3 Steps You Can Take to Help Turn Back the Doomsday Clock Right Now

It’s time to channel our collective fear and uncertainty into everyday impact that sticks.

Well, 2018 is now underway and has brought with it both good news and bad news for the future of our global community.

The bad news: Our global development challenges aren’t going away anytime soon. The doomsday clock is set at two minutes before global midnight and there’s a lot of panic and fear everywhere you look. It’s a scary reality, to be teetering so precariously on the verge of worldwide catastrophe, and unfortunately it seems to have paralyzed many of us into inaction and complicity with the major driving forces that work to worsen our collective situation every day.

We hope that scientists will solve our climate change challenges (or better yet, realize they were wrong about its existence in the first place!), we hope our leaders will be able to work things out without unleashing nuclear weapons that carry irreversible consequences, we hope that new innovators will create solutions to seemingly insurmountable obstacles like poverty, disease, world hunger and shortage of resources (like the disturbing water crisis currently unfolding in Cape Town). In short, we hope that someone else- someone more intelligent, more creative, or more informed will figure it all out.

Now here’s the good news: It’s not too late. There’s still time. The following statement is, unfortunately, going to seem at first like an eye-roll inducing and repetitive cliche, but I’m going to ask you to get past that for a second and endeavour to unpack the practical meaning and value behind it.

Here it is: Each and every one of us has an impact on our world, no matter how small it may be, and we all have the ability to use our impact to turn back the doomsday clock.

There, I said it. Now, let’s dive in to applying the implications of this statement in our everyday lives. Yes, there are fantastic advances being made in science, and there are amazing organizations and people that are working every day to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals, and yes, there is hope in the efforts of leaders, innovators and communities everywhere, but none of that will be enough without you. So let’s talk concretely about what you can do to ensure that future generations-our children, their children and beyond- live in a better world than we do, not the remnants of a fallen civilization.

The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Step One: Educate Yourself

We are well into the digital age and it has never been easier to research just about anything. All of the information you could possibly need is now literally at your fingertips. With that being said, the challenges presently facing humanity are incredibly complex and varied, so it’s difficult to know where to begin. I would recommend starting by identifying a guide. Find a source that lays out the various hurdles our global community faces so you can better understand what they are and what .

Suggestions for Getting Started

• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations)
• 2018 Doomsday Clock Statement (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
• 2017 Global Catastrophic Risks Report (Global Challenges Foundation)

Once you’ve learned about the challenges, choose at least one and become an expert on it. Weigh up differing perspectives on this topic, explore the proposed solutions to this challenge and any initiatives currently aiming to address it, and find out what the people in your family and social networks know and think about it.

Suggestions for Becoming a Topic Expert

• Set up a Google Alert for your chosen topic and keep up-to-date on the latest news and information.
• Initiate discussions with family members and friends to find out what they know about the topic and what you can potentially learn from them.
• Visit the websites of reputable organizations (e.g. the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organization, NASA, etc.) and read their reports or sign up to their newsletters.

Becoming informed has never been easier, but starting difficult conversations with your social networks takes courage, and respect is key to engaging in productive discussions.

Step 2: Be honest with yourself

The uncomfortable reality of being a functioning member of society is that every day, each of us will engage in a multitude of harmful practices. They might affect our planet, ourselves, people we know or people we’ll never meet; we might tell ourselves that these practices are too small to have lasting consequences, that they are insignificant in the grand scheme of things, that we have no control over our choice to engage in them anyway, but we’re not being honest with ourselves and we need to change that.

It’s as simple as becoming more informed as a consumer and choosing to give your business to a socially conscious brand, making small adjustments to your daily habits to conserve energy and water, educating yourself about the fantastic organizations out there that are making a difference and making a small donation, or (better yet!) contributing your time and energy to an impactful initiative of some kind, no matter how big or small. But you won’t be able to see just how simple these alterations could be if you can’t be honest with yourself about the harmful impacts of your current behaviour.

