What Can One Person Do?

Example of a content marketing story promoting Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan and the CityStudio Vancouver program at UBC.

I was sitting on my bed, gazing out my dorm window. Heading off to college had been an adjustment and the lush gardens reminded me of the family farm I’d left behind.

My attention turned to all the challenges our planet faces. My glance shifted to my poster of the Whole Earth photo taking up most of the wall. The old phrase echoed through my head again, “What can one person do?”

Idly flipping through my phone, I landed on the CityStudio Vancouver page. I was still getting my bearings, so I didn’t know about the Greenest City Action Plan.

I found out that Vancouver was getting all kinds of green projects going. They wanted to build a strong local economy with vibrant and inclusive neighbourhoods. It said Vancouver was totally committed to meeting the needs of generations to come.

I made up my mind to drop in and find out more. I hardly knew anyone on campus, so I just had to  take a deep breath and break the ice. The staff there were awesome. They told me about goals like zero waste, climate leadership, access to nature, and food security. 

I got involved in a project to get a neighbourhood into composting. The best part was that it counted as coursework. We got to help plan the project and they really listened to us. Then we got hands-on and made it happen. The council chose our project to be rolled out across the city!

We didn’t change the world or anything, but we made a difference for those people. My Dad always says, “Just because we can’t do everything doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything we can.”

Now I’m busy planning what one person can do next semester.