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Our World Together targets the collective power of individuals to apply the brakes to climate breakdown

If ever we needed people of the world to come together, it is now, when the few with the power are failing us.

Our World Together provides the resources to empower people to act and drive the systemic changes needed in this climate emergency.

Another climate summit passes, crushing the feeble hopes some may have had. Early, drastic emission cuts needed to keep within 1.5C are not in sight. So the world heats faster leaving less time to adapt to the destructive force of climate breakdown. In the meantime, people from the Global South suffer badly amidst droughts, intense heat, floods, locust swarms, hunger and loss.

Some people are doing as much as they can, whether by protest or lifestyle change. But their impact is limited since their numbers are small. In significant numbers, however, people are a vital resource that is largely overlooked in this emergency. In sufficient numbers, people can match the power of the lobbyists to influence government policies, and provide a social mandate for fair and just policies. People can shape corporate policies by shifting custom (and profits) away from those that put profit before planet. And, in the process, a substantial cut in emissions can also be achieved by around half a billion of us in the richer countries. How can all this happen?

To get a sufficient number of people acting in this climate fight, a ‘social tipping point’ has to be reached first. A social tipping point is when a new behaviour, attitude or value of just a few people in a group suddenly gathers momentum, and is adopted by the rest. Like a new fashion, it can spread across groups and transform society. A new ‘social norm’ is born. This transition can be rapid – sometimes as few as 25% of the group are needed. Key to this transition is the capacity of each person to influence, and be influenced by, the actions of everyone else – whether by talking or just knowing what others are doing. So, to accelerate the transition in the climate crisis, changes in behaviour, which some people are already making, need to be evident and visible to more people.

To this end Our World Together aims to provide the resources to help people to act and pledge, and the means to increase the visibility and communication of actions. The website https://ourworldtogether.org/ will provide pledge counts of local towns and cities, other age groups and occupations and the best in group globally. Knowing how others are doing can spur competition, so best in group lists, pledge certificates and posters can be shared on social media or displayed anywhere. There will also be counts of those who refer the most people to the site to pledge. It might also add a more lighthearted note to what is otherwise a dire, anxiety-provoking situation.

For more detail on this initiative see this article from Our World Together https://theecologist.org/2021/oct/28/applying-brakes-climate-breakdown. Everyone is needed to reinforce the message that this is an emergency, and that each individual’s actions are worthwhile. Everyone is needed to accelerate the change across society and grow our numbers. Once there is a majority it matters little whether the power wielded is through votes, petitions or protests – whatever works to produce systemic change.

About Our World Together

Our World Together is a non-profit organisation with the aim of empowering people, individually and collectively, to tackle the climate crisis.

For further information contact:

media@ourworldtogether.org