Campaign Launch: A world you like. With a Climate you like

A world you like. With a climate you like.

A new campaign to promote climate action and a low carbon economy was launched in the beginning of October 2012 in London City Hall. Private and public sector representatives were invited to launch the campaign and discuss visions for a World you like. With a climate you like. The purpose of the campaign is to highlight, not only the urgent need, but also existing good ideas and practices in lowering our use of Carbon dioxides and other Green-house Gases.

The campaign includes five themes related to climate actions: Travel and transport, Producing & Innovating, Building and Living, Shopping and Eating, Re-use & Recycling. Through the campaign website and the campaign's Facebook page you can discuss Europe's low-carbon future with other Europeans including Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action.  

© European Union, 1995-2012

On the campaign website 27 short videos inspire with practical examples to tackle climate change locally and make a change towards a low carbon Europe. Just like the UBC best practice database, it is intended to inspire and present front-runners and innovative solutions. Later on it will be possible to submit projects and show your action towards climate change and work towards a world you like with a climate you like. From the UBC Environmental Commission we in encourage all our member cities to prepare inputs for this campaign and, as our growing database shows, the Baltic Sea Region had plenty of good examples to show to the rest of Europe.

Picture: Creative illustrations were made on the spot inspired by the panel discussions. © European Union, 1995-2012

Author: Jeppe Mikel Jensen

European Climate Champions Conference online December 14th-15th!

During its three year period the CHAMP project has been working for finding and creating solutions on how to integrate climate change into local strategies. CHAMP applies the Integrated Management System (IMS) for local sustainability, supporting cities and regions in implementing the IMS to respond to climate change. Cities in 4 European countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy and Finland) have been closely involved in the project through their National Training Hubs. However, there are yet more countries and cities to involve in Europe!

On December 14th-15th the CHAMP consortium will host its first ever Online Conference European Climate Champions, focusing on integrating climate change into local strategies. The conference is open to everybody and free of charge. During the 2 days, You will find the concrete outcomes of the project, meaning cities experiences from the past years.

You are provided with speeches, inspiration, presentations, ideas and experiences in various forms on the website www.climatechampions.eu. As the project consortium we are most excited about hosting the European Climate Champions! We are eager about the new form for us to present a project outcome and, importantly, proud of carrying off a conference with a least possible carbon footprint.

WWW.CLIMATECHAMPIONS.EU IS LAUNCHED TODAY!
On the website you will find the conference agenda and introductory information on the conference topics. Please visit us right away and mark December 14th-15th to your calendars!

We are looking forward to meeting you Online in December!

Welcome video:


Text: Anna Stenberg

We're now 7 billion, and it's getting more crowded

When I was born in the 1980's, the world population was at some 4,8 billion. Since then the amount of us humans has been increasing rapidly. Last week we exceeded the 7 billion limit. And the growth is nowhere near to stop: depending on the projection, in the year 2100 we will be 10-16 billion. Currently, we increase by 227,000 people per day!

Not everyone agrees that the population growth is such a big problem. It's however a fact that the growth of the population makes escaping poverty and hunger more difficult and increases the pressure on the ecosystems. Nevertheless, what is even more troublesome than the population growth, is the growing consumption.

For that, it's mostly us in the rich countries of the Global North that are responsible. The carbon footprint of a child born in the USA today would be 55 times that of an Indian child or 86 times a Nigerian child. Using the natural resources in a more efficient way and distributing them more equally would increase the carrying capacity of the planet greatly.

Luckily, we know what to do to slow down the population growth. The most important thing would be to improve womens' rights. Besides being the poorest, the most vulnerable areas, the areas where the population is growing the fastest are also those where girls are less likely to go to school or where women are lack basic rights.

There are some 200 million women who lack the opportunity to decide if or not to bear children, meaning modern contraceptives. For a more sustainable future, all people should have the possibility to family planning - the potential benefits are way bigger than the costs. But how to achieve a more equal way of distribution and consumption of resources?

Kirsi-Marja Lonkila
Picture: A crowded swimming pool in China. Used under the Creative Commons Licence.
More information: UNFPA report and the Grist article series on population.

Working from home to save climate?

Last week, the first National Distance Work Day took place in Finland, resulting in 50 000 kg save in CO2 emissions. Furthermore, over 10 000 participants saved 8 200 hours of travelling time. More time to spend with their families and doing whatever they enjoy and keeps them energetic at work! Besides being seen as giving more freedom to the employees and thus increasing motivation to work, distance work also saves time, money and is helping to achieve climate goals.

