Archive for the ‘green’ Category

World Environment Awards 2011

Did you know that  2011 to 2020 is the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity, that this year is the International Year of Forests, that 22 April is Earth Day and 5th June World Environment Day, celebrated since 1972? If yes, you belong to a relatively small group of ‘insiders’ and if not, why not?

Earth Hour on the other hand – the one day a year where we are prompted to symbolically turn our lights off for one hour is known by millions around the world. How come the latter has become a global phenomenon and yet directly related, mature environmental awareness raising initiatives lack momentum?

The United Nations has celebrated World Environment Day on the 5th June since 1972. So how can we focus the millions of people who symbolically turn their lights off on rapid action for the environment, including forests and biodiversity?

Apart from collaborating with Earth Hour organisers to ensure it is more than a feel good exercise (more about this here), we can learn and transfer those social marketing lessons.  Any social campaign that moves us to change our habits needs to: Read the rest of this entry »

dreaming of a green christmas...

Christmas and New Year are just around the corner and product advertising is rampant.  Among the many voices competing for our attention is an emerging call for a greener Christmas. For obvious reasons: while Christmas is a time for generosity it is also a time for great excess. The amount of waste that goes to landfill in Australia over the festive season is higher than any other time of the year. So is the amount of energy consumed in households.

BUT: We can have a good time at Christmas and New Year AND do something good for the planet. Here are three of my favorites and a list of hyperlinked resources for further exploration:

1. Go nowhere.  Transport is the 2nd largest contributor to climate change. In addition to saving greenhouse gas emissions you also gain time to relax, and spend less time packing bags, on the road and setting up at the destination. If you absolutely have to go somewhere to join family and friends, take the bike, train or bus.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a terrific group on linkedin called ‘Green’ where one member prompted the rest of us to propose the one thing that everybody could do to reduce their impact on the environment and it has turned into a long, long list. I have picked three things we can all do right now in Australia as a starting point:

• “Do as you choose as long as you do not forcibly interfere with the equal rights of others to do as they choose. In short, if someone else desires clean water, I shouldn’t pollute it because I’d force myself upon them. If I head into the mountains to hike, I shouldn’t spoil the trips of others behind me by leaving trash or spoilage.  Simply, be responsible. That one thing is as green as one can get.”
• “Use contraception to reduce family size and stabilize populations”‘
• stop buying bottled water and use tap or rainwater.

Click here to check it out. In addition to interesting discussions about cultural relevance of things that everybody in the world could meaningfully do, regardless of where we live, there are more than 1800 suggestions, there is bound to be something in there that all of us can do asap.  You need to be on linkedin and become a member of the group to see it though and no, Momentum doesn’t have any vested interest in linkedin!