Meaningful change

Change only comes about when people work towards that change. We are often tempted to just throw our hands in the air and say, “there is nothing that I can do to help” but without the action of individuals, change will never occur. We are scared away from change and from action because we believe that change needs to be drastic and big. We hear almost everyday about all of these overwhelming issues; such as ozone depletion, oil spills, tornadoes and earthquakes, salmonella outbreaks, and more. Due to the enormity of all these problems, we are led to believe that there is nothing we can do. However, doing something great and positive for the world does not have to be something big. There are steps that we can take in our own lives when it comes to food, the environment, consumerism, and overall happiness that do not involve too much effort. The point is that we do something to combat global warming and environmental degradation because doing nothing changes nothing and the environmental problems will continue to persist. These environmental problems are problems we cannot ignore because these enormous issues that we hear about will never be solved if we as individuals do not decide to take action and do our part to fix the problem!

            It is easy to feel hopeless when faced with the enormity of problems that the world and society as a whole must deal with. Most people would gladly save the planet if they could but are not sure how exactly to go about doing that. We tend to believe that saving the planet needs to happen all in one day. However, this is not possible and we are not as hopeless as we sometimes feel. While many think meaningful change can only happen on a large scale, such as through change in government or resistance to corporations, meaningful change can also occur through the change we choose to make as individuals. Meaningful change is change that creates any kind of impact and although the impact is small, individual action does create an impact. Although I cannot directly save the planet, I have decided to live my life knowing that my individual action can create some kind of change. We have the ability to change our own lives by changing small aspects of our lifestyle. Little changes affect more than just the individual. 

This is my personal statement and I really believe in this.