Sustainable Lifestyle with the Anatomy of Action

Anatomy of Action UN Environment Collaboration

The Anatomy of Action was born out of a partnership project between the United Nations Environment Program and The UnSchool of Disruptive Design to define and communicate the most positively impactful actions anyone of us can take to add to the global movement around sustainable lifestyles to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This project conducted an extensive review of the scientific data on what actions, when taken individually and accumulated across the globe, can and will have positive impacts on the health and sustainability of our planet. The collected data was synthesized into a list of 15 everyday actions across 5 lifestyle themes to share what does, and does not*, make a difference in the world, and how we can best focus our collective and diverse energies on making change happen through the lives we lead.

The data showed that if enough people make changes in a few key areas, the global momentum of our collective action will address the pressing social and environmental issues around us. By making individual changes to what we eat, what we buy, how we invest our money, how we move and what we aspire to, we will change what and how our world works. 

This campaign includes the website, over 100 hand-illustrated and developed pieces of shareable collateral, three campaign videos and an extensive data validation report that can be accessed here to explore the science behind the Anatomy of Action.

The Videos

We also made 3 campaign videos, starting with the first to create excitement about the campaign and the idea that many hands working together can create large change. The second is about the different categories and actions with a fun side by side swapping. The last is about understanding why these changes and swaps are so important, filmed in a few different languages with people speaking about why this is personally important to them, the changes that it can make, and why they can make them. The campaign was, to a large extent, about individual choices that could form collective action and impact. 3 different filmmakers who were passionate about the subject created the videos, highlighting their different takes and creative contributions to the idea. The campaign was strongly founded on the belief that diversity and a multiplicity of perspectives are the best ways to encourage global action.