The Quiet Side of Sustainability: Why the Little Things Matter

Kristina Leppälä’s blog text on how sustainability is shaped by everyday human actions, conversations, and voluntary choices—not just by technologies or policies—emphasizing that real impact comes from people making meaningful changes in their lives.

When we talk about sustainability, the spotlight usually lands on big things like new technologies (Tech!), ambitious climate targets (Numbers!), and sweeping policy changes (Rules!). But there’s another side to the story that doesn’t get as much attention: the everyday lives of people who are actually living through these changes. You and I. Our families and neighbors. People a little but over there in the next town over. People in other places we will probably never meet. Humans of the globe. We are each from that group. We matter and what we do does matter.

This is where I come in. I’m an ethnographer, which basically means I study people by spending time with them, watching what they do, listening to what they say, talking with them informally (chatting) and formally (interviews) and trying to understand how they make sense of the world around them. I also spend time with workers in places like R&D labs and sustainability pilot projects. I am not there just to observe, but to really get involved and see what’s happening behind the scenes; we work together to find solutions that will work and be meaningful – in academia is called making an impact, I like to think of it as getting something to work well for people that they will make a part of their lives. That is my definition of impact – it is used and makes life better.

And here’s what I’ve learned in a truly short nutshell: the success of sustainability efforts doesn’t usually hinge on flashy presentations or grand strategies. It is the small, human moments and the adaptability of a sustainability solution that matters. Something great can be created, but unless if I use it, or change my own mindset, the great thing will not be great for everyone – even though it should be. By working with not only the engineering and design teams, but talking with the users, letting them try out the ideas for themselves and talk about them – the chats over coffee about the sustainability solutions beats the most decisions made in closed meetings.

The way people adapt and negotiate and navigate through the new mindset, the new solutions…that is what will really shape whether something works or not. I like to think coffee talk, this quiet and invisible work as one of the main things that keeps the visible stuff going, the big ideas. One example of this kind of changed mindset could be from the time not so long ago when no one had more than one trashcan at home and everything went into the same bin and then into the same dumpster. Now, having multiple bins inside and outside is normal, and sorting waste at home is more of a norm. Even waste collection from the dumpsters has different trucks taking different contents. This has become the norm. I was in the US for an exchange, and asked my landlady where I would take my garbage. She showed me two bins – one big green one for yard clippings (grass, branches, et.c) an done blue one for everything else. That was it.

So yes, sure, we have plenty of technical solutions for sustainability. These are great, and I am all for them. But I see sustainability as a people story. It’s about what we say, what we do, and why we do it.

We often hear buzzwords like “circular economy” or “innovation ecosystems.” But underneath all that are real people doing real things—sometimes resisting change, sometimes embracing it, often just trying to make sense of it all. That’s where I focus my research: on the small, everyday actions that quietly move things forward. We can all change our mindsets and do more.

One idea that really stuck with me came from a colleague’s recent paper (Snellman et al., 2023). They talked about something called “supererogatory acts.” It’s a fancy word, but the idea is simple: these are things people do not because they have to, but because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Voluntary acts of care, basically. And they matter—a lot.

These acts don’t show up in reports or surveys. You have to be there, paying attention, to even notice them. But they’re powerful. They remind us that sustainability isn’t just about systems and structures—it’s about people choosing to do a little more, even when no one’s watching.

So what does this mean for you? If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I doing enough?”—the answer might be yes, if you are doing something, you are a part of the sustainability solution. Even small actions count. Just start. Do something. You might be surprised by how easy it is, and how good it feels to be part of something bigger. From there, you can choose to do more, learn more, promote actions around you. Become an influencing force for the common good – even if it is in your close circle. I have, and it is a great feeling and also remarkably interesting to learn more about the bigger picture.

Sustainability isn’t just a goal—it’s a practice. It happens in conversations, in quiet moments, in the space between policy and real life. We all have a positive role to play.

Kristina Leppälä ([email protected])