There are billions of little ways to create an impact. Some of them are more powerful than others. Some actions need a large number of participants to be fruitful. Some efforts are simply absurd but work. In many cases, we see our actions as meaningless in the face of the many problems ahead. What we perceive as meaningless actions might be not as meaningless as we believe them to be.

One of my surveys deals with getting to know what information and content you need to support your journey towards sustainability. Most answers depict that my readers want to know how they can make a relevant impact. Here are some questions from the survey:

Should we try to measure our carbon emissions at home? 

In which ways do my daily actions have an impact beyond the carbon footprint? 

Do you think reducing our carbon footprint makes a difference?

What shall I do to less impact the climate crisis?

What do you think drives sustainable change?

If you want to contribute (anonymously) to Reimagine Sustainability’s content, I want to invite you to fill out this survey and see your questions answered. It takes less than five minutes: 

Reimagine Sustainability Survey

[all answers are strictly anonymous and will only be used to improve Reimagine Sustainability’s content to your needs]

I have been thinking a lot about how I can support you in making the impact you wish to make. Yet, I started three articles about how to make an impact, and all three of them do not feel right. I racked my brain too much and overcomplicated things. Maybe you feel the same when you want to contribute to something which matters to you, but you cannot find the right way.

Finding inspiration in the deep corners of the internet

A lot of research has been done on my side to answer the question: How can I make an impact? One of my inspirational corners is Reddit. As luck would have it, I stumbled across this Reddit post which inspired me to write this article: 

What is one meaningless thing you do for sustainability that works? 

We all make sacrifices to make the world a more liveable place. What is one thing you do to keep this action going and think it is meaningless?

For this article, I went through all the answers and summarised what others seem as meaningless, but still do to make our world a better place.

Obviously, it is too easy to judge something as meaningless. Why do we see our actions as meaningless? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? In particular, when we are trying to contribute to a better world?

Firstly, let’s get a bit of clarity on what meaningless means and afterwards, I will introduce you to all those meaningless actions others are taking to make the world a better place.

How to define meaningless?

Personally, I feel that “meaningless” is a harsh word. According to various dictionaries, the definition of meaningless refers to something with no meaning or significance. No purpose or reason connects to it and this something also has no assigned function. No real value comes from something meaningless.

There are many different synonyms for meaningless such as absurd, empty, futile, hollow, inconsequential, insignificant, pointless, senseless, trivial, unimportant, useless, vague, worthless, aimless and good-for-nothing.

What I read often in different comment sections is that something is not enough. Obviously, it becomes really frustrating because telling someone that their efforts are not enough won’t bring us anywhere. Hence, it discourages us from acting and making an impact. Sometimes a spark can ignite a fire, so one little action can have a similar potential.

Alright! After this gloomy section, I hope you’re as much looking forward to reading through meaningless actions as I was writing this article: super excited!

#1 Meaningless action: Use water from fish tanks to water plants

Water is a finite resource. Consequently, it won’t be here forever if we don’t learn to deal with it responsibly. Only about 3% is freshwater for us to use. With a growing global population and increasing freshwater demand in agriculture, industrial and domestic spheres, the issues of water stress and scarcity are already a large-scale concern.

The world’s excessive freshwater use visualised by Our World In Data

In this context, every saved drop of water is immensely valuable. Water waste is a huge issue, but there are many absurd ways to reuse water in our households. The Reddit users show you how to save and reuse water:

1. Use water from aquariums
2. Use (unsalted) pasta water (apparently good for plants)
3. Collect water from dehumidifiers
4. Save water from washing rice
5. While waiting for the shower water to become hot, collect it (works as well with waiting for water in the sink)
6. Empty the remaining water from water bottles into a jug
7. Use kids’ bath water
8. Turn off the water while brushing teeth, shampooing or shaving
9. Use reusable water bottles and fill them up before going out

What to do with the collected water?

