Voices: Participants practice what they preach
The media has a responsibility to inform the public about climate change. And right now, the media are not doing enough.
People at the Beyond Kyoto conference are not only talking about global CO2 emissions. Some also practice what they preach on a personal level. Simple things the average person can do to reduce his own carbon footprint.
Amdi Schjødt Worm, engineer at Esbensen: "I turn off the lights, use appliances that don't use too much energy and I use electricity saving light bulbs. I think it's important that the simple energy saving solutions are more present in the media so people are aware of what they can do."
Rob Bindels, engineer at Esbensen, a Danish engineering company: "I try to do everything I can in my apartment to save energy and I cycle to work every day. One day I want to design my own low energy house. I think people are well informed about the things they can do to reduce CO2 emissions. But, I think they are not motivated enough. In Denmark for example, there is no difference between the energy rate during the day or during the night. It would be a good idea to make energy during the night more expensive."
Amdi Schjødt Worm, Rob Bindels, Andreas Fischlin and Jørgen E. Olesen changed some of their everyday habits to create a better environment.
The four climate fighters say they believe that everyone can make a difference; most people are not aware that they can do a lot to reduce CO2 emissions.
To make people aware of the amount of CO2 they emit and what they can do to reduce it, the Danish Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and Energy launched the One Tonne Less campaign in 2007.
The campaign aims at informing all Danes that they cause CO2 emissions through their lifestyles,
Professor Jørgen E. Olesen, Aarhus University: "I never use a car. We have one but only my wife drives it. We have to continue the struggle to inform the public about the possibilities there are to reduce CO2 emission."
Professor Andreas Fischlin, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich: "I haven't had a car in 20 years. The public transportation is very good and cheap. I'm sure that people are not well informed on what they can do to reduce CO2 emissions. The media is responsible for informing the public. But I think the media confuse the public more than they inform them."
but more importantly that they can do something about it by simply changing some of their everyday habits. By changing habits every single Dane can cut their energy usage by one tonne each year.
One Tonne Less
The One Tonne Less campaign will continue until the end of 2009. So far more then 78,000 employees have agreed to reduce their CO2 emissions, equalling a reduction of over 104,000 tonnes.
10 things you can do to change the world:
- Turn off appliances on ’stand by’
- Wash your clothes at a low temperature
- Take shorter showers
- Use a bike or public transportation
- Turn off the lights when you leave your house
- Don’t let the water run when you brush your teeth
- Be sure that your house is well insulated
- Use green energy
- Eat less meat
- Turn your heater down by one degree
By Anne-Meike van den Berg
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