How You Can Change The World

[Music]

that was a great introduction thank you

very much

but now everyone expects a lot from me i

don’t like that

um basically i want to ask you do you

know what this is

you can say something what is this

it’s water well yeah what what is the

water in

it’s a bottle it’s a glass bottle right

so why did i buy a glass bottle and not

a plastic bottle after all i mean

plastic would have been so much easier

right it’s not as heavy

it’s not as expensive and i can just

throw it away right after i’m done using

it

right i mean of course there’s this

whole thing about ocean pollution into

production and all the other

environmental factors blah blah blah but

i mean does it really make a difference

if one person buys one more plastic

bottle

let’s do a little thought experiment so

i’m gonna

tell three people let’s say three people

these three young men in the first row

to not buy any plastic packaging

for one whole week okay so now we have

person a

one of the three um is super

enthusiastic about it he’s like yeah i’m

gonna do this

he really wants to change something

about the environment and he succeeds he

does the full

seven days right amazing

um person b however also super

enthusiastic

also tries to change something about

climate change and

the environment but then again he

doesn’t really succeed because

you know after the second day he sees

this yogurt that he really wants to eat

and he he just sees these strawberries

that would go so great with the yogurt

and after he has bought those he thinks

to himself well i mean now that i’ve

already bought some plastic

it’s already over right i’m just going

to give up and then we have person c

my personal favorite who just goes

yeah but nah why would i right

environment already done yeah let’s

forget about type c for now let’s just

think about person a and b

this is actually a pretty good outcome

because even though not everyone cut

back their plastic waste

one person managed to cut it completely

for a whole week

and the other managed to do it for two

days that’s still pretty good right

and now i didn’t only tell them to not

buy

any plastic but i also told them on the

next day

to tell three more people the same thing

that they shouldn’t buy any plastic

and that they should tell three more

people on the next day

so of course person a and b they were

super enthusiastic about it person b

hasn’t given up yet so they tell more

people which leads to two more type a

two more type b and two more type c

people

now of course those are also gonna tell

people c

not so much not as enthusiastic about it

and then they tell more people so after

one month how many people do you think

we have reached

any numbers anyone want to guess

no okay sad

we have reached 1 billion 770

million 741

and 823 people

what a billion people

okay that sounds kind of a lot right

back to my original question

what does this have to do with the one

person that can change anything

let’s do this thought experiment again

um we’ve got person a again

person b again person c again they

a person a and b tell someone again so

we have two more

people a one more person b and two more

people c

because this one person b that was

supposed to be there thought to himself

yeah but i’m just one person what am i

supposed to do about it right

so now we only have three people that

continue the message

and it’s amazing that instead of that

one billion

we only have left 805 million now okay

that’s still 805 million people right

that’s amazing that’s almost a billion

but that’s a huge difference

a huge difference because the perfect

group

the group that actually um

[Music]

got a billion people to work with them

save

375 000 tons

of plastic that is so much

okay whereas the other group only saved

281

000 again also a lot but the difference

of 93

000 tons is about as much as austria can

recycle

in a year that is

a lot right so we have this huge

gigantic i’m gonna say

a toxic pool floatie floating around in

the ocean with 300 000

tons of plastic in the water

and that is how much we could save in

one month if we got each uh if we got

the next one to work with each other

now i know that’s big numbers and it’s

hard to imagine that so

let’s kind of go less global and only

focus on the first week

um we have 64 people

after one week that’s that should be

about how many people are in this room

right now maybe we’re a little less

um half of those people actually lasted

a full week

of not using or buying any plastic so

why can’t you make that a month

right why can’t you make that a year

now all of this doesn’t mean oh my god i

can never buy anything wrapped in

plastic again because that’s really hard

you have to buy some tools you have to

buy some things

that just come in plastic packaging and

that’s just it you can’t really do

anything about it

but um this is about every person

and every decision they make

right because i can say i’m going to go

to a farmer’s market

and i’m going to bring my own tupperware

i’m going to bring my own box

buy my strawberries there instead of

going to the supermarket

and buying them in a plastic tin

and some plastic wrapping and getting a

plastic bag to take it with me

right and this not only applies

to plastic but this is a metaphor for

anything because if i tell you for

one week don’t drive a car

take a bike instead go walk instead or

maybe drive

like carpool with someone else to save

gas to

not produce as much co2 that’s

still some there’s still a lot of co2

that we saved and that is still

a big factor that

we that’s still a big thing

okay let’s say it like that um

now here’s the thing um

let’s say you are one domino piece

you’re one domino tile

and you have the choice of either

staying

in your own little comfort zone

and not being a part of anything bigger

than that

or you have the chance to create a

comfort zone not just for yourself

but for many many generations after you

a comfort zone for the entire planet

this is not about one decision of oh my

god i’m gonna buy a glass bottle but

this is about

every little decision every day that

affects your little community

your town your country and even your

entire planet

that is how to change the world don’t be

type b

don’t be type c but believe in what you

can do believe in what one person

actually matters now go change the world

thank you very much