Climate neutral consuming

Beer, ice, cd’s, camping, concerts and the Dutch Live Earth event. You name it and it can be done climate neutrally, that means: you compensate for all energy you are using. Regional Environmental Federations are encouraging companies to develop products that have no negative effect on the climate. These companies are allowed to use the logo of the national HERE-campaign, in which more than 40 biggest environmental and aid organisations are involved. The ultimate aim is to have one million dutch consume in a ‘climate neutral’ way (the

Netherlands has 16 million inhabitants). Beer brewer Gulpener decreased their CO2 emissions in and around the brewery by saving energy. The company invested in a solar system to generate energy. To compensate for the remaining CO2 emissions Gulpener planted new trees in the local forest and finances a project to save energy in Bolivia.

Rockband

Even the famous Dutch Rock band Normaal compensates for all the energy they use during their performances in the country. The band members invest in renewable energy from biomass installations in Vietnam, supplying a lot of people with power. The new cd of Normaal is titled HERE is Normaal, refering to the Here campaign, This is the first cd in the Netherlands that is produced climate neutral.

More and more Dutch campgrounds are looking for ways to save energy, so you can even care for the planet when you are on holiday. Five campgrounds in the eastern part of the country have taken action to save more energy and/or to use renewable energy in the showers, washing machines and recreational areas. A solar water heater for the use of warm water, PV systems for the light in the toilet block, and even the owners of the camp grounds were offered driving lessons based on the ‘new driving’ method, which saves gas and thus CO2 emissions.

Catch CO2 for glass house farmers

Together with oil multinational Shell the market gardeners in the southwest part of the country found a way to reduce their CO2 emissions with 170.000 ton per year. A joint venture between a gas supplier and a construction concern called Ocap is redirecting CO2 emitted at the Shell industry to the glass houses for the growth of flowers, tomato’s, cucumbers and peppers.

On the other hand CO2 is an important ingredient for plants. The Dutch glass house farmers produce and use quite an amount of the greenhouse gasses to let their plants grow faster. And where oil multinational Shell used to emit their CO2 up in the air, they now supply it to the glass house farmers through a special pipeline system. Apart from the earlier mentioned 170.000 ton of CO2-emission, they save 95 million cubicmetres of natural gas.

Climate buffers in the Wadden Sea

In the Wadden Sea, Europe's largest intertidal wetland in the north of the Netherlands, the greenhouse effect and climate change can manifest itself in different ways. With all the expected extremes in the weather the area might be suffering from a rise of the sea level, acidification of the sea, rise in temperature, extremes in freshwater levels, drying up and possible increase of storms and change of dominant wind direction.

In principle the Wadden Sea should be able to cope with these changes, provided that you help nature takes its course again. Different environmental organisations are now campaigning for that new method. They say that the Wadden Sea is a perfect climate buffer. The only thing you have to do is to strengthen its ability to adapt to new circumstances. The sea can play an important role as a natural ‘dike’. For example, by stopping to take sand out of the sea (used to maintain beaches), the sea bottom can naturally adapt to the rising sea level. The two provinces behind the Wadden Sea would then be perfectly protected without building dikes.

Dutch politicians are in favour of the idea of natural climate buffers. Not so long ago the Dutch parliament decided to set aside € 5 million to start with a pilot project with the natural climate buffers. But there are more parties involved with different interests.

Eco-friendly dancing

The socalled Sustainable Dance Club looked for a way to have young people enjoy a night out and be ecological friendly at the same time. They teamed up with a famous night club in Rotterdam, second largest city in the Netherlands, who decided to go with this idea and be the most innovative club in the world in the fight against climate change. They made an electricity generating dance floor that will generate electricity from the movements of the dancing crowd, they upcycle the waste into decoration and they even think about capturing the sweat of the youngsters dancing and reuse it to flush the toilets.

Links:

The Sinking of Tuvalu (English) Pictures of the people of Tuvalu, made by a Dutch photographer http://www.juriaanbooij.com/

Netherlands Climate Neutral (in dutch): http://www.hierisklimaatneutraal.nl/

Brewer Gulpener (in dutch) http://www.gulpener.nl/

Rockband Normaal (in dutch) http://www.normaal.nl

CO2 for the glass house farmers (in dutch) www.ocap.nl

Website of the Wadden Sea Society for climate change (in English) http://www.waddenvereniging.nl/wv/content/view/244/170/