Is happiness a destination or a direction? Arthur Brooks makes the case that what happiness really comes down to is our evolutionary and inherent need to feel useful. To feel needed by others. To feel connected to our fellow humans. 

No wonder, then, that studies have found happiness declines in people over the age of 70 – when they often feel less needed by and connected to their friends and family. 

Fundamentally, our relationships with other people seems to be the biggest factor in how our happiness changes across the course of our lives; connection is the key. 

Here’s what you might have missed this week:

• Can we ensure that we will stay happy through every phase of our lives? Simon Sinek talks to Arthur Brooks about who stays happy and why – Simon Sinek Podcast 
• Working from home out of choice rather than necessity: what’s changed in our work habits – Fast Company 
• Compassion and performance: why neither need to be compromised – Harvard Business Review
• How the White House is tackling one of the trickiest problems when it comes to climate change and decarbonisation – The Atlantic 
• Peloton: a tale of bungled calls and bad luck – The Financial Times 
• Colonising the moon: we could begin to see plots of moon-land being sold to the higher bidder – The Guardian 
• The power of water: why it’s more potent that even oil or gold – Aeon
• Hope for the future: three green-minded entrepreneurs are tackling climate change head on – The New York Times