductions while participating in emission-producing activities. Perfect consistency is impossible; conscious inconsistency is progress.
Step 4: Channel Sleep Rage Productively When climate insomnia hits at 3 AM, use that wakeful energy to email corporations about their emission reduction plans. Nothing says “I’m serious about climate action” like sending passive-aggressive emails to oil companies at dawn.
Since we’re all losing sleep over this climate crisis - literally - let’s make our insomnia productive:
The Sleep Tracking Experiment: Monitor your sleep during heat waves and normal temperature nights. Document the difference. Share the data with friends who think climate change is “just weather.”
The Corporate Sleep Audit: Email companies asking how their emissions contribute to global sleep loss. Request their employee sleep productivity data during heat waves. Make them explain why they’re fine with reducing human rest quality for profit.
The Energy Paradox Challenge: Calculate how much energy you use for sleeping comfort (AC, fans, cooling) versus how much those emissions will cost future sleep quality. Post the math - nothing hurts like precise irony.
The Vulnerable Population Reality Check: Research which communities in your area lack access to cooling during heat waves. Volunteer for or donate to organizations providing cooling relief. If we’re going to be part of the problem, we can at least mitigate harm for those suffering most.
The Future Projection Sharing: When people complain about poor sleep during heat waves, share the science about projected annual sleep loss. Make it clear this isn’t temporary weather - it’s permanent climate disruption.
Because if we’re going to collectively suffer from climate-induced insomnia, the least we can do is turn our sleepless nights into action-oriented days.
The beautiful, terrible truth: We’re all lying awake in beds we made, on a planet we’re systematically overheating, wondering why we can’t rest.
Sweet dreams are made of lower emissions. Who are we to disagree?
Sources: Nature Communications study analysing 23 million sleep records from 214,445 participants; Yale Global Health Review analysis of climate-sleep research; One Earth global sleep analysis across 68 countries.
