In view of the impending doom of Climate Crisis, almost everyone wants to contribute to the protection of our planet in different ways. Carlos Terol, founder of Good Ripple, has committed his life to the cause, particularly uniting agents of change to make a difference. In his recent interview with Muhammad Younis with him, valuable insights were gained about his dedication and efforts.

#CTS: In today's fast-paced world, where there are numerous responsibilities to attend to, only a select few dare to break free from their personal constraints and address significant global challenges, such as tackling Climate Change. You happen to be one of these forward-thinking individuals. Can you share your inspiring story?

Carlos Terol: When I finished my Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering in Spain, I went to live for 2 months in Western Sahara. The capital city, Laayoune, is just 30 minutes away by plane from Gran Canaria, where I’m from. Seeing how many people lived in poverty in Western Sahara made me realise I wanted to help others in my life.

In March 2015 I moved to the UK for a corporate job and started volunteering with Engineers Without Borders UK as the Coordinator of the Reading Regional Network. I was running events with more than 50 changemakers. And I realised that meeting other changemakers was not easy. I had to put a lot of time, effort and energy, to finally meet a few of them who lived in my street and neighbourhood.

This already made me think of the idea of Good Ripple - a platform to connect changemakers effortlessly and fast. Just imagine a map where you can see all the changemakers around you and filter them.

Three years later, I took a sabbatical and went volunteering for 3 months in rural Nepal, to lead a team of volunteers for a water programme. During that time, I realised I didn’t want to continue in the corporate world. When I came back, I left my job and started my first company, Bagmaya, a sustainable fashion brand to continue our positive impact in Nepal. At the same time, I was freelancing as a civil engineer.

Fast forward to 2022, I sat down to reflect on the single most impactful thing I could do in my life, and the idea of the Good Ripple platform clearly came to my mind again, as I had been dwelling on it for 8 years. So I decided to start Good Ripple as a community and post daily content on LinkedIn to help and inspire changemakers.

It’s been one of the best decisions in my life, as I’ve received a lot of support from changemakers all over the world, growing the community to over 1,200 changemakers from 80 countries in just 9 months. I’ve connected with really amazing people who are creating tons of positive change each day around the globe.

Our vision at Good Ripple is a world where the dream of global prosperity in balance with the planet is a reality for everyone, everywhere. And I cannot be happier to be contributing towards that vision.

#CTS: Given the complexity and scale of climate change issues, collaboration and partnerships are essential. How do you envision collaborating with other changemakers to amplify efforts and maximize impact in the fight against climate change?

Carlos Terol: If we really want to turn around the climate crisis quickly enough, we need to collaborate at a whole new level - collaborate as we’ve never collaborated before. Right now, there are too many silos across disciplines, industries and issues. We need to break those silos and ensure true collaboration happens at all levels, from governments and big corporates, to grassroots initiatives and rural entrepreneurs.

Because of that, collaboration is one of our core values at Good Ripple. We cannot fix the climate crisis by working alone. We are currently running monthly events in partnership with many other great organisations that are tackling the climate crisis, such as MotherTree, who is helping people and companies move their money away from fossil fuels.

We are also facilitating collaboration between our members, by hosting networking sessions in each of our events, and providing a platform for them to connect and collaborate. Although it’s hard at this stage to keep track of the “good ripple” effect from those connections, we often hear positive feedback from our members about how they are collaborating with other members, from coaching and mentorship collabs to business opportunities and ideas.

As we evolve, we have big plans to partner with more and more individuals and organisations creating positive change. Our vision is for Good Ripple to become the hub that connects all things changemaking.

To amplify efforts and maximize impact, we are also developing a database of impact resources for our members, so they don’t need to waste time researching resources, so they can focus on what they do best - creating positive impact.

#CTS: In your view, what are the most urgent and critical challenges we face in combating climate change, and how do you propose to address them through the Good Ripple platform?

Carlos Terol: One of the biggest challenges I see is a lack of collective deep awareness about climate change. Surely, most people by now have heard of climate change. And many surveys show that around 70% of the population is concerned about it. Unfortunately, that concern is not currently translating into action.

In my opinion, this is mostly because the average citizen only has a shallow awareness of the issue and the solutions. If we want to achieve systemic change, we really need to do better at creating more awareness at a deeper level. That’s how we can build a critical mass of informed citizens that take action and demand change.

Right now, most of those actions are taken by a “handful” of activists. What we need to do is inspire more and more people to take action. Starting small, we can create a mindset shift to demand systemic change.

Another key challenge is that most people feel they are not responsible for climate change or feel powerless to change anything, which leads to inaction. In my view, we are all responsible for climate change. Not necessarily in a negative blaming way, but more in a positive proactive way. Responsibility means ability to respond. We have the ability to respond to this mess and do something about it.

We can empower people to help them realise they actually have power, they can change things. From voting to purchases, there are many ways in which individuals can contribute towards systemic change. And unless we help people see the impact of their small actions, we won’t get them to take larger actions.

At Good Ripple, we are working hard to share more knowledge and actionable tips around climate change. Our goal is to create a critical mass of informed citizens that take action towards systemic change. Inspiring others to create positive change is one of the most impactful things we can do as individuals, since the ripple effect can quickly multiply the scale of the actions when more and more people join us.

#CTS: As a changemaker committed to tackling climate change, what are your long-term goals and visions for creating lasting and sustainable change in the world?

Carlos Terol: My vision is a world without poverty and inequalities, where people thrive together with nature and the planet. I believe that, if we stop competing and start collaborating, we can achieve it pretty quickly.

To ensure that the change is sustainable, we need to work hard to create a mindset shift that moves away from GDP and extraction, into wellbeing and circular systems. My personal goal is to inspire as many people as possible to join us in that mindset shift. Education and awareness are necessarily the first steps, and I’m happy to contribute where I can.

With an educated and aware future society, we will make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again. Shifting our values from material and money into interpersonal and personal values, will help us get there by 2030 to meet the UN SDGs.

It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. I firmly believe we can achieve these goals and vision if we start working together now.

#CTS: London Climate Technology Show aligns with your vision and mission to a larger extent? How significant do you consider events like this?

Carlos Terol: It does indeed! The London Climate Technology Show is the perfect space to empower individuals and organisations to come together and collaborate at a whole new level. It’s a perfect opportunity to meet like-minded people, inspire each other, share ideas and take action together.

It’s thanks to events like the London Climate Technology Show that more partnerships are being created, and more people are being educated about climate change. We cannot achieve huge actions without talking about them first. The action is important, but so is the talking. This Show will facilitate a lot of discussions that will help people be aware at a deeper level of the issue, which in turn will lead to sparks of action.

I’m really looking forward to this event, to learn from it and meet amazing changemakers!

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