Go small or go home?

Over the past year or two, I've noticed more companies have shifted hard to the more technical side of the sustainability equation and are cloaking themselves in an alphabet soup of reporting standards and commitments.
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I get it. For one, the more technical aspects and big-picture commitments like the Science Based Targets are necessary for the world to reach big goals like limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
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But how many people really understand what that means? I doubt the majority of Americans could even roughly convert Celsius to Fahrenheit in their heads, which limits the effectiveness of talking about 1.5°C or 2°C in the US.
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And if people feel overwhelmed by the technical aspects or don't understand how that applies to them personally, then it's going to be a lot harder, if not impossible, to reach those big-picture goals.
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To gain buy-in to make the changes necessary to reach those big, technical goals, we can't forget about the smaller actions that aren't always easy to quantify.
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For example, getting employees to recycle at work or participate in a cleanup event isn't going to single-handedly stop climate change or make much of a dent on a net-zero commitment.

But you need those smaller, sometimes symbolic building blocks to get more employees engaged with bigger initiatives, like reorienting your supply chain to cut scope 3 emissions or being willing to stick with the company through a period of cost controls as you invest in more energy-efficient facilities.
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Personally, what got me really motivated to work on sustainability content wasn't a scientific paper or dramatic event. It was eating some cricket protein bars that were sitting out in the kitchen when I worked at The Economist six years ago.
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Long story short, I connected my food choices to my planetary impact on a visceral level, and since then I've continued to take bigger steps toward having a better impact personally and professionally.
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All that's to say, don't forget about the little things as we work toward big goals. We need both. And if you want to see a company that's doing a great job at implementing both big and small initiatives, check out our latest story on KnowBe4's employee engagement efforts.

All the best,
​Jake​
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