whoever said one person can’t make a change, obviously has not met greta thunberg. a swedish, teenage environmental activist known for her straight-forward attitude, started as a single protester in august 2018 outside swedish parliament by holding up a sign reading ‘school strike for the climate’. in less than a year, she has rallied millions of students to strike around the world to engage in the largest climate protests in history. this has resulted in her being named time magazine’s ‘person of the year’ for 2019. all this was accomplished when she was just sixteen years of age. we don’t all have to be greta thunbergs, but we all be everyday activists by making small, consistent changes to our everyday habits.

here are some practical tips on how to be an everyday activist:

1. be aware

educating yourself is the first step to becoming an activist. awareness about environmental issues can begin with:

· watching a documentary – david attenborough has some excellent climate ones. the abc’s war on waste series is also an excellent conversation starter.

· do a bin audit – put on some reusable gloves and do a bin audit with your family! do some research on what can and can’t be recycled, see what the frequent flyers are going to landfill! it’ll be eye-opening!

2. be informed, not influenced

in an era of “fake news”, it is important to follow social media influencers and read long form news on the issues that matter most. most importantly, we should learn to fact-check everything we read and watch. it’s important we question our social media and media consumption and not take everything at face value. we want to be informed, not influenced. the dissemination of misinformation means that we all have to ‘fact checkers’ and make informed decisions in alignment with our values.

3. immersion

one of the best things i’ve ever done is to volunteer my time. i have volunteered at number of different organisations including at an emergency department in a local hospital, at an aboriginal youth centre and in fiji working with rural communities to promote health awareness. all these experiences have greatly enriched my life. they have changed the course of what i wanted to do with my life, and most importantly, the type of person i wanted to become. start small, maybe a few hours a month, and see if this can be increased. if this doesn’t suit your schedule, consider volunteering for a block of time such as in the holidays. find something that suits their interests and the keys it to be consistent. volunteering will take us out of our little bubbles and open us to a bigger world.

4. consistency

all these steps must cumulate in consistency. this means making long-lasting changes. the process of making sustainable changes is to change your mindset and change your habits. this means starting with ourselves. some people have written about the need to start from a top-down approach, such as policy changes and law changes. yes, this is important, but to make these big changes we need to engage a new wave of activists, and this starts with individual actions. we can all be everyday activists by making individual changes which will lead to larger cumulative differences.

anita vandyke is a qualified rocket scientist and medical doctor (bachelor of engineering – aeronautical space and doctor of medicine) and, most importantly, mother to vivian. she was born in guangzhou, china, raised in australia, and currently splits her time between sydney and san francisco. her first book, a zero waste life: in thirty days, won gold at the nautilus book awards in 2019 and has been translated to seven languages. anita writes about motherhood, zero waste living and minimalism on instagram, at @rocket_science, or at anitavandyke.com.