When it comes to people in my surroundings, I behave differently than them. I take the climate crisis very serious and to be honest, I don’t think I have direct friends or family who live like me. They either still fly, eat meat or dairy or have other habits that don’t allow them to live within the earth’s capacity. But you know what? That’s is okay for now. Why? Because everybody will change eventually. Today I want to tell you about how a small group can change the world.
Frustration
It can be lonely and frustrating too, you know. If people ignore all that is going on in the world and ignore it in sake of their own pleasure, that hurts. And it hurts more knowing that they can actually do better. I believe almost everybody can live like me, it’s a piece of cake for someone with the same privileges as me. What’s even more frustrating is people who say they will never change. They will never stop eating dead carcasses and inflicting pain on others for example. But here’s the thing: I know they will change one day.
Societal Change
Over the years I have read more and more about societal change. It does not happen over night, not at all. Societal change takes decades, but I believe it’s inevitable when people keep fighting for that good cause. I like to think that many causes have grown, like the anti-racism movement or the intersectional feminism movement for example. There are a million flaws still there and there is a lot to be done still, but we’re moving forwards every single day. We’re slowly adapting to new norms, even people who never believed that they could change. New generations grow with better norms.
So, change happens, just not as fast as we want it to. Another thing that I would like to mention is that it doesn’t take all of society to do something for it to become the new normal. I’ve read different numbers on this issue, but I’ll stick with 3-10 per cent. 3-10 per cent of people need to change in order for the rest to follow. Yes, it only takes that small part of a group to make a real change. And you see this with veganism nowadays. We’re a little group still, way less than 10 per cent of society. But we’re growing every day. And once we make it past that 3-10 per cent then society is going to quickly transition to veganism until it’s the new norm.
‘Scientists have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of people who simply change their beliefs if their last two social interactions agreed with a new one’
Wikipedia
Fantastic News
And that’s amazing news! Sometimes it may feel like we have to change the world and everybody on it. But the case is: we don’t have to! We just have to get 3-10 per cent of all people om board and then the rest will come automatically. That is how a small group can change the world. That’s because people are like sheep; we want to be part of a group and not be the odd one out. Very important: I only believe that this can happen with norms that are inherently good, like anti-racism or veganism. That’s because as the group grows, so will the conversation about it. People will really start thinking about their core values. Some things are just done by people because they were used to it, like eating dead bodies because people were raised a certain way.
Change The World
And so, what individuals do matters. I hear the argument: ‘but nothing is going to change when I change because there’s billions of people on this planet’ way too often. And even before this post I thought it was a louzy argument. But now I also know that it’s simply not true. One individual does matter. It makes the whole group built up towards that 3-10 per cent. And then eventually everybody will change. Why not be part of the first changemakers to do something for this planet and the livings beings on it? You can wait too, but eventually you will change.
What about you? How do you believe a small group can change the world?
Yours sincerely,
Romee