If we really want to save the planet, we need to upgrade eco-activism

The case for Social Entrepreneurship

The large-scale commitment of young people all around the Western World, to combat global warming, proves that the motivation to bring about positive change is clearly in place. We are on the right track of cultivating awareness of societal and environmental challenges. We are becoming aware that global warming is a real and pressing issue, one that requires our full attention and dedication if we are to turn the tide in time. What we must do now is to put this awareness into action by developing sustainable solutions that have the power to mitigate these issues on a global scale.

The new generation of environmentalists — or so-called eco-activists — advocates for social change and political reforms that benefit the environment. They demand that governments take strong and effective measures to cut back CO2 emissions in order to change the course of our planet. Although governments play an important role by imposing those regulations and laws that have the potential to positively impact our planet, I believe shifting full responsibility to our authorities is not the right approach. It is a shared responsibility between governments and citizens. Governments are stalled and tend to be slow and conservative on policy changes, holding on to practices and ideologies that have proven to work just well enough in the past. If we really want to turn things around quickly, it is time for us to move first, take full ownership of our planet and to upgrade our understanding of eco-activism.

The power of Social Entrepreneurship

We’re seeing a growing number of eco-activists that are taking action beyond the mere vocalization of social issues. They are referred to as social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs build a business around the objective of solving social issues. They are not guided by their desire to maximize profits, but by their willingness to make a positive impact on our society and the environment.

Social businesses are not to be confused with NGOs. Although both have the mitigation of social issues as their core task, the main difference is the way in which both organizations obtain funding. NGO’s mainly rely on government funding and private donations, while social businesses, just like traditional for-profit businesses, are completely financially self-sustaining. This means that as long as the social business makes a profit — when the income earned through the sales of goods and services outweighs the expenses — it can continue operating and even expand its operations. While an NGO spends a lot of its time fundraising, a social business can spend this time on actually doing the things that need to be done.

Like eco-activists, social entrepreneurs have the ability to mobilize a large group of like-minded people around a common objective. However, a social business goes a step further by empowering people to make this objective reality. It enables its employees to contribute to society in a meaningful way which adds a sense of purpose to their work.

Technology as an accelerator

Social and environmental issues are often not specific to one region. They are global issues. Deforestation is a global issue because it does not only occur in the Amazon but all around the world. Luckily, these global issues can be tackled with a global solution. Technology is scalable, which means that if a technology works effectively for one problem, it can be replicated to combat a similar problem but in different locations. Ever-increasing its impact. Below I have shared two social businesses that are driven by technology to tackle the earth’s most pressing problems.

The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat (at the time of founding, he was only 18 years old!) with the mission to rid our oceans of plastic. The Rotterdam-based startup is developing ocean cleaning technologies that move with the currents, just like plastic, to intercept it. The collected plastic will then be brought ashore to be recycled. They recently launched the Interceptor, an autonomous device that picks up plastic waste in the world’s most polluted rivers preventing it from reaching the oceans. The Ocean Cleanup pursues the ambitious goal of cleaning up 90% of our ocean’s plastic waste by 2040.

Another interesting example of such social business is the Berlin-based Ecosia. Founded in 2009 by Christian Kroll, Ecosia is a search engine that uses its profits, earned through clicks on advertisements, to fund reforestation projects around the globe. At the same time, it creates sustainable jobs in local tree-planting communities. Ecosia makes clever use of the immense power the internet provides: it takes one user to plant several trees a day, but when millions of users work together, entire forests can be created. Ecosia has so far planted over 80 million trees worldwide.

The case I’m trying to make is not one against eco-activism. I see it as an invitation to rethink what it means to be an eco-activist. Environmentalists have raised awareness of the environmental problems we’re facing. But it doesn’t stop there. And we cannot wait for governments to take the lead. If we’re to save the planet, our generation has to roll up its sleeves and take action quickly. We need more visionary social entrepreneurs like Christian Kroll and Boyan Slat who can serve as role models for this generation.