From intention to action

While writing this post I’m enjoying a smooth ride on the German railways from Wuppertal to Berlin. This has been my fifth visit to the city of Wuppertal and today has been the sunniest day I’ve ever seen there. I hardly could leave the city since everything looked so different on a sunny day. They say that Wuppertal is the rainiest city in Germany and I have no reason to doubt that.

What brought me to Germany are two conferences touching the topic of sustainable consumption and production. The first one was organised by the CSCP (The UNEP Wuppertal/Institute Collaboration Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production). For me the most inspiring message of the conference was that there are many examples like the transition towns movement showing examples on how individual people and small communities can make changes in their everyday lives without any orders from above. A slight frustration was occasionally in the air when we were discussing about pace of the change in policy making. But the positive thing is that we don’t need to wait for that. Mr. Chris Church from ANPED (The Northern Alliance for Sustainability) put it so nicely: “We already have tools and approaches to deal with climate change.” The important thing is that we need to act now. Sometimes we claim that “they” (referring to business, governments, transnational organisations, other people etc.) are not doing anything for sustainability. The participants of the conference seemed to believe – in parallel with One Did It team – that we need a positive approach and open minds to reconsider our own habits. Start with you, your family, local community and the change has already begun.

I was also reminded about the importance of networking and changing ideas. The organisers provided a market place for project ideas in the field of sustainable consumption and production. Inspiring discussions arouse while people were exploring each other’s ideas and finding potential partners for their projects. The discussions continue in the dedicated online network.

My hope really is that as lively discussion will arise between the members of the One Did It community and our team to help to develop the One Did It site even better. Another thing I wish is that the One Did It site will be the platform where ideas and inspiration to start action is found. Let’s show the world that we are not waiting orders from above. We have the knowledge and motivation to start to change our behavior today.

P.S. In Wuppertal also the FIN-MIPS Household report was released. In case you are interested to learn more about ecological backpacks of households, please download your copy here.