Insights · working paper
What the archive shows so far
A descriptive analysis of the 36 published stories. These are patterns in a small, curated collection, not global estimates. The numbers update automatically as the archive grows.
39%operate at household, neighbourhood or community scale
61%rated very low or low cost to replicate
97%have documented setbacks
33countries represented
Key observations
- Small beginnings, varied reach. 14 of 36 actions still operate at household, neighbourhood or community scale. Many of the others grew to city, regional or wider scale from a small first step, described in "The small thing" on each story.
- Replication rarely needs capital. 22 of 36 ideas are rated very low or low cost to copy. Reading the stories, the scarce inputs are more often time, organisation and local knowledge than money.
- Setbacks are the norm, and informative. Sources describe setbacks for 35 of 36 stories: funding gaps, conflict, climate shocks, regulation and the difficulty of selling recycled products. These are collected in What didn't work?
- The evidence base is thin where action is thickest. Few stories in the archive report independently measured impact; most figures come from the people or organisations involved. Investment in simple, community-owned monitoring would make local action far more visible to policy.
- Coverage is uneven. Some regions and problems are barely represented, which says more about where reporting happens than where action happens. See the gaps below.
Gaps we are working to fill
Problems with no stories yet: Food waste, Air pollution, Agricultural waste, Fast fashion. Under-represented: actions led by children, informal workers in Asia, and the Middle East and Central Asia. Know a story that fills a gap?
Method and data
All figures are computed directly from the open dataset using the rules in the methodology. Cite as: Amool, S. H. (ed.) (2026). What the archive shows so far. We Speak Sustainability. https://wespeaksustainability.com/insights/