“…but you can change your little corner of the world.”
That was the advice given to me by my dear Mom when I left home for university. It still resonates over 40 years later, and has become my mantra.
It’s especially relevant this week, for two reasons (and the second is most important).
The first reason: that inauguration of a climate change denier; and the immediate steps taken to abandon the Paris Climate Accord and to dismantle or reverse many emission-reducing initiatives of the previous administration. All of this mere days after 2024 was confirmed as the warmest year on record, and as one of the US’s biggest disasters ever continues to unfold in LA.
It’s easy to lose heart and hope. But consider the story of the Butterfly Effect:
In 1961, MIT meteorologist Edward Lorenz developed one of the world’s first computer programs for predicting the weather. It would accept numbers representing current conditions, perform some complicated calculations and then produce a forecast. To test the program, Lorenz ran a set of figures through his computer and obtained a forecast. Then, to verify everything was working right, he ran the same scenario, expecting the same result – but to his astonishment, the second forecast was completely different.
Upon investigation, he discovered that one number entered to six decimal places the first day had been entered to just three decimal places the second day. It was a minuscule difference, but it produced an enormous effect on the outcome. It led him to wonder: could something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings over Brazil trigger a tornado in Texas weeks later? The Butterfly Effect.
And when you combine the Butterfly Effect with my Mom’s words, here’s the result: when you change your corner of the world, maybe, just maybe, you can change the world. It’s a message that I hope gives heart and hope through these challenging times.
The second – and most important – reason? Mom celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday.
Happy birthday, Mom, and thanks for the blessing of your wisdom, love and inspiration.
This story was brought to Nouzie by RSS. The original post can be found on https://carlsgreenideas.wordpress.com/2025/01/21/carl-maybe-you-cant-change-the-whole-world/
