It’s supposed to be 112 degrees Fahrenheit today in the Sydney suburbs. This morning at 9am it was already 87. For the brief spurts I’ve went outside, to collect the trash cans from the street and to water the plants, the temperature has been near unbearable. It brings to mind The Scorch Trials.

This is what the weather will be like in the future, if we do nothing about climate change. People will never go outside, because the temperatures will be in the 100s. The landscapes will change as scores of plants and animals die out due to the heat.

This affects you NFL owners. Do you want all your games to be played indoors? Air conditioning a huge dome must be expensive. This affects you mayors. You’ll need to rebuild your cities to enable people to remain inside as much as possible. This affects you federal governments of the world. If things continue down this path, protests will turn to riots as our economic system collapses, erupting everywhere with even more people, including those who currently deny climate change. It will push everyone to the brink.

This affects us all. Time might be the most important resource we have, but the next one surely has to be our wonderful planet. Earth will go on, with or without us, but we are accelerating its inhospitable conditions. We won’t want to inhabit the planet we've affected. All of this will happen within our lifetimes.

Yes it’s a bleak picture. But we can change the world, literally. There are simple things that can be done that will have a large impact. If we all make (relatively) small changes, we’ll still slow and eventually reverse climate change. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. Here are 3 suggestions for small lifestyle changes that, if enacted by many, will make a huge impact:

Use Ecosia as your search engine. It’s not as good as google, but what do you even use internet searching for? Usually just to look up information in leisure time.
Focus on reducing and reusing, before recycling. Do you really need the newest iPhone, every single year? When we reduce and reuse, less materials and products get shipped across the world. It goes against our consumption culture, but once you adjust your mindset, you become comfortable and feel empowered.
Eat less meat, especially red meat. This might be the most difficult thing to change (ever tried sticking to a diet?) but will by far have the greatest impact. Globally, one of the biggest causes of climate change is the amount of meat we eat and how we prepare it. I’m not saying you have to become vegetarian or go vegan, but maybe only eat red meat twice a week. That’s doable right?

These are just 3 habits we can adopt; there are many more. With the turn of a new year, let’s all incorporate some type of green living into our 2020 resolutions. Just focusing on 1 new practice will matter. Our planet matters. We’ve enjoyed living here—let’s make it a wonderful place for our children.