Helping you to make your change. To understand what Make Your Change is about, it’s worth understanding where this name comes from.
Make:
We are about doing, building, making, creating. We believe an ounce of action is better than a tonne of theory. We’ve been drowning in climate data, statistics, commitments, media and bureaucracy for years. We make ‘doing’ easy, with simple actions, plans, coaching, and a range of tools that takes away the barriers that make action hard
YOUR:
We don’t want you to do something because you are told. We want you to do things because you want to do them. Our challenges are too big, and too interconnected, to approach it as a box ticking exercise. We work to help you to understand yourself and the reality of the situation so you can make an impact that you are genuinely excited about. To not make other peoples’ changes, but to make your change.
CHANGE:
If nothing changes, nothing changes. Whilst science, technology, politics, and economics are all important (and we have lots of resources to understand them), they all products from a single source: us. We help you understand the full extent of the changes you can make in yourself and others, and critically, how to massively multiply the impact that you can have on the world.
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE
The Big Picture
There are already so many great organisations working to solve climate change. So what makes Make Your Change different? There is obviously no silver bullet. It’s not a question of do we need to live greener lifestyles, have greener governments OR a greener economy. The question is rather: What’s stopping us from having all of them? To address this, Make Your Change is based on 2 principles:
Individuals are the easiest to change.
Economies are the most powerful domain to make change
Let’s unpack that.
Individual Changes
We can’t change the planet if change stops with us.
We have to help ourselves and others to make the world we know is possible.
We believe taking action should consider two key attributes:
Immediacy of Impact: The best time to take climate action was 100 years ago. The second-best time is now.
Scope of Impact: Small actions need to be the start, not the finish. We’ve made massive changes to the planet, which are going to need massive changes from us to reverse.
The diagram below help to illustrate these 2 axes, and how they shape our identity.
The 4 Identities of Environmental Impact
Green Consumers pick more ethical choices for things they are already doing, but don’t see additional investment or telling others what to do as being their roles.
Footprint Reducers take massive steps to reducing their own carbon footprint, being proud of their low carbon lifestyle, but tend not meddle in the business of others or get involved in mass actions.
Environmental Activists use collective organising and direct action to change the system, but tend to rely on others in power to make changes.
Change Makers do all of the previously mentioned steps, but also make the changes they want to see in the world. They run sustainable business, they become a part of politics, they activate local communities and enable themselves and others to thrive sustainably.
Being a change maker
Whilst changing yourself, your consumption, and supporting activist groups are all vital parts of the puzzle, your biggest impact comes from being a change maker. As a change maker, your able to do all of the above, whilst helping to make the changes that you want to see in the world come to life. Being a change maker allows you to prioritise climate solutions, understand and expand your sphere of influence, build a network that can help your mission and convince others to take action. It changes the framing from climate change happening to you, to you being the thing that happens to climate change.
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
Bringing all of this together, whilst still looking at all areas of improvements, Make Your Change focuses on how individuals can make themselves and others change the way they produce and consume, and as such, live in a more beautiful and sustainable world. The diagram below summarises our theory of change. By understanding the relationships between different domains and actions, particularly within the context of most large scale movements, we hope to add to the scale, effectiveness, and completeness not just of individual actions, but of the climate movement as a whole. Make Your Change: Theory Of Change
HOW We MAKe IT Happen
They say ‘if we all did what we knew we should, we’d all be millionaires with 6-packs’. When it comes to climate change, it’s not that we do not know what to do. It is that we lack the education, the motivation, and the activation to do it. That’s why Make Your Change exists.
To educate people on how to prioritise, contextualise, and execute the changes they want to see.
To motivate people to get going and keep going on climate change through have positive, empowering and gratitude towards their contribution.
To activate people by helping them step by step through action to reduce the barriers to building that initial momentum.
HElp OUR MISSIOn
Make Your Change is 100% volunteer driven. It is through people giving that we are able to help others to create a more beautiful world. Your donation helps us provide the platform to make change possible, from hosting information online, booking venues to reach people in person, giving tools to our vollies to multiply their impact, and create flyers and other material to help spread the word. A little from you is a lot to us, and we are grateful for whatever contribution you can make. Looking to contribute your time instead? Contact us for available opportunities.