Small actions can make a difference this Earth Month
Increasingly, there is a kind of resignation settling into our conversations about the planet we inhabit. Those conversations become dominated by doubtful phrases like “too late” or “too big.” It often feels like we’re watching the end of our world unfold in slow motion. Ice melting, forests burning, oceans warming. These large-scale problems that seem untouchable. Individual efforts seem to disappear into news about the latest environmental catastrophe, or how fast fashion and large corporations are accelerating these global damages.
In contrast, the minutiae of our days feel small, bounded by our ordinary rituals. A morning coffee, a commute to work, an evening grocery run, a dinner with friends or family. These might not seem like meaningful moments to make a difference in the fate of the planet. Often, when we are galvanized by the global changes we see and seek to make a difference, there is a pressure to be the perfect environmentalist — especially online. We’re told to adopt a vegan diet, eliminate waste, take cold showers, refuse disposable straws, buy clothes only from sustainable brands and so much more. These can be great ways to be environmentally conscious and reduce individual impacts, but jumping head first into a completely eco-friendly lifestyle can be daunting, and not all of these environmentally conscious efforts are accessible to everyone.
During April, or Earth Month, when we commonly see earnest slogans and calls for a greener future, that pressure to live a perfect environmentalist’s lifestyle can feel stronger. Some people make wholehearted efforts to reduce their environmental impact, but eventually find that the changes they’ve made aren’t sustainable for them. Eco-friendly clothing and items are expensive, and maybe some of us need a long, hot shower after a stressful day at work. Others tune out this noise altogether, unconvinced by the difference their small efforts would make if they even tried.
In many ways, it feels unfair that the burden often falls on the consumer, the everyday person, to make changes or reduce their intake in these discussions of our environmental future. After all, when environmental protections are rescinded, and giant manufacturers dump massive amounts of plastic and sludge and smog into the world, why should we be made to feel guilty about using a plastic fork, or leaving a light on?
The truth is, we shouldn’t. Environmental conversations that depend on guilt and fear to spurn action are far from productive. They create a version of environmentalism that feels exclusionary, in which we may feel the need to “prove” the extent of and genuine motivations behind our actions. What often works, really works, is envisioning a shared future we can all feel excited about, and work toward in the ways we feel best equipped.
It’s important for us all to acknowledge that an environmentally-friendly lifestyle rarely looks the same between households or individuals. For some, dietary changes are the best way to reduce a carbon footprint. For others, it’s going a bit longer before buying new clothes, or carrying around a trusty reusable water bottle. Most of us already make eco-friendly choices throughout the day, because they also save us money: turning off the tap while we brush our teeth, turning down the air conditioning when we leave home for the day, washing our clothes on the cold cycle. These actions can compound into something larger.
None of this is to suggest that individual action will save the world overnight. It won’t. Large-scale change ultimately requires policy, infrastructure and corporate accountability. It requires decisions made beyond the scope of a single household — decisions we can advocate for, but which can still wind up out of our hands. However, the potential absence of sufficiency is no reason to feel discouraged from the effort.
The idea that one person is too small to make a difference depends on a definition of “difference” that tends to be more immediate and dramatic. But environmental changes, for better or for worse, are often slower than that. They happen incrementally. But those increments accumulate. Just as global temperatures have risen gradually, a fraction of a degree at a time, the repairs we make will take place gradually as well.
This Earth Month, we’ll begin where we are, with the choices we have available. These choices on their own may not act as a sweeping solution, but they do act as a refusal to accept that there is nothing to be done.
