A brand new river group has formed down in Mississippi, the Friends of the Sunflower River. That’s great. They’re using a blog as their main webpage. That’s great, too. And one of the first posts on their new blog has the headline “Small Environmental Groups Can Make a Big Difference.” That’s also great, and it’s what this blog post is really about.

“Make a difference” are words that work to attract attention and put people in the right frame of mind to help you out. That’s because one of the biggest things holding people back from contributing to our cause is the sense that their efforts are too inconsequential to matter. A lot of otherwise well-meaning people are quick to say “I can’t make a difference, so why bother?”

Of course, you can’t just tell people they can make a difference and leave it at that. You’ll have to follow up by telling them what they can do. But, offering some encouragement always gets the conversation off on the right foot. It’s kind of like a giving someone a compliment on the first date!

Good job, Friends of the Sunflower River. Best of luck down there.