by Edouard Stenger
As Marguerite most kindly proposed me to write an article for her blog, here are a few lines on the French counterpart of the “We” and “Together” campaigns, which were discussed respectively here and here.
The “Défi pour la Terre“, or “Earth Challenge”, was launched in May 2005 by the famous French journalist, TV personality and environmentalist Nicolas Hulot. With his show Ushuaïa, he has been presenting the marvels of the Earth to French people for twenty years and increasingly stated that these wonders are threatened by mankind. The Nicolas Hulot Foundation was created as early as 1990 to enable people to discover nature and protect the environment by exploration, education and communication.
The “Défi pour la Terre” wasn’t the first communication campaign launched by the Foundation, but it has been the most fruitful as already more than 840,000 French people joined it and pledged to decrease their carbon dioxide emissions. Many celebrities also supported the “Defi“. Total actions by members would account for reduction of 420,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases emissions.
During last year’s presidential elections, he asked the twelve candidates to sign a pact stating that once they would be elected, they would act on environmental issues and climate change mitigation. It was a major success as the elected President, Mr. Sarkozy, included elements of this pact into his own plans. Indeed, the “Grenelle de l’Environnement“, the central part of environmental actions in France, included several parts of Hulot‘s plan.
Now, let’s review the “Défi pour la Terre” itself. As most things nowadays, the website is the central part of the Défi. People by logging to the website can access a lot of data on climate change and its mitigation. Visitors can also decide to act and are proposed ten possibilities. They can :
- Sort out their waste and avoid excessive packaging ;
- Prefer environmentally friendly products ;
- Switch off appliances instead of simply turning them off ;
- Choose energy efficient appliances and light bulbs ;
- Take a short shower instead of a bath ;
- Insulate and not over heat their houses and appartments ;
- Install a solar water heater or a wood boiler to heat their place ;
- Use less their cars ;
- Drive in an efficient way and lastly ;
- Choose the train when going on holidays.
As you can see, these actions cover the vast majority, if not the totality, of behaviors and lifestyles that can harm our environment.
Now let me be critical – a bit – and tell you what I think could be improved. After three years of existence, the Défi is getting old and would need a new start as the actions to be taken can’t be exactly accounted for, and are more relying on goodwill than on anything else. Indeed, CO2 cuts can’t actually be accounted for as no follow-up is done. Let’s hope improvements will come. Knowing how Nicolas Hulot has been working hard on raising awareness on the protection of the environment, I am confident such changes will occur…
Edouard has an international blog. If you want to follow what is happening on the environmental scene in Europe, go visit him at Sustainable Development and Much More . . .
A million, a billion, a gazillion thanks Marguerite for proposing me to write for you.
Hope your readers will like it. 🙂
My Dear Edouard,
This is great news (to me) you’re presenting here re: Mr. Hulot’s recent/current efforts.
Unfortunately, sometimes I fail to appreciate emergent ingenuity from elsewhere on our globe if it’s not covered in my country’s (too-often myopic) media. Your clear signal here via La Marguerite enables me to feel more fortunate = gaining another slice of a more global view and that’s immeasurably valuable these days.
I’m pretty sure you may already know about the Swedish physician, Karl-Henrik Robert (whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and whose good work has amazed me):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Henrik_Robèrt
I’m wondering if you can report any news on how well-implemented/well-recieved other work like “The Natural Step” is in France and/or throughout the E.U.?
Also, some great news (even though this was released nearly 2 years ago, I just discovered it yesterday) from one of my fellow-californians = a fun-loving yet confrontingly clear 20 minute presentation “Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Ms. Leonard’s message is TOTALLY consistent with Tom Friedman’s plea for developing economies NOT to follow the wasteful ways of american-consumerism (Marguerite, if you’ve already featured “the story of stuff”, I trust you may appreciate its redundance here).
Also, Edouard, I’m so glad that we don’t have to worry about our global human gratitude-footprint since there’s infinite space for more genuine, heart-felt “thanks” even after you’ve already just expressed/contributed “A million, a billion, a gazillion …”
Kindly keep up the good work, Dude! (around these parts, the word “Dude” is meant to convey fraternal respect and warm regards)
Ciao for now,
paul
Dear Paul : thanks for your comment. I never heard of Dr. Robert but will document myself on his works.
Concerning the story of stuff : I already heard of, but never watched it. it is on my to do list.
Dude… that’s funny, the French version of this word (” Doud “) has been my nickname for years as it is the short version of Edouard (or Edward). I really like this nick, Dude !
Many thanks Paul, or Dude, for your info and cool comment ! I look forward to reading more from you.
Meanwhile, have a great weekend !
Even if, as french, I already know le Défi pour la Terre, this post gives me the opportunity to discover your own blog.
I would like to add that it will be interesting to take a look at Nicolas Hulot position during the campaign for european elections.
“Story of Stuff” was featured on La Marguerite a while back. You can find post by searching Archives.
Edouard, Brendan, keep up the good work with our fellow French citizens . . .