1. Give up apathy

What's the biggest problem in the world? Is it global warming? AIDS? World poverty? Conflict? Corruption? No, it's apathy. We can see problems around us, but things will only change if someone actually does something about them. And that someone could be you.

However big the problem, we can all make a difference. Start by doing little things in your daily life and then get inspired by seeing that your actions are having an impact. Encourage your friends to join in and go on to do bigger things. Here are some simple ways to get started:

• Check out the AntiApathy website and its 12-Step Recovery Plan;
• Take a look at the Otesha Project and some of the easy actions you can take;
• Sign up to get nagged and you'll receive an email in your inbox each month nagging you to do something simple, such as switching to green energy or ordering a food box.

2. Become a guerrilla gardener

Guerrilla gardeners are ordinary people who go out and plant herbs, flowers and vegetables on vacant land, in cracks in the pavements and by the sides of roads and footpaths. The idea is to create something beautiful in an otherwise desolate and depressing landscape.

All you need is:

• Some seeds and a small bag of soil;
• A trowel and a watering can;
• Used packaging - recycled of course;
• Some friends (doing it with other people is much more fun);
• As much imagination as you can muster.

Help reclaim some derelict space and make it beautiful. Plant your seeds. Water them with love. Watch them grow.

Read more tips on becoming a guerrilla gardener then get some wildflower seeds and just throw them into the wind.

3. Spring clean your home

You have probably accumulated a lot of stuff that you no longer use or need. Books, equipment, games, furniture - all stuff that someone else might really want. Don't let these unwanted things just accumulate dust or toss them into the rubbish where they will end up in a landfill. Instead, become a freecycler.

The Freecycling Network has been set up for those who want to recycle things, rather than throw them away. You not only give your stuff away through the network, you can get stuff that others no longer want. There is just one rule - everything advertised must be free.

There are now over 1,500 cities all over the world with a Freecycling group. They're open to any individual who wants to participate. Join your local group, or if there isn't one, start one in your area.

4. Stamp out waste

Like everybody else, you probably have an endless stream of unsolicited mail arriving each day through your mailbox. These invite you to take up loans, get a new credit card, buy by mail order, donate to the next emergency disaster... 

Donate your old glasses

You learn to recognise these junk letters. You throw them away unopened. It is a complete waste of paper and of the trees that are used to make the paper, more weight for the postman to bring to your home and for the refuse collector to carry away, and it causes aggravation for you.

Register with the Mailing Preference Service and stop the flood of junk mail. It's a simple win-win action and rally easy to do.

5. Donate your old specs

There are 200 million people living in the developing world who could have a much easier life simple by owning a pair of spectacles. Many of these people live in rural areas where there is no eye care available, and most are too poor to pay for an eye test and a pair of spectacles anyway. So they have to live their lives in a haze of half sight.

In the developed world, people buy the latest designer brands, and they also change their spectacles as their eyesight changes. This means that millions of pairs of perfectly usable spectacles are discarded each year - around 10 million pairs a year in Europe and North America. These could help people in the developed world to see - and there is now a really simple way of recycling them.

Vision Aid Overseas collects glasses in the UK and distributes them overseas to the people who need them most. Find out how to donate your old models then go one step further and organise a collection at your school, college or workplace. Your old specs could be the start of a new life for someone else.

For more ideas on how to change the world, read Michael Norton's 365 Ways to Change the World, which has an idea and simple actions for each day of the year. And check out http://www.365act.com/

Article produced by the Choose Action Alliance.

Updated: 13/04/2010