The “butterfly effect” is the idea that a small and seemingly insignificant event can trigger something on a much larger scale than what originally took place. It’s the theory that a butterfly can flap its wings, eventually causing a tornado to occur a thousand miles away. Remember how Homer Simpson went back in time, squashed a prehistoric bug, and returned to a drastically altered universe, where donuts fell from the sky? I find that much easier to understand than fractals or chaos theory.
Anyways, let’s try to enumerate the long term effects of making a seemingly insignificant decision to wear flip flops instead of shoes and socks. It is an exaggerated and contrived example, but serves to illustrate the “butterfly effect” in terms of saving money and saving the planet. (I think it feels like compound interest on steroids…)
