Little steps can make a big difference

The author discusses the decline of hedgehog populations in the UK and suggests that exploitation, agricultural intensification, and urbanization are the main causes. However, the author also believes that the extinction of hedgehogs can be prevented if individuals take small steps to help, such as writing letters to raise awareness or letting a patch of their garden grow wild. Taking small actions collectively can have a significant impact in solving global problems. The author emphasizes the importance of community engagement and suggests that talking to neighbors and working together can make a difference. Encouraging communities to take small steps is the first and crucial step towards making a change. Hello, Jeremy Deeds here and welcome to the Insight Post for the 28th of June 2023. Little steps can make a big difference. So, when did I last see a hedgehog? Well, yesterday, on the road, squashed, flat. When I grew up here in Yorkshire, hedgehogs were plentiful. Today, they are commonly seen as a corpse on the road, the unlucky victim of an unintentional hit-and-run. Hedgehogs are difficult to count because they are shy, nocturnal and hard to track. However, various surveys of hedgehog populations in the UK suggest a massive reduction from an estimated 36 million in the 1950s to around half a million today. Tom Morehouse, the author of Ghosts in the Hedge Road, suggests exploitation, agricultural intensification and urbanisation are the leading causes of this decline. Badgers, red kills and tidy gardens contribute, but are insufficient to account for this colossal fall. Little steps make a big difference. However, Morehouse is optimistic that the extinction of the hedgehog in the UK is not inevitable and can be prevented by many people taking little steps. He cites the story of seven-year-old Gracie, who took the tiny step of writing to the Royal Mail, reminding the firm that the rubber bands dropped by pistons on their rams were often mistaken for worms by hedgehogs and birds, which ate them and died. Royal Mail acted and the rubber bands are kept and reused. Similarly, Morehouse reminds us that we don't have to rewild our entire garden or even our entire estate, much as I admire Isabel Tree and her massive project. Letting a patch in the corner of the garden or even a window box grow wild is a little step with a significant consequence, especially when the entire community follows suit. We don't have to become totally vegan in our diet, eating a little less red meat and dairy and a few more fruits and vegetables is a small step with potentially significant consequences. And this is the crux of the matter. Little steps can have an impact and make a difference. You don't have to change the world single-handedly. Indeed, that's impossible. However, you can take a small step towards solving an insurmountable global problem, especially when many participate. And there is another element to this. Realistically, one more step will not make that much of a difference, but the small actions of many will. In the final chapter of his book, Morehouse asked 10 hedgehog experts to recommend small action steps we might take. Time and again, talking to your neighbour or working to create change in the local community is a high priority, even before rewilding your window box. So how do you eat an elephant? Bit by bit. If little steps can make a difference, your first step should be encouraging your community to start taking those little steps. The concept of small steps taken by many people applies in many situations, not just in conservation. Change the world with little steps and make sure talking to your neighbour is the first.