Do small changes really add up?
A while ago I listened to a podcast about change that was energizing and had a lot of speakers that I deeply respect. After two decades of working in the sustainability field myself with up and down optimistic spirits, I am now quietly living in a small mountain village, observing the world from a bit of a distance. I work a lot outside, so the time I spend at the computer is chosen carefully, and therefore also the content. I was intrigued by this one, because it debated the question I had thought I had an answer for in all my work up to a year ago.
The question whether small changes and actions add up to a big change triggers a lot of thinking on my side.
I’m reflecting on whether my work contributed to something bigger. Something that is needed to get out of this dark place we are falling in. I’m looking at the projects and campaigns I worked on, day and night, from a different, more grounded perspective. What was the real and needed change?
I’m seeing deeper into the mantra of ‘only if we all do a small thing’ and am realizing how it managed to awaken energy in me — that always went into working harder on change. At the end of the day, was it really about believing that small changes make a bigger one? Or was it about finding a way to feel good about myself and my work in the middle of the biggest crisis?
I think it’s an honest and much needed reflection. I believe we have to have these conversations more, because I know so many people that are using so much of their time and energy to try to change the way we work, the way we live, the way we eat, the way we consume, the way we go about nature, the way we learn, the way we dress…If only each of us creates a small change….here we go again.
Reading the long list of ‘solutions’ in my LinkedIn feed I keep asking myself if at the end of the day — we all are just helping to perpetuate the system that is causing climate and societal collapse to feel a bit better about ourselves? And if that’s not at all true, how is it then that we are not experiencing the changes needed at this late stage of the crisis?
When we were kids, we couldn’t wait to be able to pick up snow bells that come out with the first sun of spring next to our creek. It was such a celebration moment to bring a bouquet of snowbells to our moms. And while we were picking them, our grandmom or auntie who was with us would always gently say: don’t pick all of them in one place, so they will grow again next year. After a long winter each year the snowbells were a sign of warmer weather, play dates outside, weekends with family picnics, new friendships… a whole lot was tied up with the snowbells so as kids we took the advice of not taking too much very seriously.
Today I ask myself how do we actually really embrace that we have to live within tighter and tighter limits? Are the changes we are doing today really adding up so we can get out of this mess? Are we indeed ready to tighten up our belts?
Back to the podcast, a beautiful quote stuck in my mind — that every river needs many tributaries to become a large water traveling large distances. Without the tributaries, a river cannot ever become a real river.
I must be honest — I decided to turn off my ‘changemaking brain’ and dig my hands into the soil and land — to be ready for what is coming at us. While I want to keep working towards making our small piece of land an inspiration for biodiversity and edible spaces, I find it so hard to believe that any of this can eventually change the course we are on.
Some years ago I met Roger Hallam, co founder of Extinction Rebellion, and he said that after seven weeks of nonstop rain, when all his crop was ruined, he decided to walk down from the mountain and go back on the streets. I think of that talk many times, also because almost two months of rain happened to me last year in my first year of growing here on the mountain. It made me realize how fragile we are against the weather. But even more so because I decided to do the opposite — went back up the mountain after supporting the environmental movements on the streets and around the world for years.
I appreciate every day that my family has the land and that I could afford to change my life to be here. How do I actually now live on this land, feed and sustain my larger family, cultivate this land as the third generation in the way that snowbells will come back every year? How do I contribute to the local community? Am I a tributary to a larger river?
During the pandemic one of the first things that happened was — that we stopped producing answers because there was so much uncertainty. And in the past two years, I believe our egos have got used to not having answers and bullet points on solutions.
How do we create value for the community not just for ourselves?
Where do we find strength and not disconnect from the world that is dark?
Do small actions really add up?
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Mihela Hladin Wolfe, February 13th, 2022
