Did you want your parents to leave a light on at night when you were little, because you were afraid of the dark? Are you still doing it?

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Our fear of the dark (and the scary creatures that lurk in it) is but one of many fears and irrational beliefs that keep us from doing the rational thing. At the European Investment Bank, the EU bank, we have all kinds of experts who can challenge the assumptions, notions and prejudices we all have about anything from climate to cybercrime, and from healthcare to education.

So we started a podcast about these myths. In each episode of the podcast, we fight one imaginary monster under the bed and hopefully win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. One that costs society less.

In the first episode we address, together with the EIB’s climate change specialist Wouter Meindertsma, the actual monsters – or, to be more specific, our fear of them – and how the light we leave on at night wastes money on electricity and causes unnecessary greenhouse gases.

You might think that the effect is minimal. But is it? In this episode you will find out:

• The astonishing number of tons of CO2 that is emitted in Europe because of our fear of monsters under the bed
• How to measure the CO2 emitted by pretty much everything we do, so you understand better whether the emissions are worth it
• Why people are scared of the dark, and whether they are mostly afraid of monsters or… kidnappers
• What ‘exposure therapy’ is and how it can help you deal with your fear of the dark.

So instead of milk and cookies, listen to our podcast for a good bedtime story.

So that you don’t miss a future episode, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. You can do it in iTunes and Acast and many other podcast platforms as well.

Let me know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch with me on Twitter @AllarTankler.