Skrevet af Lan Thuy Pham, 5. september 2010

Ken Rother, President and COO of Treehugger, one of the largest blogs for green news, starts out by announcing that he is going to thwart the sense of hope given in the other GREEN-talks. He adds that his talk is going to depress you a bit, especially the first part. However, the goal of the presentation is also to impart some inspiration and make it clear that it is possible to make an impact.
Greener doesn't equal green - it's just less bad. And less bad is not good enough. Ken Rother presents data about the relationship between the global temperature and CO2-emissions. He has given the talk before and the data has been updated three times; each time, it keeps rising. The next slide is about the number of extinct species. A lot of species are becoming near-extinct and a lot of it is our fault. Fisheries are collapsing and it seems like for every two step we take forward, we move three steps back. In short, we don't understand what we are doing, because if we did, we wouldn't be doing it.
There are lot of ways to reduce CO2-emission. For example, being a perfect recycler. However, Ken Rother calls in feel-good environmentalism because in reality, it doesn't do much. An average American emits 23 tons of CO2 per year. Instead of thinking in kg of reduced CO2-emissions, we need to think in tons. Yes, little changes are indicative of people wanting to change things, but they're typically only a tiny contribution.
Ken Rother offers four simple ways to reduce your CO2-emission.
The first thing is to become a weekday vegetarian. That would reduce your CO2-emission with 1 ton/year. Beef emits 100 times more CO2 than vegetables, it uses up a lot of water and 70 pct. of antibiotics in the US goes to the meat industry. Being a vegetarian is healthier, less cruel, less polluting and it saves money. You don't have to change your lifestyle radically, it's also okay to contribute with smaller and more manageable changes like becoming a weekday vegetarian.
Secondly: Be a conscious flier. Planes are emitting a lot of CO2. Cars are better, buses are even better. But the best is video conferences (Ken Rother gives a thumbs up to the camera), even though it's not as personal. It's also important which airplane company you choose, some companies have newer planes which emits less CO2. The most emitting company is letting out 2.5 times more CO2 compared to the less emitting company.
The third and last step is to buy green power. It costs more, but it makes a huge difference. Also, by choosing a CO2-neutral energy source, the demand goes up and in turn makes it cheaper to go green.
Ken Rother emphasizes that you really can make a difference. He asks the audience if anybody has been inspired to be a weekday vegetarian or buying green energy. About 20 per cent raises their hands. He adds that we can't buy our way out of the climate problem, but we can make clever consumer decisions.

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