Question

How an individual action can have a global impact

Answer 1

• As individuals we sometimes feel that there is very little that we can do in the face of big global challenges such as pandemics, financial crises or climate change. But if we dig deeper into what’s causing those problems we often find that the way we live is an important contributing factor.

• This means that if large numbers of people started behaving differently, many small changes can have truly big effects (such as the introduction of hand-washing in the late 1900s as a “do-it-yourself” vaccine). The necessity for lifestyle changes doesn’t exonerate institutional actors, including governments, corporations or non-profits. They have an important role to play in providing nudges that entice us to make better choices benefiting our health, environment and finances.