A Little Help from our Friends

Every so often those of us concerned about the environment feel personally overcome by the size of the problems. They are global or involve huge masses like the oceans (rising) or glaciers (melting). The contrast with our small efforts is enormous. One feels one goes to extra lengths to take public transport or recycle and goes without (meat, household stuff, jet travel) and one would like some reward for one’s efforts. At such a time, it does one’s soul good to hear about steps taken by organizations that serve the environment and make life more pleasant or easier at the same time.

One such move was taken by the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, earlier this year. All the public transport in the city is free to residents – the world’s first such move in a capital city. The step was taken partly in the hope of freeing the city from motorized congestion and it has done that, with the number of cars dropping by 15%. The new plan has other positive effects as well. Estonia is a relatively poor country, and the savings on commuting, for instance, are very welcome by the populace and enable more spending in other areas; good for the economy. The city fathers calculate that the loss of income from tickets is compensated by the fact that many people have moved into the city because of the transport, thus bringing new tax resources.

If you live in one of the larger cities in the US or Switzerland, you have probably watched cyclists whizzing about on free bikes – no pollution at all. And what a good way to see the city up close! Try it out yourself! Both this borrow-a-bike and free public transport are the result of thinking ecologically and outside the box and– seeing beneficial interconnections and realizing quite concretely that everything is connected to everything else. The contribution to goodwill is enormous, inspiring the citizenry and making them feel that someone cares.

Here’s another human-friendly offering: If you find statistics mind-boggling or boring, you may change your mind when calculating your global footprint. This is the number of earths that would be necessary to support the world’s population if everyone lived as you do. You are asked questions about various areas of your lifestyle and thus arrive at your footprint and its comparison to the footprint of Switzerland (yes, countries have footprints as well). You are also shown in a simple pie chart the contributions of various sections of your lifestyle to your footprint and can access suggestions for decreasing your footprint in these various sections. The presentation is what makes these statistics effective and easy to understand. To calculate your footprint go to http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/.

In an different sector now, that of food and agriculture, consider these clever moves by Pro Specie Rara, the Swiss organization dedicated to the preservation and propagation of plant and animal species. Sounds high-minded and indeed it is, but you can help with this and enjoy direct benefits for yourself as well, if you live in Switzerland. Just buying the unusual Pro Specie Rara fruits and veggies in the Coop is one way; choose psychedelic purple and white striped beets, beefsteak tomatoes, yellow carrots, blue potatoes, parsnips etc. A friend serves blue potatoes with salmon – beautiful! Or send for their free tomato planting kit at www.stadt-tomaten.ch. If you have a garden, requesting seeds from old varieties, planting them and returning next year’s crop of seeds to the organization’s seed bank is yet another. Have a lot of land? Get help from this organization in raising animals from endangered species. Hobby photographer? Contribute photos of unusual and endangered plants and animals. Enjoy cooking? Contribute recipes to the organization. For info on these activities go to www.prospecierara.ch (German, French and Italian only).

I feel better just writing about these inspiring examples. I hope that reading about them will lighten your day!

Note: for those of you living near Zurich, Pro Specie Rara will present a market with 15 stands at the Viadukt in the city this Saturday, September 14, from 10.00 to 17.00. You can sample various tomato varieties and purchase garden produce, preserves, fresh-pressed cider etc.