Depending on what you collected:

1. Water plants (indoor and outdoor)
2. Fill up pet water bowls
3. Flush toilet 

#2 Meaningless action: Planting insect-friendly plants

Bad news first: Biologists stated that the world is in its sixth mass extinction. A minimum of 1 million species are under threat of extinction and half of them are insects. It’s absolutely clear and scientifically proven that human activity is the number one reason for the mass extinction rate. Reasons range from habitat loss and invasive species to pollution up to climate crisis.

Steep and drastic insect population decline identified by iNaturalist

So what are Reddit users doing? They are simply planting habitats for various species in underused areas. 

1. Planting pollinators and insect (mostly bee) friendly plants in between roads and railways 
2. Add more habitat space for other species and provides them with food
3. Turning unused or underutilised land into biodiversity hotspots
4. Guerilla gardening (a Reddit subgroup dedicated to gardening on land without permission)
5. Convert grass patches in your own garden with native wildflowers and prairie areas
6. Removing invasive species

#3 Meaningless action: Picking up other’s litter

Waste is a human concept, it doesn’t exist in the natural environment. Therefore, to achieve sustainable systems, waste needs to be eliminated. At this point in time, we are far from living in a waste-free world. 

Here are different waste removal opportunities to implement:

1. While walking the dog
2. Combining outside exercise with picking up litter (like in Sweden: ploggers is a combination of the English word jogging and the Swedish term plocka upp for pick up)
3. Joining beach, neighbourhood or city clean-ups
4. On the way to work
5. Picking up trash on the street
6. Anytime

As one post stated: The whole world starts at your feet. Picking up litter doesn’t only put trash where it belongs. It also helps the environment and its species to live a safer life.

#4 Meaningless action: Don’t flush your toilet

One flush cycle can consume up to 11 litres of water. Considering that we use the loo at least six times per day – it’s a lot of water. Additionally, toilet paper generates a lot of waste. Globally, we use 42 million tonnes of toilet paper per year; that’s 184 million rolls or 22 billion kilometres of toilet paper. Calculated per person, that’s around 85 rolls of toilet paper. 

What are the suggested options?

1. Get a composting toilet
2. Get a squat toilet
3. Pee outside (no joke, this was one of the answers)
4. Peeing into the sink
5. Only flush after poop
6. Switch to environmentally friendly toilet paper
7. Get a bidet
8. Install a shower head (works for cleaning and flushing)

#5 Meaningless action: Rarely buy new clothes

The fashion industry is an underestimated polluter and breacher of human rights. But there are many different ways to shop for clothes sustainably. Of course, the Reddit post has some meaningless actions for tackling the fashion industry:

1. Rarely buy new clothes
2. Wear clothes till they fall apart
3. Only buy second hand
4. Hand drying your clothes/Air dry
5. Washing most clothes at 40°C (I would even recommend cold wash)
6. Cut down on laundry
7. Learning how to make your laundry process less wasteful
8. Using a washing bag to filter microplastic

#6 Meaningless action: Walk instead of drive

Transport emissions account for over 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Depending on the context-specific infrastructure, sustainable transportation options can be scarce. In fact, there is no value in telling people to walk instead of driving if they have no safe infrastructure. To make sustainable choices, we need more sustainable city planning.

What are meaningless actions for sustainable transport:

1. Learn to drive fuel-efficient
2. Sell car
3. Use micro-mobility and transit
4. (E)bike
5. Walk
6. Run
7. Rollerskate
8. Skateboard

#7 Meaningless action: Become a part-time vegetarian or vegan

The livestock industry contributes 18% to global greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not a secret anymore that the consumption of meat has a profoundly negative impact on the environment and our health. Therefore, here are some tips from the Reddit group:

1. Cutting meat consumption to half
2. Cut dairy consumption
3. Grow your food if possible
4. Learn to preserve food
5. Buy from local farmers
6. Eat a vegan diet

#8 Meaningless action: Not having children

This topic is a controversial ground when it comes to the future of our planet. It has been mentioned a few times, but I decided to leave it at that: not having children.

