In the current generation of youth, many have been bombarded with the same question: How will you make a positive change in the world? This question has many layers that many kids and teens are encouraged to explore. Many adults and elders are firm believers in this quote, as the brightest future is in stock when young people have the tools needed to change the world, and an entire lifetime to do so. Recently, society has also adopted the belief that one person can change the world, just by starting small. However, some people don’t exactly realize how small. Many people will think giving public speeches, publishing articles, and putting up posters/signs at public spaces will inform others of the change you want to make. But, it's even smaller than that. Changing the entire world starts extremely small, like many other big-time projects. It starts with yourself. Changing your attitude, your dedication, and how you decide to perceive your everyday life is the key to make change. Maybe just smiling at one person on the street today, you have made the day for that one person. It’s still a change, a small change, but it is a start to the change that you are hoping to make for the rest of the world. Everything starts tiny, and in this case, specifically, it starts in yourself.
Environmentally, protecting your planet by small means can actually lead to big changes over time. Planet Earth, which we live on, is starting to deteriorate by means of human pollution in the seas, air, and land (basically everywhere). Protecting your planet and changing your ways of life to do so actually isn’t that hard. For example, you could, when shopping, instead of buying the plastic bags that the shops sell, bring cloth bags. Or, if need be, buy a plastic bag, but reuse it many times before throwing it away. Every year, approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used around the globe. A lot of this, when thrown away, ends up in the ocean. And it's not without consequences. By reusing plastic bags, you won’t be contributing to this amount which is only growing. Another way to protect this planet and change the world is to just grow a single plant. It doesn’t have to be a whole garden, and especially for people with less space, a small, potted plant like (but not limited to) the aloe vera or the boston fern plant (if no allergies apply) can be great options. These small, house plants, can actually bring more oxygen into the world, and the aloe vera can even be a medicinal plant for sunburns. “While this fern (the Boston Fern) enriches the air with oxygen, it also removes formaldehyde, thus purifying the air,” says Plantophile.com. While it might just be bringing a cloth bag to the farmers market or growing a plant on your windowsill, it is still a small change to your daily lifestyle and to the world. By changing your ways of life and making your own choices, you have just made the world better, if just by a little bit.
Another problem has been arising in this current era: dwindling resources. Our resource bases have been found more and more empty as human’s demands for non-renewable resources have grown, without enough time for the source to regenerate before being emptied again. Also, guess what? You can contribute to stopping this problem. Again, not by being all big-time and giving a bunch of speeches. Changing yourself by making sustainable choices and saving energy and water will just help this problem. For instance, just turn off the water when you are lathering soap on your hands when you wash your hands. Not everybody realizes the fact that water is still being wasted every single second it is turned on, yet you are not using it. “An average American person uses around 100-175 gallons of water per day!” says TheWorldCounts. By making yourself turn off the faucet, you are also saving more water to give to places where there might not even be enough drinking water, forget about washing and showering! In 2022, humans personally used an all-time high of about 4.07 trillion kilowatts of electricity! 14 times greater than in 1950! This just shows how much resources humans have come to take for granted and use without further thought. By turning off the light when you are not using it, you have just saved some electricity. Eating less packaged/processed foods, consuming less meat, and bringing reusable water bottles are all great, small ways to change yourself while having a small impact on the world at the same time. Making sustainable choices and saving resources are great ways to start a better lifestyle while making an impact, together.
Have you heard of the quote “You get what you give?” Well, today, we’re going to change it, a little bit. Today, it’s going to be “Give back what you got.” Giving back is a major part of life. You already get a lot from others. By way of illustration, when you go and eat at a restaurant, you have just gotten food from the hard work of the workers, and even if the food is bad, it’s still trying. Changing the way you look at things can bring new things to light. When you get a car ride home from your friend’s parents, you have just gotten another favor. So why not return those? It’s not saying that you have to go around giving back everything, but when you can, it is important to build your community and give back what you can, within reasonable limits. Volunteering is a great way to start. Local community clean-ups, bake sales, book-fairs, and animal shelters are great places where help is also appreciated. Worldwide, around 16.9 million people rely on food banks for a bit to eat. No matter the size, what you do for your community is still a start to changing the way other people feel. “An estimated 23.2 percent of Americans or more than 60.7 million people formally volunteered with organizations between September 2020 and 2021.” says Americorps.gov. By volunteering to rake the lawn for an elderly neighbor, you might have just saved them a lot of work, and maybe even money. Making others feel good can also make yourself feel better. It's not always about making it big, cause everywhere, everything starts small. By volunteering, you may have just saved a person from starvation. By changing yourself and being willing to be open to helping others and spending your own time to make others feel better, you have made a change in the world.
The personal impact you make on the world is not exactly represented in big numbers, but it can be measured by the person receiving your hard work. By changing your attitude and being empathetic towards others, you might have just made somebody feel better about a loss that they might have just experienced. By being dedicated to what you choose to do and the job at hand, you have just made one of a gazillion things in your life better. By looking at what is around you differently, you might have just spotted something that is perfect, or something that is bad and that you can fix yourself. Changing yourself and the world at the same time is about taking small steps to cultivate a lifestyle that you can make yourself better in while making the place more natural. It’s about learning and growing from your mistakes, taking in what positive traits that others have, and trying to overcome biases or bad traits that you have. It’s about making you better, while making it eco-friendly at the same time. But as always, again and again, it starts small. Like, smaller that you would usually think. So, what’s the long wait for? Just try smiling at one person on the streets today. Just one. Then keep on going.
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself”
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian lawyer | Anti-colonial nationalist | Political ethicist
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