But do the green words have the the expected effect? There are several examples of companies doing “green washing”. For instance car manufacturer Peugeot instituted a new climate award which could only be won by their own cars. False climate communication reduce the term ”sustainable” to an empty phrase, free for anyone to use and abuse. Companies using the climate as a convenient marketing tool, are instead turning an important and urgent cause into hot air in the mind of the consumers, leading to ”climate constipation” and ”climate nausea”.

Putting climate on the public agenda is important, of course, and it is very gratifying to see that many companies turn around and join the effort to reduce their impact on nature. The decisions that lead to the most significant improvements on the global climate are made by large companies and industry. Their line of action can dramatically reduce the CO2 emission or help raise capital to the victims of climate change. But action speak louder than words, and it is important that the companies act up to their good intentions before as well as after COP15.

If everyone is communicating climate, the words loose their meaning. It becomes cheap climate pop with corny sing-along lyrics – ”POP15: let’s climate all night long” – enjoyable and danceable in the moment, but leaving the audience with a queasy feeling and a major climate hangover when the party is over.

Illustration by Anne Gramtorp

“Fail, fail again, fail better”

It takes more courage risking to fail, than it takes to dare strive for perfection.

That is why it is fortunate to be in a forum where your failures are not perceived as mistakes – but instead seen as a step forward.

Fellow students, teatchers and blog mentors at “Global Change” all embrace failures and by that create room for experimentation and bold ideas.

Sign your declaration for an ambitious global climate treaty: PlanetCall

The future of human kind depends
on the actions of THIS generation.

We are 1271 youth from 97 countries who have committed ourselves to reduce carbon emissions now and we encourage all nations to sign an ambitious global climate treaty at the UN Climate Summit (COP-15) in Copenhagen December 2009. Only through significant action that takes the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) into account, can we ensure that OUR future will be prosperous, clean, and secure for ourselves, our children and our home, the Earth.

A 110 meter high forest in the centre of Milan, floating schools in Goa and urban acupuncture in Philadelphia – that is what you can experience at Louisiana Museum Of Modern Art. The exhibition “Green Architecture” goes on until the Coop 15 ends in December 18^th.

Numerous of imaginative houses and buildings leads you in to an universe of climate friendly cities and ways of life. With the many visionary ideas and the inspiring models of future architecture the exhibition makes you want to pass around for several hours. However you need to get through a lot of text to understand the models and it seem to be written by architects to architects.

The exhibition at Louisiana Museum Of Moderns Art get’s 5 out of 6 Green Trees.

The more than 1000 small men made of ice, have a short lifetime in the baking sun. First an arm fall off, then another loses his leg and while the minutes passes, the numerous ice people disappear. They are all converted into melt water, dripping down the stairs. The crystal clear symbolism chills down ones spine, while the small men aesthetically disappear.

My name is Anne and I will in the following blogs write about sustainable city development.

But for now I will only tell a bit about my self as this is just a test.

I finished my master degree in Political Communication and Management last year. During my study and work I  have been working with city development and that is my inspiration for continue with green architecture.