Here are some examples of how to recognize your own “everyday harms” and become more aware of them:

• Do a quick Google search of your favourite brands to get some insight into how their goods are manufactured. Are they using “Sweatshop” labour? Are they using child labour? Are they engaging with the communities in which their production is based in a positive, sustainable way? Don’t forget to take the search closer to home as well. For example, are the retail employees at your brand’s local store compensated fairly within an environment free of discrimination?
• Try to actively keep track of the amount of resources like water, electricity and petrol that you are using every day. You don’t need to get specific and start measuring litres and kilowatts- just make a note every time you use one of these resources. From there, try to identify some of the instances in which you could have used less or completely abstained from using a resource without any significant impact on your wellbeing or needs. For example, realizing that you spent an extra five minutes in the shower staring at the wall after you were finished your regular shower routine.
• Before investing in an item of any kind-whether it be clothing, an appliance, a cute cat figurine, and so on- stop for a moment and justify to yourself the value that the item will have in your life and the duration of that value. Will you use the item every day for years to come? Or will it fall apart in a couple of months because you chose a cheaper brand to save money (at least in the shorter term!). Will the item become a treasured necessity in your life, or will it soon sit on a shelf or in your storage crawl space because it’s of no use but you can’t bring yourself to throw it away?

Never underestimate the impact of making responsible choices with what you buy.

Step 3: Mobilize yourself

There seems to be a widespread misconception that playing a part in social change requires you to accomplish something big and impressive; single handedly start your own NGO, for example, or invent the technology to transform people’s lives, or take 5 years off and volunteer your time to serve the greater good in far away places. But the truth is, although there are amazing and inspiring people out there doing big, impressive things, it’s the little things that we all do that will make the greatest difference in the end.

As Vincent Van Gogh famously said: “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Don’t allow a belief that other, more qualified people are out there solving the world’s problems to paralyze you with indifference. Start with small things that you have the control to change- and even if you stop there and never engage with your community in a greater capacity, you will make a difference. With that being said, don’t be surprised if your efforts awaken the desire to do more, to connect with those around you and work together, and to mobilize the world around you to join the action.

Here are some examples of everyday ways to make a positive impact:

Environmental

1. Recycle: Make that extra bit of effort to find a recycling bin for your empty coffee cup, rather than throwing it in a garbage bin because it’s closer. Better yet, invest in a reusable coffee cup!
2. Save Water: Stop showering every single day and switch to every other day. Science says this is better for you anyway!
3. Save More Water: Wash your dishes in a basin or container separate from your sink so you can use it to water your plants or lawn when you’re finished! (Make sure you’re using biodegradable dish soap!)
4. Buy More Sustainable Food: Look around to see if there is a good place close to you where there are responsibly produced and/or locally sourced grocery items available (e.g. Farmer’s Market)
5. Buy More Sustainable Products: Get good at estimating the amount of use you’ll get out of a cheaply made, low cost product vs. a more expensive but higher quality product. Most of the time, you get the best value (more use for less cost) when you invest in good quality products anyway! It’s just a matter of shifting your focus on saving money from short-term to long-term.

If you have the means and opportunity to buy locally sourced food, go for it!

Social

1. Take 30 minutes one day to sit down and find an organization to support that aligns with your values and enacts the kind of change you want to see. Donating money is great, as is volunteering your time when you can spare it for events, fundraisers etc. Remember, even a little bit goes a long way!
2. Be an ally to those who need it. Many of us have sat in silence or perhaps even laughed along as we listened to a sexist joke or a blatantly racist stereotype. It’s scary to speak up in these situations, whether it’s your best friend or your boss. Mastering a non-confrontational, non-judgemental style of challenging ideas is a helpful way to educate ignorance while keeping relationships intact. Check out this great resource to learn more about addressing everyday bigotry.
3. Use a helpful resource like this list of accredited ethical Australian clothing brands to help you make decisions about which brands you want to support with your business. You can also use an ethical comparison website or ethical brand ranking website to see how your favourite brands are stacking up in terms of their practices.
4. Show up to support causes you care about, like peaceful demonstrations, fundraising events, debates, celebrations, etc. These events keep meaningful social connection and important conversations alive, and your participation strengthens these endeavours.
5. Seek to educate and be educated whenever the opportunity arises, always with kindness and a receptive attitude. Write a blog article or an op-ed, initiate respectful discussions with your social networks, share resources when you find them. Most importantly though, listen, listen, listen to other opinions, experiences and perspectives without dismissal, and don’t be afraid of adjusting your own position on a subject after considering new information.

Show up for events that matter to you!

Find more examples of small but impactful behaviours here.

If you scrolled right to the bottom of this article to get the take home message, here it is:

There are a lot of scary obstacles facing our global community right now and we all have the power to change that in our own small way. Now more than ever before, we need to stop hoping that these problems will solve themselves or be solved by “the experts”, and instead focus on the everyday impacts that we each have a degree of direct control over. It’s the only way we’ll be able to “turn back the clock” before we completely run out of time.

What seemingly small things do you do that have impact? We want to hear about them! Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Visit www.unbound.edu.au to learn more about Unbound’s global education programs & local impact projects and find out about our upcoming events.