How to create love, warnings, and ideas that can solve the climate crisis.
Earth Day, 22 April 2019 marked the launch of the We Don’t Have Time social network through the second annual carbon neutral climate conference. Hundreds watched the live broadcast on-site in Stockholm and thousands streamed online, not only to see and hear keynotes and panel discussions but also because of the 24 campaigners from all over the world who were invited to advocate their climate campaigns.
The aim of the event was to demonstrate how the new We Don’t Have Time app and social network can be used for climate action. A climate campaign is a post on this new social network with a cause with some important features. The basic idea is this: A climate campaign is a statement of how we can solve the climate crisis or improve our environment that mark a statement. This is sent to a recipient who is a public figure, a company, or an organization.
The campaigners presented their thoughts and ideas to both a live studio audience and to online viewers around the globe. Everyone can agree to campaigns via the We Don’t Have Time app to show that you support it, comment to interact and help get the conversation going.
By clicking agree in the app momentum for climate action increase. The more agrees a campaign gets, the higher the level (level 1–5) it reaches and consequently more commitment is added by We Don’t Have Time and it’s community to the campaign to make it even more successful. This is, in turn, a key part in solving the climate crisis, getting ‘all hands on deck’.
The idea is to accomplish change by putting pressure on decision-makers on every level in society. We want to emphasize that together we are the solution. Ingmar Rentzhog, founder and CEO of We Don’t Have Time began the climate conference by demonstrating how the app and its campaigns work.
The 24 campaigners who were invited to the conference were also the first in our social network and they made a huge success. We want to present some of them them in order for you to understand each type of campaign. From this you will learn more about the campaigns and the people behind them. We hope this will inspire you to create your own campaign.
First you will learn about a ‘climate warning’ from Gustav Johansson, then a ‘climate idea’ from Katharina Paoli and thirdly a ‘climate love’ from Ingmar Rentzhog to Mariestad Municipality (Sweden). Please make sure you have the app downloaded in order to agree with the campaigns.
#Savetheveggieburger — ‘Climate Warning’ to Eric Andrieu
On April 1st, the European Parliaments Agriculture Committee (AGRI) voted for a proposition to ban the use of the words ”burger”, ”sausage”, ”steak” and similar ”meaty” words to describe vegan and vegetarian products. A similar ban is already in effect in France regarding meat products and in the entire EU regarding dairy products, but now the Committee wants to take it a step further and ban the meat-related terms in the entire EU.
So Gustav Johansson, the man behind the Swedish vegan food blog ‘Jävligt gott’, wants to send a ‘climate warning’ to Eric Andrieu, the MEP from France who is responsible for the proposition. The aim of his climate campaign is to get the new members of the European Parliament to say no to the proposition and instead, take firm actions for a more sustainable european agricultural policy that sees plant based food as part of the solution for the climate crisis.
Johansson thinks that the proposition is the exact opposite of what the European parliament should be doing. It’s a step in the wrong direction for the climate as it will contribute to the view of vegan food as something else than “normal” food, and thus not be as desirable as meat.
“We need to eat different than we do today to save the climate” — Gustav Johansson, ‘Jävligt gott’
He therefore wants to save the terms vegan burger, vegan sausage and steak in order to make more people discover the fact that vegan food actually can be a perfect alternative to meat.
Instead of banning the term vegan burger they should embrace it as a way of making the European food cultures more climate friendly and sustainable. They should advocate and create more climate friendly conditions for European farmers and producers — not hinder them.
Gustav Johansson was one of the campaigners who showed up on site to talk about his campaign and to get people to support his standpoint. In the video below, you will find Klimatekot’s interview with Gustav Johansson from the day of the conference.
IKEA, make climate-friendly choices easy — ‘Climate Idea’ to Ikea
Consumers know the climate impacts of their decisions on food and transportation pretty well. But how for example does a kitchen differ from another? Katharina Paoli wants IKEA to give their customers a friendly nudge in the right direction. Make sustainable choices easy — put climate labels and lifetime energy costs on the products.
Nudging is a method within behavioral science. A nudge is helping people to act the way they actually want but often can’t due to how our brains work. By making small changes to the environments in which we choose, we can help the brain instead of demanding too much from it.
Climate labels and lifetime energy costs would make it much easier for IKEA’s customers to shop climate friendly. And IKEA’s global scale of course means that there is potential for immense, crucial emissions reductions. Katharina could unfortunately not attend our Climate Conference but that didn’t stop her from joining us online instead. Watch her Climate Idea in the video below.
Paoli is an entrepreneur, public speaker and sustainability advisor with a true passion for sustainable business and sustainable lifestyle. She is also a co-founder of Nudging Sweden — a network that promotes behavioural change for a sustainable future. Katharina is one of Europe’s leading experts on nudging for sustainability and how to change peoples behaviours towards the sustainable development goals.
The world’s first solar and hydrogen gas plant — ‘Climate Love’ to Mariestad Municipality
The unique ElectriVillage H2E energy system in the municipality of Mariestad in Sweden contains the world’s first hydrogen fuel station that is powered by 100 per cent solar energy from its solar park. It effectively lays out the way forward to fossil-free road transportation without expensive lithium batteries.
The energy system is used to produce hydrogen gas that fuels the fuel cell cars of the city of Mariestad. In addition, the excess solar energy can be stored using hydrogen, and used as a backup power to the electricity grid when the sun doesn’t shine.
Susanné Wallner who is Development Strategist from Mariestad municipality attended the event in Stockholm to talk more about the project but to also receive the climate heart that was sent by Ingmar because of this. Klimatekot managed to get an interview with Susanné as she talked about her dedication in life and her role in the inspiring project ‘ElectriVillage Mariestad’.
Facts about We Don’t Have Time
We Don’t Have Time is the world’s largest social network for climate action. Together we are the solution to the climate crisis. But we are running out of time. Join us: www.wedonthavetime.org
