By Agnija Kazuša, Latvia, and Signe Lerche, Denmark
“We can’t buy a new iPad every year,” says Clémence Hutin, representative of Young Friends of the Earth Europe, the largest grass root environmental organization. Floods, droughts, failed harvest are just a few of the consequences caused by climate change, and according to Clémence Hutin “Any change in climate is dangerous”. After the workshop “Climate Spring” we interviewed participants to find out what they think about climate change and what individual actions they take to stop it.
Daniel Bösch, Austria
Climate change will affect us in the future far more than it’s affecting us now. We do not know how, but we have to be aware of consequences. For instance, because of global warming there will be far more draught and flood. I think, everybody has to think what he/she can do in their daily life to limit their pollution to minimum. It’s also the responsibility of governments to try to use more renewable sources. I am myself using public transportation – going by train or bus, not by car – even though I have a driving licence.
Dominika Nevrlova, Slovakia
I think climate change is a big problem because of the temperature, because of the country, because of poor east and many, many consequences. It’s a very difficult question and to be honest I don’t know the answer, because everything is about money. Any solution will be denied because people are always looking for something cheaper, so I can’t tell what a solution could be. Of course, there’s something that each of us can do, like using not using cars, but public transportation, avoiding to buy products that are made in China and other things.
Ema Karmelic
In some countries, climate change may not seem like a big problem, but it is because it reaches people differently. I think, in 20-30 years people will feel it more. We can see already now that in North America there are more hurricanes and floods. We should find a way to decrease climate problems, but I don’t think we will find a permanent solution, because we have already reached the point of no return. But we can definitely try to adapt and change our way of living.
Joost de Moor
I think climate changes are probably the biggest problem for humans. Especially because it is so unpredictable, and signals indicate that it is not changing for the better. We may be as careful as possible, yet the biggest problem is consumption, and it is consumers and governments who have to solve the problem together. Governments may push the consumers to change the human behaviour.
Cahner Max, Spain
It changes our lives and certainly it will change the lives of future generations. It’s not a problem that affect us at this moment, but in a short term it will affect a lot of people. It’s not that you only have to combat the consequences, you have to combat the problem itself. Every person can do something, like, using public transportation, not buying “dangerous” technology, recycling, thinking about things you wear or eat. These are small things that could contribute in big scale to make a change. It’s impossible to think about all the things every day, but surely once you have more information, you have more choices to do these small changes. Maybe you start recycling, if you understand why you need to recycle. So, the first change is to be informed.
