The expression *think global, act local) has been used in very varied contexts, from politics to urban planning, the environment or business.

The expression urges people to take into account the health of the planet as a whole and to take small actions in their own communities. Long before environmental laws began to appear, there were many individuals united to protect habitats and the organisms that depend on them. These efforts are known as grassroots efforts and occur at a local level and on a voluntary basis, so it helps us all a lot to have a better planet than each other.

The original phrase in English, Think Global, Act Local has been attributed to activist Patrick Geddes at the beginning of the century.[1]​

Although the exact phrase does not appear in his book Cities in Evolution (1915),[2]​ the idea, applied to urban planning, is evident in this writing.

The first use of the phrase in an environmental context is in question. It is said that it was coined by David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth, as the slogan for the association when it was founded in 1969, although, according to others,[4]​ it was originally Rene Dubos in 1977. The Canadian futurist Frank Feather gave a conference of the same name in 1979 and proclaims himself the father of the expression.[5]​ Other opinions point to Jacques Ellul, Buckminster Fuller, Hazel Henderson, or Saul Alinsky.

The term is used in business strategy, when multinational corporations must create local roots and settle in small communities for their whole to work.

In some cases the expression is reduced by joining the words global and local to create glocal, a term used by some companies (mainly Sony Corporation, in its brand strategies during the 1980s and 1990s).