A Shropshire graphic designer has taken inspiration from a quote from Gandhi in a scheme to change the world for the better through everyday actions. Tim Ashton is one of a team behind a new book “Change the World 9 to 5″, which takes the idea on from their first book, “Change the World for a Fiver”, which included 50 simple everyday things people could do to change the world.
The new book includes 50 more actions which can be done at work which will contribute to saving the planet or making it a better place.
Tim, who is 44 and is from Albrighton, near Shifnal - although he now lives in London - runs a company called Antidote in Soho.
“We create ideas for brands like Shell, Persil, and the Discovery Channel, in advertising and graphic design. We decided that we wanted to do something to put something back in, I suppose, that was not for a big client, and decided to do some work in the charity sector,” he said.
They found it striking that despite all today’s modern technology, prosperity, and comforts, there was less sense of community, and a national satisfaction survey revealed depression was at a higher rate than during the period of post-war rationing.
However, people did still come together for various causes, ranging from going to a football match to protesting against the Iraq war.
“When people get together, things do change. We found a quote from Gandhi - ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ We liked that. We thought that a lot of people would like to change things, and do not know how. We thought that if there was a way that small, simple actions aggregated on a big scale could make a difference, that would be great.
“We created a movement, or charity, called We Are What We Do and in order to launch that we, Antidote, designed, wrote and printed a book called Change the World for a Fiver. We printed 5,000 copies. We have now sold more than half a million.
“In this book are 50 actions which are easy to do, like turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Change the World 9 to 5 is the follow-up and carries on from the first book, starting with action 51. It’s the next 50 actions you and I can do to make our working lives a bit more enjoyable and improve our lot.”
Tim attended Abraham Darby School in Madeley and then went to Shrewsbury college to train in graphic design. His father Frank Ashton had a motorcycle business in Bridgnorth from which he is now retired.
Tim said he did practise what he preached.
“We try as much as we can not to email if we can help it, but rather talk to people or meet them. And certainly when we sit down with the crew of We Are What We Do, if there is a paper that is not printed on both sides, we pull each other up about it.
“At the same time we are normal, and we are not saints.”
Some of the ideas in the book have come from famous contributors.
Among the ideas and suggestions in the book are:
lFind out where your lunch has come from - the average kiwi fruit is flown 12,000 miles from New Zealand to be part of your lunch.
l Never throw paper away. There is no “away”.
l Don’t be an ideas killer.
l Smile when you answer the phone.
l Take the stairs.
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