Lessons from Nature: Small Actions, Big Change

Ever since she was a puppy, our little shih-tzu poodle mix, Bella, has been impeccably stubborn.

I tried crate-training her as soon as I got her. She was eight weeks old and could just about fit in the palm of my hand—just a pile of black fur and the tiniest brown eyes I’d ever seen.

Bella, just a couple months after I got her.

But this little dog . . . in the basement of a three-story house, her crate covered in a blanket to absorb some noise, could still cry loud enough to be heard from the top floor. You couldn’t sleep through it. You couldn’t wait her out (I tried . . . many times). You couldn’t do anything except eventually cave to her cries and hope she didn’t have an accident on the carpeted floors.

This all-out hate for crate-life continued throughout her doggy adolescence and adulthood. No matter what I tried—make the crate cozy, give them their favorite toy, buy a comfy bed—she never accepted the crate as her “home.” She inevitably peed (even though experts say dogs will never do this), or worse, on everything I put in there with her. She cried incessantly if I tried to crate her at night. She just wasn’t having it.

Ever.

But the real kicker was when she figured out ways to escape. At this point, I only crated her when I left the house, and one day, I got home to find her running around, so proud of herself. Confused, I went to the room where she should have been, and there it was—her plastic crate, completely split apart, and somehow, she’d also managed to pull my curtain down from the wall.

Did I mention she’s only 10 pounds?

Bella, now 15.5 years old. Still spunky as ever.

We called her Houdini after this, not knowing that her best performance was yet to come. I switched her to a metal crate after this, but I didn’t realize, until she had made significant progress, that every time I left, she was gnawing on the cage. She had been working on it for months at this point until, finally, she’d created enough of a gap that, once again, I arrived home confused because there she was, greeting me at the door with a wagging tail, so proud.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Now fifteen and a half, Bella has successfully chewed her way through two metal crates in her lifetime. And though she only has nubs for teeth now, believe you me, if she’s in a crate, though she may not be able to chew through it anymore, you best find your earplugs because this little dog can still cry.

Something You Can Do

I read a story the other morning about a woman in Kenya. When asked what had been “the most important thing she had learned since World Vision [a Christian non-profit that serves people in poverty] came to her village,” she answered, “learn[ing] to construct a dish rack.”[i]

And Reneé Stearns—the writer of the story and wife of Richard Stearns, who once served as president of World Vision—relayed what this woman’s answer taught her:

“In the face of the world’s overwhelming problems, I’m often tempted to believe I have little to offer. I’m certainly no expert in hydrology or agronomy, but given the extent of my experience, I might be an expert in dishwashing. And apparently in God’s economy, that’s important too!”

Some of life’s problems just seem too big, too complex, too overwhelming. Systemic poverty is certainly one of them. And perhaps, when you lay the problems of our Earth—global warming, increased pollution, land degradation—against a problem like this, they can seem inconsequential or, at least, not the right focus for our efforts.

And yet, these complex issues don’t exist in isolation.

In fact, the state of our planet directly contributes to the poverty experienced in places like Kenya[ii] and many other countries in Africa. For instance, the desertification of the continent—“as much as 65% of productive land in Africa is degraded,” according to a leading environmental news website[iii]—leads to loss of income, famine, and forced displacement.

In other words, the state of our Earth results in poverty, starvation, and homelessness.

A boy walking through what used to be a corn field in the Sahel region of Africa. This region has been "increasingly afflicted by soil erosion and desertification," according to Brittanica.

Maybe this isn’t being felt (yet) by me or you, but it is real and it is being experienced and we can choose to do something to stop contributing to the problem.

Something as simple as changing how you wash your dishes—maybe you swap chemical cleaners for something gentler on our waterways, like plant-based soap. Maybe you commit to not using throwaway utensils or plates. Maybe you start a compost pile and resolve to eat, rather than throw away, your leftovers. Maybe you store reusable containers in your car for restaurant leftovers so you can avoid the use of environmentally unfriendly (and non-biodegradable) products like Styrofoam. 

These are small things, but they are things we can do.

The United Nations estimates that "more than 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil disappear yearly due to desertification."

Small Actions Over Time

Okay, but why? How do these things really make a difference for a family in Africa in need of a home and clean water and food?

In her entry about the woman from Kenya, Reneé Stearns shared this Franciscan benediction:

“May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.”

I suppose it does seem a little foolish. Little changes I’m making at home—how could these ever possibly make a real change in our world? But as Edmund Burke said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

So yeah, these are little things, but over time—maybe it will take weeks or month or even generations—little actions can lead to big change.

When I first discovered her doing it, I thought Bella chewing on her crate was harmless. I never dreamed she’d make enough of a dent to get out. I mean, it took a couple years, but she did it. Who knows how long it will take for our changes to make such a dent?

To fully heal our ozone.

To reverse global warming.

To see desert land become fertile once again.

And with those changes come these: food for the hungry, clean water for the thirsty, space and land and hope for the displaced.

Small actions, but over time, foolish as it may seem, I believe we can make a real difference.💛

10 Ways to Start Small

1. Swap chemical cleaners (in your kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom) for plant-based alternatives.

2. Commit to reusable utensils and plates—even for your kids' lunches and when hosting parties or small groups.

3. Start a compost pile in your backyard.

4. Avoid chemical pesticides and herbicides. Opt for natural solutions like mixing vinegar and liquid soap.

5. Buy from local and organic farmers as much as possible.

6. Resolve to eat, rather than throw away, your leftovers.

7. Store reusable containers in your car for restaurant leftovers.

8. Store travel mugs in your car for on-the-go coffee.

9. Store reusable straws in your car for on-the-go drinks.

10. Shop eco-friendly products like biodegradable floss picks and kitchen sponges. You'd be surprised by all the fully compostable options that exist!

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Notes

[i] Richard and Reneé Stearns, He Walks Among Us: Encounters with Christ in a Broken World (Thomas Nelson, 2013), p. 31.

[ii] Pius Kasusya, “Combating Desertification in Northern Kenya (Samburu) Through Community Action: A Community Case Experience,” Journal of Arid Environments 39, no. 2 (1998): 325–29, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140196398903937

[iii] Paige Stallwood, “Desertification in Africa: Causes, Effects and Solutions,” Dec. 15, 2022, Earth.org, https://earth.org/desertification-in-africa/.