Personal responsibility? We need more transparency!
When we discuss climate changes in Denmark we very often talk about our personal responsibility. We are all responsible for the way we live and the choises we make. Both when it come to switching off the lights, biking instead of taking the car and taking shorter showers, which actually is a rather easy thing to live in accordance with. But our personal responsiblity is more than that. It’s also the way we consume, what food we eat and what clothes we wear.
Recently a new Danish cookbook was publised by the author, Susanne Engelstoft, called “The Climate Cookbook: Save a little of the Earth between 5-7 p.m”, and is about how we should live, if we want to live completely in a climate friendly way. This book is published in the aftermath of many of the same genre in the U.S.
Some of the suggestions in the Danish book is: You are not supposed to eat meet. You should avoid food imported by airplains. You should go grossery shopping on your bike. You should eat locally produced products. You should prepare rice and potatoes a week ahead. You should control your need for curry, chocolade and vanilla - just to mention some of the advise.
Suddently it gets very complicated to be a green comsumer. How are we supposed to deal with all this when we stand in the supermarket after a busy day at work and in a hurry to get home and start cooking. Also then it comes to the production of our clothes. If we want our T-shirt to be produced under climate friendly conditions, where do we buy it and can we be sure it’s not a misleading advertising.
To give the consumer a possibility to act green and climate friendly, we need transparency and openness. Without the transparency it gets too hard and too complicated for the single consumer to manoeuvre around the many possibilities and find the right products. Furthermore, with a more open and transparent market it is easier for the consumer to demand climate friendly products from the companies and force them to act climate friendly.
[...] pisze o dyskucji wokół zmian klimatycznych i osobistej odpowiedzialności Simonwr pisze o tym, dlaczego zmiany muszą zacząc się od zwykłych ludzi, a nie liderów [...]
[...] reflected on the buzz about climate change and personal responsibility. Simonwr wrote about why changes must come from ordinary people rather than from government [...]
[...] reflected on the buzz about climate change and personal responsibility. Simonwr wrote about why changes must come from ordinary people rather than from government [...]
[...] reflected on the buzz about climate change and personal responsibility. Simonwr wrote about why changes must come from ordinary people rather than from government leaders. [...]
Singe, i think you make valid points, I also think that trying to keep track of all the many things you have to do and not do is time consuming as well and as you say when we are busy with our lives it becomes difficult.
For example, we recently started recycling instead of throwing out the trash… now Throwing out stuff takes a much longer time.
As an example, previous we would take something and just put it into the bin… if its a milk cartoon it gets washed first and then goes into the special bin for that item. Glass items, go into the class recycling container but you have to remove the caps since those are tin/metal etc etc…
So i think with the decision to effect change, you also need to realize there is additional responsibility etc.
Transparency is needed for items bought etc! make it easier for people to determine if they are ‘green’ or not..