From the point of view of slowing down climate change, the biggest benefit of working from home is the reduced need to travel. For most people, travelling to work is the main source of their transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Some 15 % of Finnish labour force is weekly working from home with the help of information technology, but the amount could well be bigger. For many workplaces, more flexibility in where and when the work is done would not affect the results. In Finland, some 1.6 million commutes are made by car every day, resulting in congestion peaks in the morning and afternoon.

This week we're celebrating the annual European Mobility Week. The campaign aims at familiarizing citizens with the use of public transport, cycling, walking and encouraging cities to promote these sustainable modes of transport. Besides fighting atmospheric pollution and noise, it's also a question of improving the quality of urban life.

Many cities in most of the Baltic Sea Region countries are campaigning for sustainable urban mobility. See on the European Mobility Week website what is happening in your home town!

Picture: Valonia. Campaigning in Turku on the national distance work day - No need to worry about the dress code when you're working from home!

Kirsi-Marja Lonkila
This post was also published in the CHAMP project blog.

How could children participate in regional planning?

Urban planning has been traditionally considered as a concern of architects, engineers and other experts working in the field of urban development. However in recent years there has been a growing recognition of the benefits of citizens’ participation in planning processes and contribution to the development of their own living environment. In some countries in the Baltic Sea region the participation and inhabitants’ possibility to influence plans concerning them is a statutory part the planning process whereas in some countries these processes are just about to begin.

The knowledge gathered from the citizens can be considered as experiential and subjective. The reason why citizens are not always allowed or encouraged to participate in planning may be that the experiential knowledge is not valued at the same degree as the expert knowledge. The soft values participation is presenting are too often overshadowed by economic thinking guiding the decision making and planning processes. Soft values in planning shouldn’t be ignored even during the times of economic insecurity as people who thrive on and feel well in their living environment are the ones who make the municipalities and regions vital and more competitive.

Children in Örebro using GIS maps

Why should the participation of citizens be encouraged? One argument in favour of participatory proc-esses is that it is a way to increase trust between the citizens and the policymakers and makes the democratic process more transparent. Secondly the outcomes of the plans and improvements may be better because the amount of the knowledge gathered is larger than if only planners or other experts are doing the planning. The new kind of knowledge can help the planners to think outside the box and find new ideas and ways of thinking.

The demand for participatory processes raises many questions. Why participation of citizens is necessary and who’s voice should be listened? How can the citizens actually influence the plans that are made in their municipality? And how can groups like children or elderly who are easily excluded from the participation process express their opinion?

The municipality of Örebro in Sweden, one of the partners in NEW BRIDGES project, considers citi-zens participation as a necessary and important part of the planning process. Within the VINNA project they have implemented new tools and methods to support especially the participation of children and young people. Geographical Information System (GIS) has been used as a so called “soft tool” to allow children to ex-press their opinions. They have produced maps that are easy to understand and have been used to gather information on children’s favourite places and opinions about their living environment.


Dangerous or unpleasant places marked by Children

On these digital maps children could show how they use their living environment, where they want to spend their spare time and what are the places that are considered as dangerous unpleasant in their opinion. Children can mark routes and places to the maps and add descriptions and opinions about the places and how they use those. The results that Örebro has gained are that the way children use spatial space differs from adults and they don’t think or play as adults think. They find sometimes even unexpected places as dangerous or the other way round unforeseeable places as pleasant to play and spend their time in. In Örebro the results will be considered and treated with the same respect as the opinions of adults and other groups.

More information, experiences and new methods how to successfully involve inhabitants and how to use the information gathered from them is still needed. The involvement of different stakeholders into regional planning processes has been one of key focus in NEW BRIDGES project. Different city-regions around the Baltic Sea Region have been implementing Pilot Actions seeking to improve the quality of life of their residents. City-regions have used different methods, like surveys, interviews and stakeholder meetings, to find out what inhabitants think of their living environment and how do they use the spatial space there. NEW BRIDGES final conference Managing Urban-Rural interaction for Quality of Life invites all interested practitioners, politicians, researchers and all interested stake-holders to share leading experiences about the current situation and future challenges seen within the work on quality of life, urban-rural interaction and stakeholder involvement.

NEW BRIDGES final conference Managing Urban-Rural interaction for Quality of Life is organized in Hamburg 30th of November – 1st of December 2011. Conference is free and open for all. For more information please visit www.urbanrural.net.

Maija Rusanen
Photos: Örebro municipality

Could the Baltic Sea become a model region for clean shipping?

When we think of the northern part of the Baltic Sea countries, it is easy to state that the easiest and also environmentally friendliest way of transporting goods there is by sea. This can also be seen in the statistics; the amount of ships operating in the area has been constantly growing. In Finland 75% of import and 89% of export is transported by sea.

