Nature & Environment – Green responsibility

Nature & Environment

Preface

Connie Hedegaard,
Minister for the environment

In autumn 2005, the ministry of the environment campaign "Green responsibility – making a difference" brought attention to the personal responsibility we all share for diverse nature and a clean environment and to the options available to us for meeting this responsibility in our everyday lives. Fortunately, nine out of ten Danes want to be good stewards of the environment, and many of them are. However, understanding what one can do to help is sometimes difficult and it is not always easy to do the right thing during a hectic workday. But there is no getting around it; we must all be better at meeting our personal responsibility for the environment, if Denmark is to meet its international environmental commitments, such as the climate objectives of the Kyoto Protocol.

"We need much more information about what we can do to take account of the environment." this was the foremost priority for 1,800 citizens when asked what they felt was needed to increase their interest in making environmental considerations part of their everyday life. emphasis was on making it as easy and convenient as possible.

With this focus leaflet, we want to show how you can change the world just a little through care and consideration and simple means.

The politicians make decisions regarding the frameworks and regulations that aim at protecting our environment and nature. as individuals we can make our own choices and act differently within in these frameworks and the effect on the environment and nature will vary accordingly. the politicians therefore have an overall environmental responsibility which we as individuals can choose to share as consumers.

This leaflet sheds light on the opportunities and limitations available to us for taking personal responsibility for the environment and nature, and it illustrates through selected environmental indicators the significance of our actions in relation to more complex environmental problems.

With this leaflet we hope to explain how your personal "green" responsibility is about more than saving money. How, for example:

• do energy savings link to the prevention of climate change;
• does water consumption link to the groundwater cycle;
• do modes of transport link to both health and environmental impacts?

This leaflet also contains text boxes with good and simple advice.