Apr 22

How can we influence others to help the Earth?

Earth day was created to wake up people like you and me. You might not be an environmentalist but at the same time you are concerned about the way we damage our environment, our home and our lives.

Complaining didn’t help much…

If you live in Ho Chi Minh City, you will surely understand what I mean when I say it feels hopeless and there is nothing I can do about it.  Do you think you can make a difference that matters? NO?! Everyone throwing trash everywhere and the government is not doing anything to stop it. Complain, complain, complain…

This year we didn’t care and we decided to try anyway. Earth day 2019 is all about doing something good for the environment and influencing others to do the same.  We decided to team up with Trashpackers in Ho Chi Minh City and simply pick garbage for a couple of hours on Saturday morning and then to use social media to influence others to do something similar.

Here are a few links if you want to get involved:

The only reason that we have too much pollution is that too many people don’t do anything about it!

One small bag of garbage a year

Think you can pick up one bag of trash in a year and convince 9 others to do the same?

It’s time to care and to take action. Not a big action but small steps in the right direction. It all starts with the desire to make it better and then find ways to take small steps and influence others to do the same.

If one person picks up one bag of garbage in a year. That’s simple, right? That’s a little bit everyday, or it is 2 hours on Earth day! Then, you use your Facebook, Snapchat, Youtube or any other way of communicating to influence 9 others to do the same. Maybe you can influence 20 people to do the same?

Let’s use 10 as an easy number to calculate as that is you and the 9 people you influenced.

Influence 9 people to influence 9 others

It’s that simple. Pick a bag of garbage from the park, your neighborhood or the beach and influence 9 others to do the same next year. YES, you have a whole year to pick and influence!

So, how much garbage will that be in 10 years?

This is a list of the number of people involved each year, if each person influences 9 others to join the year after. So, the first year its 10 people, the next year it is 100 people and so on.

  1. 10
  2. 100
  3. 1 000
  4. 10 000
  5. 100 000
  6. 1 000 000
  7. 10 000 000
  8. 100 000 000
  9. 1 000 000 000
  10. 10 000 000 000
  11. 100 000 000 000
  12. 1 000 000 000 000
  13. 10 000 000 000 000

World population is currently 7.7 billion (7 700 000 000 000). That means that if every person influences 9 others to do the same every year, then the whole world would be involved after 13 years. And everyone would pick up one bag of garbage each year and people will probably start to care about the environment and do many other good things as well.

Earth day 2019 – is not about complaining

We all like to complain that government doesn’t do anything or the big companies are polluting, but the truth is that both governments and businesses are only doing what they get paid to do. And they get paid from normal people like you and me!

Let me explain – There has never been a government in history that has succeeded over time without support from normal people. There has never been a company who have succeeded over time without the support from their customers and employees.

All in all, that is you and me!

 

You are an influencer!

We are all influencers, we form the way other people around us think and behave. If we complain about what we don’t like rather than doing something about it, then we definitely influence at least 10 others to do the same.

You are an influencer and there is no way you can avoid being an influencer. Everyone is, whether they like it or not.

The only question is WHAT are YOU influencing others to do?

Oyvind

About The Author

Øyvind is Cultural and Collaboration advisor at Facilitated Work Hub. He is dedicated to enhancing the collaboration experience between the software developers in Vietnam and their co-employers in Norway. He works daily with cultural fit which is vital for successful employee - employer relationships leading to a low employee turnover in our company.