By Jenny Ringland

We often wonder why more people don’t take action on climate, even when they care. The usual reasons come up – being too busy, feeling overwhelmed, not knowing where to start. But I think there’s something else going on too. Maybe it’s not just about the issue itself, but whether we feel like we’re doing it alone.

Behavioural scientists have long shown that we’re more likely to act when those around us are doing the same – what’s known as “social proof.” Peer influence, identity, and community support can all shape our decisions in powerful ways. 

In May I ran a 50km ultra marathon. I have never wanted to run a marathon, in fact last year when I watched my sister run in the same race, my take away was how awful it looked.

Social proof

What happened though was I joined a running group started by some mums at my children’s school. They are supportive, inclusive and encouraging and they are whole heartedly dedicated to the time they carve out for themselves at 5am a few times a week.

One of these inspiring women came up with the idea to enter this (in my eyes) crazy 50km ultra marathon. Before I knew what I was doing I’d signed up too, not because I wanted to do the run, or the training for that matter, but because my new community was embarking on something and I wanted to share the experience.

What eventuated was four months of – what seemed like to me – relentless training. I didn’t really enjoy a single training run, it all felt hard and I was always tired. About a third of the way through I really wanted to throw it all in, I spent an entire week working out who I could call that would order me to stop, I even went to my GP, who did tell me I could stop at anytime, but who fell short of actually medically recommending it wasn’t in my best interests. 

Eventually though, enough weeks passed so that it was no longer as attractive to stop, we’d worked too hard not to run the race. Sundays turned into 4 hour long run days, often with a 4.30am wake up time (in order to get it done without too much impact on our families). We ran in the rain, we ran in the dark, we shared the experience together and supported each other along the way through illness, injury and general race day nerves (mainly from me).

Even before getting to the start line it felt like we had achieved something meaningful.

And then we had to actually run 50km. 

Doing hard things, together

All the cliches are true – it was one of the most challenging experiences of my life – up there with giving birth to three children. 

It was so hard, quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

But I did it, I kept going even when I wanted to stop. I took little steps, little sips and little bites of food which I’d learned from following ultra trail runner Lucy Bartholomew. I day dreamed about stopping but I didn’t. I kept a gel or a piece of food in my hand for probably hours taking tiny bites, just one step at a time. My whole family was there to cheer me on at two different check points – my kids even ran with me for a little bit – putting a smile back on my face. 

Jenny Ringland crosses the finish line of the 2025 UTA in the Blue Mountains, with her children and niece and nephew

A huge part of my motivation was the shared experience of doing this very hard thing with a group of 10 very determined women. The other part though was having promised my kids I would make it, and so I did.

The point of telling this non-climate related story is because I believe it provides an insight into what motivates us. I know deep down a lot of us want to do something about climate, but we are lacking the drive, direction, motivation or time to take action. Humans are complex characters but we are also simple. There is a lot of evidence that suggests our friends and our communities have the power to change our behaviour – not by telling us what to do – but by showing us. 

That’s something we need more of in climate communication. Yes, the science matters. So does policy and innovation. But most people take action not because they’ve read a report or been persuaded by a chart. They act when they see people they relate to doing something meaningful – and when they feel invited into that story.

Me running this 50km race is the perfect example. Never in my wildest dream did I ever aspire to run a marathon let alone an ultra marathon. I have of course read all about the many people who have come before me and run a long race, or achieved a similarly challenging mammoth goal, and consequently understood on paper what these people got out of achieving aforementioned thing. But I didn’t apply those learnings directly to me, and I definitely didn’t think it sounded interesting enough to want to do a huge physical challenge myself. 

But when my community took up the challenge – it suddenly became something I could do – and it completely shifted my perspective on what I am capable of and how I view hard things – not just related to fitness, but to work and life too.

Members of the High Five running club who inspired the 50km shared experience

Social norms, peer-led action, identity-based messaging – these are the overlooked levers that can build real momentum. We need to talk about them more. And we need to design for them – whether we’re building campaigns, supporting behaviour change, or simply trying to keep hope alive.

I know it’s terribly cliched, but running 50km reminded me that the hardest things become possible when we do them together.

This article was originally published and sent as a Substack post and newsletter, you can read it here.