"Artificial light doesn't only deprive us of a feeling of night and darkness, and disrupt our circadian rhythms, but it disrupts the timekeeping of other species too... The things we are doing have a ripple effect in the way other species are able to function and keep time." 

David Farrier

Not only does this conserve energy usage, but turning off unnecessary artificial lighting can be preserve your circadian rhythm. This is better for your sleep and productivity but David Farrier says it puts you in touch with natural temporal ryhthms and cycles. This can have a profound impact on how you view your actions and place within the wider natural world.

Stop participating in corporate digital campaigns that promise to save the world via a mobile app or basic donation. Dedicate free daily or weekly time to physical, local spaces where you are forced to build consensus, manage resources, and make group choices with real consequences.

There are many options in Brussels around the world to get involved in community projects. These are often low-commitment but have real material impacts on the wider community. 

Find local volunteering opportunities at ServeNow.

"You've got to earn the right to be heard. You can't go into a community and tell people what to do, or what to say, or what to think, and why they're wrong. You have to prove yourself before you make the ask of them, that you are on their side." 

Nick Lowles

You cannot simply confront people with differing opinions and beliefs and tell them what to think or that they are wrong. Instead, we must "earn the right to be heard" by understanding concerns and fears. This is the foundation upon which real tangible change can grow from, rather than calcifying animosity and polarisation.

Adopt a 2:1 Listening Ratio: Force yourself to ask at least two clarifying, open-ended questions before offering your own point of view.

"Remembering and not forgetting is an act of resistance in a world and a culture that tends, or pretends, to move forward all the time - where forgetfulness is bliss." "

Tine Hens

Tine Hens urges us to not let the erasure of local nature go unnoticed, as we tend to be forgetful. Pay close attention and record your immediate environment, recognise the subtle changes and losses of regional plants, birds, or seasonal habits, and carry those accounts forward so collective amnesia does not set in. Help us remember what we have lost, and what we must still protect. 

"In a disaster, the number one person who is going to save you is your neighbour. "

Sarah Stein Lubrano

Physically introduce yourself to the people living on your floor, block, or street. It may seem like a small act, but it is something that fewer people do (especially in cities). We are as strong as the community we build: on a day-to-day basis and on the structural level of our democratic socio-political systems. Getting to know your neighbours is an important first step to building a community and the moral principle of democracy: the realisation of equality between individuals.  

Ensuring your neighbours know you exist is a baseline safety measure for disaster preparedness and mutual defence. In a time of crisis, your neighbours are the first to be able to help. 

"Join a political party, a climate group, a movement, a non-profit: an organisation that is working for climate action. Take climate action in a group that already shares a common interest. "

Kimberly Nicholas

Taking climate action within groups that already share a common interest (like a hobby, professional network, faith community, or school) makes the effort significantly easier and more effective due to existing trust, social proof, and shared methods of communication.

For inspiration and resources, explore:

Local Climate Action Group

Climate Action – what you can do in your community

Climate Action Toolkits

UN ActNow

"Gamification is not this innocent process...it is something much more dangerous. It is about the corporate enclosure of not only our space, our economy, and our time but also in many ways our minds."

Max Haiven

Actively choose to withdraw your attention from apps that use flashing lights, icons, or algorithmic rewards to keep you scrolling.

Regularly audit your daily habits and rituals. Dr. Zmigrod suggests that excessive routine can restrict your ability to adapt to uncertainty and to be open to varying perspectives. Her research has indicated that these habits make you more susceptible to populist messaging and even authoritarian leadership. What routines are restricting you to be a more open, creative, and expansive version of yourself?

"We've handed over to corporations, whose only interest is making as much money as possible, the keys to our psyches. We have some of the greatest minds of our generation sitting in silicon valley and its affiliates thinking about ways to keep us clicking longer... either to be sold products or our data can be harvested."

Max Haiven

Social media can be incredibly effective to promote creativity and mobilise social action, but limiting how much you use platform that monetise your data can be important for your own privacy and to stop 'feeding the beast'.

Set privacy options, app timers, and opt out of data tracking on the platforms your use.

"We have a firehose of misinformation in the media, and we need to build a better conversation"

Rachel Shabi

Subscriptions are forms of investment in media, and can be used to promote and support better journalism. Rather than putting your money into big media outlets that weaponise identity politics and flatten complex problems, look towards independent and investigative journalism. This contribution is often little more than few euros a month.

Democracy centres on diverse and free expression, help to uphold this in our societies.