How to make a difference
When we look around and see the myriad environmental crises facing the world it can be easy to slip in to despair, as we wonder, “What difference can I make? I’m only one person.”
In today’s episode wemeet Georgi, who has made massive strides in changing the way she lives as an individualbut is now looking at the bigger picture and wants to know:
“What are some bigger things I can do, outside my own home, to make a real impact?”
What follows is areally wide-ranging chat where Georgi and I look at both the highly practicalchanges we can make in our personal attempts to live a more sustainable life, aswell as the broader issue of how to work out what we have to offer our communityand how to begin delivering it.
A big part of this conversation is about acknowledging that we, as individuals, cannot fix every problem, and to constantly berate ourselves about that fact is a disservice to what we can offer. Georgi and I use this as a jumping off point to talk about the importance of hope and vision - of taking the time to visualise a better version of our community – and to use that as motivation for change.
We also look at the different ways we can make change in our communities. We can, of course, create new programs or services or conversations ourselves, but we can also lend our skills and gifts to those that already exist by way of financial support, volunteering, facilitation and spreading the word. Community isn’t just a place or a group of people, it’s also a way of connecting with those around us and coming together for a common purpose – we don’t need to go it alone.
After farewelling Georgi(hopefully armed with a whole heap of questions and ideas that will help bringher clarity on what comes next), I’m joined by another wonderful special guest.This week it’s Sarah Wilson, author of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful,who talks about the importance of starting where you are and using what you’vegot in order to make change.
We also talk about the current duality of online communities (ie you’re either with us or against us) and the problem with imagining that same division to be present in to our day-to-day conversations. Sarah also brings up the importance of hope, and reminds us that while our individual voice might not feel like it matters much, change can only happen when we join our voice to those around us to make a noisy, beautiful chorus.
Enjoy!
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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:
- The wonderful documentary 2040 by Damon Gameau:
- iTunes Australia
- Head over to the 2040 website to find out how you can watch it in your country (it's coming to the UK and Ireland soon!)
- Katie Patrick on how to save the world - Season 3 of the podcast
- Grab a copy of How to Save the World by Katie Patrick
- Carbon8 Regenerative Agriculture program
- The Intrepid Foundation's Seaweed Regeneration program
- Is your money supporting the fossil fuel industry? - 1 Million Women
- Connect with Sarah:
- Listen to Sarah on previous episodes of the poggie:
- Listen to our Slow Relationships podcast series from 2018:
As always, thank you for listening!