Absolutely everything we do has an impact. I know it sounds kind of exaggerated, but it’s true. There is a slogan that I have always liked: “Think globally, act locally”. There is some debate as to who actually used it first but I think it is the idea that matters. I was reading recently of all the small things that make huge changes in the planet, things like the methane that termites produce and their global impact (on temperature, it’s not really a good thing) or how the movement of jellyfish and small fish can change the ocean currents in something called fluid drift. These things are some examples of what we call “the butterfly effect”.

So why is it that I am focusing on the butterfly effect? In this case I want to use it to explain how, with our small actions we could make huge changes.  I have written before (in my now very abandoned blog) that tiny things like using plastic bags every time you go to the supermarket can have huge impacts. The fact that in NYC they use around 830,000 Styrofoam trays in public schools just in a day makes me still cry a little. It’s not just the fact that we use these horrible, polluting things on a regular basis…it’s the fact that we use them once and then throw them away, with their horrible, huge consequences. One of those consequences being garbage island (look it up, it is really scary). And, maybe, it is the fact that we just unconsciously do things all the time.

Where am I going with this? If little termites and tiny jellyfish can be part of a whole, a much bigger whole that makes changes regularly on Earth, then why can’t we? If we do things that can lead to terrible consequences, then why not change our perspective and start doing things with positive outcomes? This is the first blog that I have written here, and I want to start by saying that the white roofs that we are advocating for are one of these initiatives of a local act that can have a global impact. We all want to change the world. Ever since we are little children we have the dream of doing anything that will mean something to the rest of the planet. We now know better and have a choice to make the change happen, be that through recycling everything you initially thought as waste, making your own compost, using a bicycle to get around or just plain painting your rooftop white. These things can have an impact, a positive impact. If you are reading this blog then you know that it is time for a change and that you can make that change happen, so go ahead, get inspired and have a taste of the butterfly effect.