Small Steps, Big Shifts: What History Teaches Us About Change
This is a story about how small steps in what we eat create big change — for our health, our planet, and the animals we share it with.
We often think that change happens all at once — one breakthrough, one decision, one action that flips everything. But history shows us something different: real change is the result of countless individual actions, each one building on the last, until suddenly what once seemed impossible becomes obvious.
Why Change Doesn’t Feel Urgent (Yet)
One of the challenges in talking about food is that most of us are still inside the social norm. Eating animals feels normal — even necessary — because it’s what we’ve always done. When you’re living inside a norm, it can be hard to imagine a different future.
But the science is clear, and it’s sounding alarms from every angle:
-
Climate: Raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gases than all the world’s planes, trains, and cars combined.
-
Deforestation: Animal agriculture is the number one driver of forest loss — and we need trees to trap carbon and stabilize our climate.
-
Inefficient land use: It consumes 80% of global farmland while providing only 18% of our calories.
-
Water: Producing just one pound of beef requires as much water as 30 showers.
-
Pollution: Factory farms pollute rivers and create “dead zones” where nothing can live.
-
Animals: Billions of intelligent, emotional beings live and die in factory farms every year.
So why don’t we change faster? Because science alone rarely changes behavior. We had decades of data proving smoking was deadly before people quit in large numbers. The facts about polio existed before the vaccine became a norm. Change takes more than information — it takes millions of individuals making small, everyday choices that ripple outward.
Social Change Is a Chain Reaction
As Jonathan Safran Foer writes in We Are the Weather:
“Social change, much like climate change, is caused by multiple chain reactions that occur simultaneously. Both cause, and are caused by feedback loops… This is exactly the opposite of the truth: the importance of individual action is a reason for everyone to try.” (p. 51)
This is a powerful reminder: no action is too small. Every decision contributes to the feedback loops that move society forward.
Who Cured Polio? Everyone Did.
History gives us concrete examples. Polio wasn’t cured by one person, but by a movement of individuals:
“Polio couldn’t have been cured without someone inventing a vaccine… But that vaccine couldn’t have been approved without a wave of polio pioneers volunteering for a trial… And that approved vaccine would have been worthless if it had not become a social contagion, and therefore a norm… Who cured polio? No one did. Everyone did.” (p. 52)
One invention sparked it, but it took millions of individuals saying yes — families, volunteers, fundraisers, and communities — to create the cultural shift.
From Smoking to Plant-Based Eating
The same is true for smoking. The dangers were well-documented decades before people’s habits caught up. It took public health campaigns, new policies, and individuals making different choices — one cigarette at a time — before smoking on airplanes and in offices became unthinkable.
We’re now at a similar crossroads with food. The science is clear: eating more whole plant foods improves our health, lowers emissions, saves water, and protects animals. What’s left is everyday action. Every meatless dinner, every plant-based swap, every new recipe is a small step in the right direction. And when millions of us take small steps, society shifts.
Small Steps, Big Impact
At Pigs Are Smart, we believe in the power of small choices. One meal at a time, we’re building a healthier planet and a more compassionate culture.
Curious to learn more about how you can make an impact? Start with one plant-based swap this week. Then join our free newsletter, The Smart Bite, for weekly recipes, tips, and stories that prove small steps really do add up.
Sources & Further Reading
- Foer, J. S. (2019). We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Marino, L. & Colvin, C. M. (2015). Thinking pigs: A comparative review of cognition, emotion, and personality in Sus domesticus. International Journal of Comparative Psychology.
- Broom, D. M. (2010). Cognitive ability and awareness in domestic animals and decisions about obligations to animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
