Ich möchte eine kleine Vorstellungsrunde beginnen, in der ich all die tollen Projekte, die mir in den letzten Jahren so über den Weg gelaufen sind, einmal vorstelle und die irgendwie auf eine sympathische Weise versuchen… ja… kurz gesagt: die Welt ein bissl besser zu machen.

Los geht es mit 10:10, einem Umweltschutzprojekt, bei dem jede(r) Einzelne von uns total einfach mitmachen kann.

Damit das nicht ganz so trocken und langweilig wird, gibt es zu jedem Projekt einfach ein nettes Interview mit jemand Involviertem. Ich habe die Interviews alle am Sonntag verschickt… und dachte mir: Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst. Und zuerst kam eben ganz frisch eingetrudelt die Antwortmail von Katie Griggs, der Kampagnenleiterin (u.a.für Deutschland) von 10:10.

Sie hat wirklich wahnsinnig offen auf alle Fragen reagiert und so bleibt eigentlich kaum etwas, das ich ergänzen müsste… Und deswegen findet ihr hier nun das Interview und ein paar Bilderchen, die ich während eines Vortrags von der tollen Dame geschossen habe.

Wer nach dem Lesen des Interviews immer noch nicht genug hat oder selbst aktiv werden möchte, findet die Webseite von 10:10 HIER.

Enjoy!!! Los geht’s nach dem Jump!

 

What exactly is 10:10?

10:10 is about making carbon cutting exciting and achievable – for individuals, families, companies schools and organisations. It’s about eating healthier, getting fitter, saving money, meeting new people and above all doing fun and interesting things with the aim of building a more sustainable, equitable and happy future… and therefore passing on our planet to the next generation in better condition than in which we inherited it!

Aren´t some goals too little? (Thinking of the faces at Utopia Conference 2010, when you told the audience to make one meatfree day a week.)

Haha –depends on who you are speaking too of course! Utopia conference goers know far more about this than the average person. Using the meat example, most people I know wouldn’t dream of a meat free meal, let alone a meat free day. And many vegetarians substitute meat with cheese – which also has quite high CO2 emissions (not to mention not nice for the animals.) 10:10 has to be about turning people on – not off – and if you start telling everyone they have to be a vegan…that just won’t work! (I can just see my mum’s face now!). However for many, including myself, it is just the start of the journey. I started off with a meat free day per week, then only eating meat at the weekend, and now I am practically a vegan! If someone suggested to me I would be a vegan even a year ago I would never have believed it in a million years. So the same can be true with leaving the car at home for one day a week and cycling… it is all about “bite sized chucks”. Giving everyone a guilty conscious about driving and telling them to sell their cars will instantly turn people off and they will listen no more! But promoting the benefits of cycling to work one day per week is a different message. And just think, we all know that once we have tried something and it is not so bad (maybe even fun!) we start to change our behaviour and maybe a person who started off one day a week will in the Summer cycle to work most days!

Also, I see many people and companies doing loads to reduce CO2 in one area – for example producing renewable energy – but on the other hand eating loads of meat, flying Berlin-Munich every week, turning the heating up and driving a big car to work every day! A 10% reduction across all the areas means that people and companies are reducing in all areas and we have a more balanced and more rounded achievable approach to reducing carbon emissions across lots of areas, and at the same time raising awareness of all the different ways we can reduce carbon and at the same way improve quality of life.

 

What are you changing at the moment?

It helps that I hate shopping but at some point I will have to buy some more clothes and shoes! I will probably just go for second hand stuff, but if I need to buy a suit I will buy it new and therefore need to research the lowest carbon textiles! All tips gratefully accepted! For household appliances etc I will from now on first try to find things on Freecycle and Netcycle (just got a new sink for the bathroom on freecycle – brilliant!) as well as posting my unwanted items there! In the toiletries area I am grateful to have found LUSH, as now I have minimised my packaging requirements (e.g. solid shampoo and deodorant requiring no packaging!) and know that they have an active CO2 reduction plan including renewable energy at their factory etc. I am also trying to sort out the courtyard –see below!

 

Do you still live without heating? (I do ;-))

Great to hear that you crazy cat  Yes, we actually survived the whole of last Winter only turning up the heating to 20 once or twice. I have bought some more thermal underwear and will be happy to do that this coming winter again. In fact we received over 1000EUR back from gas and electric companies in the past 12 months – which is amazing! And mainly due to not wasting energy at all (no standby or plugged in equipment, plus effective ventilation in the winter) rather than sitting in the dark with no heat!

 

Do you have any new experiments?

My next project is helping to improve the courtyard where we live. I want to learn how to grow things, create compost and build something to collect rainwater to water the plants. I will also start regularly volunteering at an intercultural garden – whilst learning about growing my own veg for when we have a garden. Being a “flexi”vegan is also an experiment… but I have learned loads about nutrition and believe I am actually eating far better than I did before without eating meat or dairy!

Any great reaction you got? Some story someone send to you about what he or she changed?

Herr Kamphausen (GF von Kamphausen Verlag) sold his expensive sportscar the day after he saw the Age of stupid film and is now much happier and fitter walking or cycling to work, and getting the train to any business meetings. Lots of people I know are now going by train on holiday instead of flying (using bahnprofi.de to get good tickets), and several have had Energiesavings checks at home– which I highly recommend because that is where we learned most of the ways to save electricity and gas and got our 1000EUR back payment. There are several case studies on the 10:10 Deutschland website, and of course millions more on the 10:10 UK website. The UK government just saved £13million in their first year of doing 10:10 (they actually reduced their carbon emissions by 13.8% in one year!)