
I'm a lover of podcasts, as many of us are these days. And there are so many great climate ones out there. My particular favourites are the ones that make you think. This week, I listened to Your Brain On Climate's episode with Kris de Meyer. Kris is a neuroscientist and leader of UCL's Climate Action group. I'll do a very bad job of summarising everything in t
he podcast, and don't want to give all the spoilers away either!
But, here was one insight I found really interesting.
When you ask most people why they care about sustainability, the answer is often, "because I love nature” or “I want a better future for my kids.”
These values are important, but according to research, they’re not necessarily what drives action. Instead, it’s the other way around. Our actions shape our values.
It starts with a single action, from a small decisions, that gets positively reinforced. One step forward leads to another… and another.
For example, if I look at my sustainability journey, it didn’t begin with a grand mission to save the planet. I started by sorting the recycling in my university halls. I wasn’t particularly environmentally conscious at the time, but I thought, "This seems like a good thing to do."
Afterwards, I felt good. That positive feeling motivated me to keep going. Before I knew it, I was the Student Sustainability Officer. Fast forward 15 years: I’m building an entire career around It all started with one small action I chose to take.
So for anyone who's involved in driving climate action forward, this means there are 3 key lessons:
1️⃣ You don’t need to do everything at once—just focus on small, meaningful steps.
2️⃣ People don’t need to start by caring about sustainability. When they act, their values often follow.
3️⃣ You can’t force anyone to take action. But you can inspire them to explore something new. It's about how you frame it.
Thank you to Kris for his work and inspiring this post from his Your Brain on Climate podcast interview, you can have a listen here: https://www.yourbrainonclimate.com/
ABOUT ME: I'm Fran, a Steering Committee Member for Sustainable Hackney. I'm a researcher and social entrepreneur, using collaboration and story telling to drive more positive change 👋
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