The international requirements for reducing harmful air emissions are getting more stringent, while the traffic increases. The Baltic Sea is a sulphur emission control area (SECA), which means that the amount of sulphur dioxide in the exhaust gases must be reduced heavily by the year 2015. Suggestions about a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) are still under consideration, but most likely it will eventually become a reality.

Sounds easy and convenient, right? Simply follow the regulations and cut down the emissions! Obviously a suitable solution for fighting against eutrophication and negative health effects, no more breathing in the harmful particles. At this stage a normal citizen says yes, but the industry and shipping companies cry for help.

There are some innovative solutions available for reconstructing old ship engines for reducing the emissions. New low-sulphure fuels and natural gases are under development and available to some extent, but will cost a lot of money and time for ship-owners. If the new IMO regulations are applied in restricted areas only, shipping costs on the Baltic Sea will rise, increasing the demand for road transport and even forcing the land-based industry to move or its production away from the Baltic Sea Region. Naturally, the environmental impact from shipping will drop, but the same effects will be multiplied on the roads, and the competitiveness of the industry may become permanently damaged.

There is a strong possibility, that these regulations are not applied for Europe as a whole. In that case we need to think carefully, how to convert this challenge into our competitive advantage. Our Baltic Sea is already one of the most polluted sea areas in the world – people working among the shipping business don’t want to be famous for making the situation even worse. Instead they could be proud pioneers for making the sea transport chain greener and – most importantly – respond quickly to a new kind of demand, when the friendliness to the environment becomes part of the customer value.

In Finland we already see the attitudes changing – a passenger ship company has gained a lot of positive publicity by ordering a new vessel, which runs on liquefied natural gas. There has been discussion about a financial support from the government for this kind of environmental solutions. This is a good example of the public opinion having a huge role in the decision-making process.

Mia Hytti

Writer works for the BSR InnoShip project, which addresses the common challenge of the Baltic Sea countries and the key maritime stakeholders to co-operate in minimizing ship-based air pollution, while aiming at optimizing competitiveness of the maritime industry.

Picture by: Mia Hytti

Simply – The Baltic Sea, yours and mine

Finally, my summer holidays have started! The whole four weeks! One of them with my family we will spend at the beaches of the Curonian Bay in my motherland Lithuania.

- “Mum, why sea water is salt? Why it is raising in waives? Look, what we have found!” These questions wake me up and I lift my head with the sandy cheeks and forehead. My little girls, which enjoy being at the beach, playing with the sand and built castles of it, to jump over the waves, have found round and very smooth stones. Do you know how big adventure for them and my husband is going to look for the amber, so called gold of the sea?

As far as I am able to recall or then the pictures from my childhood remind me, that I have used to do exact the same things by the sea as my girls now. Each summer me, my brother and my parents spent summer vacations at the beaches of the Baltic Sea. Oh, how far away all worries were about the condition of the Baltic Sea at this time. All the matters were just golden sand, blue water and sunshine.

Even then, when I started my studies of applied ecology in my university, students didn’t get concrete enough information about how poor state of the Baltic Sea is. I have to make a confection to you, even if it is shame on me, but just after moving to Finland and starting to work according to my education in the project called PURE, I have realized or find out, how bad the situation is with our sea. I am sure that nowadays young people from Lithuania are better educated on this case. Alright, I could blame the time of collapsed Soviet Union (a few years after that I have started my studies), as at that time educational system was still messy. Or I could blame the fact that environmental protection was too week at that time in Lithuania and just started arise, that teachers did not have expertise in ecology, because it was so fresh trend, which came from Europe Union. But what does blaming help, definitely not making the sea water cleaner.

Anyway, I have never regretted the choice of my profession. I have always cared about the nature; I am more than glad for opportunity to learn about the state of the Baltic Sea through my work at the Union of the Baltic Cities. As there is saying: Better later then never.

However, if you would like to hear my opinion - I am missing more real actions towards cleaner Baltic Sea. Many good organizations are established all around the Baltic Sea Region, which care concern about the sea and its well being. Enormous amount of good projects are going for the better condition of the sea, no doubts. I won’t argue that after huge effort, which the states around the Baltic Sea have put, trying to reduce already made damage to the sea, the situation is better now.

By saying real actions, I mean not too political, not too complicated, just some rubber boots and some buckets and some nets to collect alga from the sea. Of course, it may sound naive and I have no better remedies for our ill sea, not yet. Or then, I could suggest for all people, living around the Baltic Sea, to stop for at least one day this crazy materialism, this endless consumption of everything and everywhere, stop marine traffic for a day and fishing. Just give for the sea the day off, the rest day…

- “Mum, let’s go to swim!” – I hear again and I am running after my kids to swim. And I am going to enjoy swimming in the sea, laying at the beach and searching for the amber as long as it possible. And put efforts that it would be possible.

Zivile Karvonen