In this week's episode, we have a look at the theory behind 'The Power of One' which says each person has the potential to change the future.
Orla finds out how one person can influence change for the good of the environment.
What is the Power of One?
Have you heard of the power of one, the theory that one person can change the future, that one person's actions can positively alter the lives of many? Sounds easy doesn't it?
Well this week I'm getting advice from two former climate activists here in the southeast on how to be that power of one in climate change.
- Christina Kylie, a Green Party Counsellor on Waterford City and County Council and a self proclaimed Climate Activist.
- Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform.
Both Christina and Malcolm have a background in activism. Christina is a former Greenpeace activist and Malcolm worked for two decades as a community and environmental activist with Friends of the Earth.
Malcolm says: “For me, I've always been up to the view from even when I was young that the best response to despair is action and for people to take action and I think it's not just big actions or activism.
“I think something that we can all do in our daily lives to make changes and to campaign for changes but also in ensuring that politicians like me are held to account to ensure that we are acting to make our our planet safer for all living things particularly in the face of climate change and the really dramatic loss of nature that we're experiencing over the past 50 years.”
If you want to motivate change, however small that change may be, it could be anything from motivating your workplace to eat more sustainably or even creating a green space for your community.
Christina Kylie says don't fall into the trap that a lot of us fall into. “The thing we're devils for and we are all devils for it is we say it to each other and we say it to our friends and we say I'm killed. saying whatever it might be, it's really important that we say it to the people who might actually make a change and gather a few other people in the same boat together.
“I think it's really important as an individual to write because you have a power as an individual to write, send an email to your local company to lobby your TDs and your senators to ensure that they're campaigning on your behalf.”
How can you help? Their advice is to join a local environmental organization or a Tidy Towns group who work to plant trees, plant pollinators and much more.”
To find an organisation in your area, check out:
www.tidytowns.ie/get-involved/https://www.tidytowns.ie/get-involved/find-your-local-committee/
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