#9 Meaningless action: Reduce waste footprint and become zero waste

From the post, it seems like preventing waste is one of the most and diverse meaningless actions. To make it short and sweet, I will only give you a list of ideas on how to prevent various forms of waste:

1. Minimise plastic use
2. Separate trash
3. Give things away instead of throwing them out
4. Fix things instead of buying new
5. Eat at home
6. Refurbish furniture
7. Find sidewalk furniture or garage sales
8. Purchase on craigslist
9. Buy Local
10. Reuse junk mail for notes or scrap paper
11. Use the same cups and plates again (without prewashing)
12. Be creative with using leftover food
13. Use lights only when needed
14. Take scissors to a knife sharpener
15. Reuse glass bottles and jars
16. Use a french press
17. Don’t use air conditioning
18. Delete old emails and accounts
19. Work from home

#10 Meaningless action: Don’t shop on Amazon

If you need more information on why you shouldn’t buy or use amazon, I recommend this article: Criticism of Amazon

Do you think that all the above actions are meaningless?

In our world, where success is measured by money and status, it’s easy to label something as meaningless that doesn’t fulfil luxury criteria. Too often, we put our efforts down because we assume our actions are invaluable. Before I elaborate on this, I want to introduce you to the Starfish Story which might help to look at meaninglessness from another perspective.

The Starfish Story

The Starfish story is adapted and retold from the original story “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley. I decided to introduce you to the adapted story as it has closer connections to all the meaningless actions in this article. If you want to read the original story, here is the link: 

The Star Thrower

Early one morning, as the sun was rising in the sky, an old man went for a walk along a beach. As he walked, he noticed a young girl in the distance. He saw the girl pick something up from the sand and throw it into the sea. The girl walked a few steps and then picked something else up and tossed it into the sea. 

The old man was curious. 

He made his way over to the girl, “Can I ask what you are doing?” he said.

“I’m throwing the starfish into the sea,” replied the girl.

The old man looked puzzled, “Why would you do that?” he said. 

“Because the tide is going out and the sun is coming up,” explained the girl. “Soon it will be too hot on the sand and the starfish will dry out.”

The man threw his head back and laughed, “But the beach goes on for miles and miles. There are thousands of starfish stranded here. You will never be able to make a difference!” 

The girl gently picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. As it splashed into the cool water, she turned to the man and said: 

“I made a difference to that one.”

Something can’t be meaningless if we want to contribute to a good cause

After reading this article, do you agree that all those actions are meaningless? I hope your answer is no.

All those actions come from people who care and who want to make a change. It is heartbreaking that all those efforts are labelled meaningless because they are far from it. They count – not in the bank account – but in trying to become part of the solution.

We acknowledge that there is a lot at stake if we don’t do anything. Therefore, our actions are not meaningless if they try to solve a pressing problem.

Related articles for inspiration and action:

Climate Tech Startups: Nailing It With Diversity

Sustainability Podcast: WHO’S GONNA SAVE US

Look at it from a different perspective. What we usually see as meaningful is mostly connected to money, a career, status or luxuries. That’s the message we are daily surrounded by: buy more and you are more valuable. The opposite is the case. Your life doesn’t become wealthier, happier or more meaningful. The opposite is the case because numbers don’t matter when we have to survive on an unlivable planet.

Our little contributions matter because we care to make a positive impact

We do those seemingly meaningless actions with a greater purpose, to make an impact, to make things better, to become a better person and to make the world better.

It can’t be meaningless if we care about the impact we make. Particularly, I hope that you had a moment of thinking: I’m not alone.

Sustainable transitions are not about finding the perfect solutions, it’s about creating systems that support our Earth’s systems to regenerate. It’s about the consciousness of living within the means of our planet and not taking more than Earth can provide. 

Sustainability is a reciprocal way of life. All those absolutely not meaningless actions create lifestyles that value the Earth as the home she is. The only home that matters so that every small but mindful idea is a step in the right direction.