Get involved in climate action using your voice!
In the last century, we’ve seen unprecedented population growth putting the planet’s eco-capacity under great pressure to meet our increasing demand. As a result, air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, and deforestation, to name a few, are some of the consequences. Current practices and technologies advocate for an unsustainable future, therefore business as usual must change and your voice can do just that!
We are possibly the last generation that can prevent irreversible ecological damages to our planet and secure a sustainable future for generations to come. By 2030, we must significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 43% in order to limit global warming, achieve the 1.5 C target and fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals.
Who’s going to change it?
Although corporations, organizations, and governmental intervention are indispensable it does not stop there, individuals like yourself can also greatly shape the direction of the future. Engagement is the key.
From a business standpoint, creating a more inclusive, circular business model can accomplish amazing results. There are many ways to do this using different sustainability and systems thinking frameworks such as:
– Donella Meadow’s Leverage points
– Kate Raworth’s Doughnut (which combines planetary boundaries concept presented by Johan Rockstrom – defines the ecological limits that allow humanity to prosper and operate safely without risking irreversible environmental changes)
– Overlapping circle and 3-nested dependencies model
– The Global Reporting Initiative
However, as a citizen, your power lies in your voice/vote, so don’t underestimate it. It can reach milestones!
How do we start?
Do not get overwhelmed, this article aims at clarifying some of those questions and hopefully provide a series of steps to move in the right direction towards a sustainable future.
Steps to move forward.
1. Community Engagement
It is an extremely effective way for local and national governments to measure citizens’ opinions, identify policy priorities and tailor the political agenda in order to meet communities’ needs and interests. The general audience can do the following:
– Participate in community events (hackathons, workshops, conferences)
– Answer surveys and polls regarding local and national issues
– Organize groups to see more concerted climate action
Follow these simple steps to engage with your community and see how our WeSolve solution can ease and simplified this process.
2. Public Participation:
There are three forms of public participation: social, policy, and political. They all share a common goal which is to generate social change. But let’s use the following graph to properly understand it.
As the graph above shows, all three forms strive to empower the community and act as a vital tool for democratic governance. Note that the most powerful tool at your disposal is your vote. It helps determine what policies and political parties have your best interests and seek to generate social and environmental change by including you in their decision-making process. Read more here to learn ways to improve public participation.
3. Education
“The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one” ― Will McAvoy.
Awareness is imperative to start solving our environmental issues so education is essential to promote climate action. Once we understand and learn about the present of eco-challenges we can assess the root causes and address the impacts of the climate crisis, as well as make informed decisions regarding our consumption patterns thus enabling a behavioral change. Education helps to empower people to adopt and develop effective responses to climate change.
A global framework dedicated to strengthening education activities that address the growing environmental challenges is the ESDG 2030, which aims to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education settings. Through this initiative, individual action is intertwined with reorganization of social structures leading to a big transformation towards more sustainable development.
4. Action
To achieve all the previous points, it requires one single thing only: ACTION.
Taking initiative is what ultimately will make things change and for that, we need every single voice out there demanding a sustainable future for all. You can start by engaging within your community, and learning more about public participation, whether in the political or social discourse. Whatever shape, form, or venue you choose is irrelevant, what really matters is for people to realize that their voice, in fact, can make great long-term changes.
With WeSolve, you can tackle all these focus points with our all-in-one solution. Our cost-effective digital engagement platform helps citizens become more engaged on the local and national scales. We offer you a free starter package and a premium service at an affordable price. The easy operation of the app and management tool increases efficiency and enhances the usability for citizens and practitioners.
If you want to see changes in the future, start now!
References:
– https://www.greenly.earth/blog-en/why-should-you-become-climate-positive
– https://apa.sdg4education2030.org/sites/apa.sdg4education2030.org/files/2020-10/Concept%20Note.pdf
– https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Three-forms-of-public-participation_tbl1_41458912
– https://www.systemsinnovation.io/post/iceberg-model-explained
