That US block of GHGs weighs 115 lbs (51 kg).

To keep the temperature increase somewhat close to 2°C above pre-industrial times, the average footprint of everyone in the world needs to be approaching to 0 to 2 tonnes by 2050. Your contribution may be a small piece of the pie overall, but you alone can prevent many tonnes of GHGs from entering the atmosphere just by changing a few habits. By eliminating a quarter or half of your emissions, you could prevent 100’s of tonnes of GHGs from entering the atmosphere over the course of your life. Our impact over a lifetime really adds up. Think of how many Statues of Liberty that is!

2. The micro dictates the macro

As individuals, we are the micro. By that I mean we are a small part of the much bigger whole of how society works, which is the macro. It may seem like macro players such as governments and corporations have all the power, but let’s not forget that they exist to serve us. That is their reason for being. If they aren’t taking steps to fight climate change by minimizing the GHG emissions they have control over, they are not providing us with the value we should expect from them. How much “value” does something really have if it harms others and guarantees that our tomorrows will be increasingly worse?

Elected officials and companies got to where they are today because of us. We decide whom to support by giving them our votes and our money. So if you think about it, we are the ones with the power – but enough people have to be on the same page to activate this power. Using our voices, money, and votes we collectively determine the various officials and companies that serve us. Let’s use these tools wisely to support parties who fight climate change by making sustainability a priority.

This is basic economics. When enough citizens, employees, and consumers start to advocate for climate-friendly policies and products, government officials and companies will step up to supply them. By using our power, we incentivize better products, services, and innovation. Each one of us plays a role in this.

Left to their own devices, many elected officials and corporations are led astray by money and power. Their decisions simply don’t align with the best interests of the people if they personally benefit somehow and think they can get away with it, which is what we see a lot of today. But we can and must take part in holding them accountable for the harm their GHGs are causing us. If a company or leader is not making sustainability a priority, simply move on and support one that is. We need responsible leaders to bring in the safe and prosperous future we all want.

People have the power – and you are one of those people. Let’s choose to use it.

3. The ripple effect: We are a highly social species.

Have you ever checked out a new TV show or app because a friend or family member was raving about it? Or tried a new kind of food because someone wouldn’t stop talking about it? Of course, we all have. Behaviors and ideas spread amongst us because we’re social beings. Our brains are hardwired to want to fit in with others. When you support certain beliefs, products, lifestyles, or causes, everyone around you unconsciously makes note of it. You become a point of reference for them. They’ll automatically ask themselves if they should be doing that thing too – especially if you are close with them.

As Jim Rohn famously said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The inverse of this is also true – the people you spend time with also take on a part of you. This means that you personally contribute to the makeup of other people – who they are, how they think, and how they act.

Not only does this make intuitive sense, but there is strong research to back up how influential our way of thinking and actions are on others.

Here are several quick examples to back it up. A study out of MIT followed a network of 1.1 million runners for five years. People ran significantly farther, faster, longer, and burned more calories than they otherwise would have when they saw that their friends ran on that same day.

Harvard social scientist Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, who is a leading researcher in social networks, conducted a study and found that, “Your happiness depends not just on your choices and actions, but also on the choices and actions of people you don’t even know who are one, two and three degrees removed from you.”

Similarly, Christakis researched obesity in social networks. In his TED talk he shows that if you have a friend who is obese you are 45% more likely to be obese yourself. If you have a friend of a friend who is obese, you’re 25% more likely to be obese, and finally, if you have a friend of a friend of a friend who is obese you’re 10% more likely to be obese.