Just one small thing

Holidays are important (UPDATED)

(Monceau)

I've always felt that holidays are there to be taken. They are an important time of refreshment and bonding with family or friends.

They make a difference.

Even if you end up not being able to go away for as long as you would have liked to or planned for :-(

Anyway, after today, that's what I'll be off doing in Cornwall for awhile.

UPDATE

Actually, the work issue that meant a shortened holiday has passed, so I'll be off for 2 weeks now after all :-)

Nag nag nag

Now this is great idea, and perfect example of the small things...big changes philosophy.

Don't think you'll ever get round to doing all that green, right on stuff which will make a difference to the world, even though it's actually pretty easy to do?

Then sign up to the Nag. And they will, well, nag you.

They'll set you a challenge, and keep nagging you each month (via email) to do it. The first of these is to switch to green electricity. Once you have done this…or you admit defeat - which I'm sure would result in some scathing response - you'll be set another challenge to get you teeth into.

Feel free to sign up here.

Lose your bottle

Just in case it seems like I have an agenda when it comes to bottled water - I don't. It's just that I thought this was a really good small things example.

NoBottle is a new packaging concept developed by French company, Sidel. Made possible by an innovative, highly flexible plastic, with shape memory, the new bottle uses far less material in its construction.

A typical half litre bottle weighs in at 13-16 gms. The NoBottle at a shade under 10. Doesn't seem much maybe. But when you consider that we drink 160bn litres of bottled water a year, it all adds up.

Not completely accurate, but we're talking a 30-40% reduction in waste. Or nearly 2bn kg (at the top end) of plastic each year (roughly...I think!).

Which is a big difference!

Thanks to Springwise.

Keep it Onya

Over at Make Marketing History, John (bemoaning the problem of plastic bags), makes the following plea…

"I make the effort. I keep some reusable, supermarket-provided bags in my car so that I won't use plastic bags. Trouble is, I generally remember this fact when I'm waiting at the till! Somebody needs to create a bag that collapses to such a small size that you can carry it in your pocket (or has the same effect) - then behaviours might radically change. Punishment no doubt works with some, so too does encouragement but facilitation is a much better marketing tactic."

I suggested he checked out Onya bags.

Hailing from Oz (but available in the UK as well - don't know about elsewhere), they're made from parachute material, so are virtually indestructible. And they pack down really small, so you can always 'keep one onya'.

Anyway, they're great. We use them loads. And it means you'll never need another plastic carrier bag again. Also, looking at their site, they've now branched out into other bag types as well.

Go and buy some now!

Let's hug

The whole Free Hugs thing may seem a bit old hat now. But it's a great example of the small things…big differences idea. And the film still chokes me up...which makes it worthy of seeing again in my book.

Also, it's worth checking out what happened next. Because from that small start, inspired by a very personal story, the Free Hugs phenomenon has spread round the world. And spawned its own charitable foundation in the process.

So who knows where the things you start might end up.

Turn on the tap (UPDATED)

(Sebastian Joseph)

Imagine a resident of San Franciscan, armed with an empty Evian bottle.

Did you (and do they!) know this bottle could be refilled for more than 10 years with tap water, sourced from a natural spring under the Yosemite National Park, for the cost of a second bottle of Evian (from here via here).

Now we may not all have something as pure as Yosemite spring water gushing out of our tap. But most of us in the West will have perfectly good quality drinking water. Probably as good quality as the bottles we buy, despite the scare stories to the contrary.

So when, on top of the financial benefits, you add the environmental downsides of bottled water we are just starting to become aware of - how the water is extracted, how it is bottled…maybe with some added bubbles, how those bottles are made (and later disposed of...or not), and how they are transported, half way round the world sometimes - it starts to seem like a lot of sense just to turn on the tap instead.

And maybe invest some of the significant sums of money you save back into water development projects, given that 1 in 6 of the worlds population still don't enjoy the same privilege of clean drinking water we do.

(for a fuller water-based rant, have a look on my other blog)

What's the inspiration

I thought it might be worth just giving a little insight into where the inspiration for this site came from.

Last August I was at a festival, and one of the speakers there was peace activist, and member of the Simple Way community, called Shane Claiborne.

Now this is a guy who does loads of small, and just as many very big things, that make a whole heap of difference to lots of people (he worked with Mother Theresa!). So, on that basis, he's a bit beyond the scope of what I want to do here.

However, having heard him speak a couple of time now, I would also say Shane has 2 great abilities. Firstly, he manages to make the huge sacrifices he has made for his beliefs seem anything but that. Instead, they seem fun, exciting, amazing. You end up thinking - "I want to do that as well". But even if you don't. Even if you do very little (maybe even nothing), he doesn't make you feel guilty (in the way that many activists do) for you shortcomings. Instead, his positivity makes you feel inspired to do a (little) something about it.

Which is what happened to me. I came away thinking 'why be such a pessimist (see previous post). Just do something'. Letter writing for causes like Amnesty International seemed like something I could easily handle, and which could make a difference to people's lives. Although honesty forces to say that I've had a rather faltering start. I will get there though!

But thinking about the inspiration I had got from Shane, to just do something, anything, no matter how small, also led to the idea of something on-line that might inspire others. And this blog is the result: a celebration (hopefully) of small things that make a big difference. Not things I've done (I wish!), but things we've all done. Things which will hopefully inspire us all to do more, no matter how inconsequential the actions might seem. Because they will help someone.

Death to pessimism

By natural inclination, I am one of life's pessimists. It's one of the traits I most dislike about myself. Which is why I've started this blog. Because I'm not unusual. We live in a world that loves to focus on everything that's wrong; to celebrate the bad news.

This isn't to say that bad stuff doesn't happen. It does. And a lot of it. But when we only hear one side of the story, it starts to grind you down. You start to think nothing can be done, and turn a blind eye as a consequence (which is maybe why I've turned out to be a pessimist).

I want this blog to look at the world differently; to be an antidote to all this doom and gloom. Be a cynic; call me naive; say it's all too nicey-nicey. I don't care. I want to celebrate the good stuff for a change. But not all the good stuff mind. Trust me - there's just too much of it about.

Instead, this will be an unashamedly positive celebration of those small actions that can make a big difference. Whether as individuals, businesses or other organisations, it will focus on the things we are all able to do, sometimes with little effort, that can have a big impact on the world around us.

And I want your help. If you spot anything that fits the bill; or if you're on the receiving end of some small things that have made a big difference to you; or if you're actually doing stuff yourself (don't be shy!)...I want to hear about it.

Drop me a line here. Build on a post. Send me links and photos. Whatever might inspire the rest of us to get stuck in and do something ourselves. And I will blog about it. You might even want to link here, and encourage others to join in. There's even a handy sidebar image for you to use...

This is part of my self-imposed anti-pessimism therapy; one of my small things that will hopefully make a big difference. So let's just see where it all ends up.