Behavioral shifts are actions individuals can take in their own lives to reduce carbon emissions. Research has ranked these actions based on their effectiveness. For example, while recycling is important, it has a smaller impact compared to using public transport. Some of the most immediate and impactful personal choices include: raising one fewer child, not owning a car, avoiding long-distance flights, adopting a plant-based diet, and choosing renewable energy sources.

Recycling ranks number 7 on the list of effective actions (linked below). However, personal changes can go beyond individual behavior. You can also make a difference by:

• Volunteering/Advocating through donations of time and money to organizations working for meaningful change.
• Becoming a leader in your community, school, or workplace to implement sustainability initiatives and raise awareness.
• Pressuring corporations to assess and reduce their environmental impact, and encouraging them to influence their supply chains.
• Influencing political leaders to implement the large-scale changes needed to address the climate crisis.

While individuals have the power to make impactful choices, it’s also important to recognize that wealth and consumption are unequally distributed. For example, in the U.S., the largest greenhouse gas emitters who generate more than four times the global average are the wealthy, while the poorest emitters are responsible for a much smaller share. To even out carbon footprints, the top emitters in the U.S. would need to reduce emissions by 87% by 2030, while the bottom half could actually increase their emissions by 3% (Bloomberg). In contrast, lifting people out of extreme poverty would raise global emissions by less than one percent.

In this crisis, it can be difficult to see the value of seemingly minor actions- unless they grow into larger cultural trends that aggregate. For example, upgrading to efficient light bulbs has less of an immediate impact than washing clothes in cold water, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do both. These small changes not only save money but can also offer other benefits. When sustainable practices are widely adopted, they have a massive collective effect across the full scope of production.