Mark birthdays or other milestones by planting native trees, and invite friends and family to do the same
Local tree loss and few chances for young people to take part in restoration.
DifficultyEasyCostLow
Inspired by Leah Namugerwa
Copy This
Don't just read the story. Try the idea.
Every idea here comes from a real story. Each one lists what you need, what it costs, the risks, and how to adapt it to your own place.
Ideas are sorted from easiest to hardest. Costs are rough guides (very low to high), not prices.
Look for living stumps and root sprouts in fields, choose a few strong stems per stump, prune and protect them…
Degraded farmland with few trees, poor soil and scarce firewood.
DifficultyEasyCostVery low
Inspired by Farmers of Maradi and Zinder, with agronomist Tony Rinaudo
Plant herbs, fruit and vegetables in visible public spots with signs inviting people to pick
Little connection between residents and local food; unused public land.
DifficultyEasyCostVery low
Inspired by Pam Warhurst and Mary Clear (co-founders), with volunteers of Incredible Edible Todmorden
A regular free repair session where volunteers fix items alongside their owners
Usable items being thrown away for lack of repair skills.
DifficultyEasyCostLow
Inspired by Martine Postma
Collect, wash and dry used plastic bags, cut them into strips ('plarn') and crochet or weave them into useful…
Thin plastic carrier bags littering streets and fields with no collection service.
DifficultyEasyCostVery low
Inspired by Isatou Ceesay and the women of N'jau
Organise a regular, same-time-every-week clean-up and invite neighbours, shopkeepers and fishing or boating fa…
Litter on a local beach, riverbank or public green space.
DifficultyModerateCostLow
Inspired by Afroz Shah
Start a shared sorting point or a free swap shelf for your street, building, school or village
Mixed household rubbish going to landfill or incineration.
DifficultyModerateCostLow
Inspired by Residents of Kamikatsu
Learn how small wind or solar systems work and, with supervision, build a simple demonstration turbine; for da…
No electricity for basic lighting, phone charging or a radio.
DifficultyModerateCostLow
Inspired by William Kamkwamba
Learn the facts, learn from elders and local knowledge holders, and speak to decision-makers in public and in…
An environmental injustice in your community that decision-makers are not addressing.
DifficultyModerateCostVery low
Inspired by Autumn Peltier
Run a door-to-door collection round on bikes or carts, weigh what each household gives and reward them in poin…
Recyclables are not collected from neighbourhoods that bin lorries cannot reach.
DifficultyModerateCostModerate
Inspired by Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola (Wecyclers)
Mesh nets on frames placed on slopes where fog regularly passes, with gutters and pipes leading to storage tan…
Households in dry, foggy places with little or no piped water.
DifficultyModerateCostLow
Inspired by Abel Cruz Gutiérrez
Start with a clear, specific ask (such as ending free plastic bags), then combine clean-ups, a petition and ta…
Single-use plastic in your school, market or town.
DifficultyModerateCostVery low
Inspired by Melati and Isabel Wijsen
Explore turning sorted waste plastic into practical building products, ideally by partnering with an existing…
Mixed plastic waste with little recycling market.
DifficultyHardCostHigh
Inspired by Nzambi Matee (Gjenge Makers)
Support recyclers to organise into associations and push for recognition, fair contracts and payment
Informal recyclers excluded from formal waste systems.
DifficultyHardCostLow
Inspired by Nohra Padilla
Bring the service to people: mobile classrooms, libraries or clinics using transport that suits local conditio…
Essential services cut off by seasonal flooding or poor transport.
DifficultyHardCostHigh
Inspired by Mohammed Rezwan (Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha)
Use existing legal and democratic routes: research the rules, frame a clear question, and ask representatives…
Decision-makers not acting on a local environmental harm.
DifficultyHardCostLow
Inspired by Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change
Build a coalition of producers and allies, gather independent evidence, and use consultation and rights law
Local farming or beekeeping livelihoods threatened by decisions taken without community consultation.
DifficultyHardCostModerate
Inspired by Leydy Pech
Look for ways to store seasonal surplus water near where it is needed: ponds, tanks, ice basins in cold climat…
Water arriving at the wrong time of year for crops.
DifficultyHardCostModerate
Inspired by Chewang Norphel
Plant and, above all, keep tending native species suited to the site, starting small and expanding over years
Bare, eroded or degraded land near where you live.
DifficultyHardCostLow
Inspired by Jadav Payeng
Document community land use through participatory mapping, hold assemblies, and assert consultation rights
Land or forest decisions made without the consent of the communities who live there.
DifficultyHardCostModerate
Inspired by Nemonte Nenquimo