Nature & Environment – Green responsibility

Nature & Environment

Summary

Green responsibility is about seeing possibilities and understanding consequences. it is about knowing that we can make a difference and influence the environment each time we make a simple everyday choice. For example, when we shop, when we move about in traffic, when we discard and buy new things, or when we work on our home or garden.

The greatest threat to the environment is when we make wrong choices based on ignorance of the consequences they have on the environment.

These many simple choices are closely linked to the national and global challenges that are part of, for example, international climate negotiations. the way to taking responsibility for the environment is all about understanding how our daily activities are important for both the local and the global environment.

The earlier in our lives we understand the significance of our actions for the environment, the better we will be at adopting good environmental habits. therefore, school children are the target of the greatest efforts. No one teaches parents to take green responsibility better than children and young people.

Outdoor recreation and access to green areas are vital factors for well-being and for understanding how things are interlinked in nature and in the environment. in the company of a nature guide in the countryside, we can experience and learn how plants and animals are influenced by our emissions of Co².

We live in a busy society. People and goods move and are moved about. the transport sector is large and burdensome on the environment and human health, especially for the air in cities. unfortunately, many of us have acquired habits that exacerbate the problem. many of us own big cars which pollute the air with harmful particles and utilise huge amounts of petrol or diesel. at the same time, we use the car for short trips far too often, rather than taking our bikes or public transport.

In Denmark, we have become richer and our increased consumption means we spend many resources. However, we have also become better at saving resources; for example, we have become better at recycling glass and paper. things are progressing best in saving water, the price of which tripled from 1993 to 2003. However, we can save even more. Danish groundwater resources come to one billion cubic metres annually and consumption is 6-700,000 million cubic metres, but the resources and needs do not always match, so it is difficult to cover the needs of the entire country from local groundwater resources. of course, the situation is far worse in the many parts of the world where a total of one billion people are without clean drinking water.

It is important that making the right environmental choices is easy and convenient for consumers. eco-labels indicating that a good or service is less environmentally harmful than most alternatives are one way of achieving this. tourism is a new field where we can take account of the environment, both in Denmark and when we travel to distant tourist destinations. in addition to eco-labels, making it easier to make the right environmental choices can be done by making them more attractive. For example, the market for environmentally friendly products can be promoted if the public sector shows the way through green procurement. in this way, the price of environmentally friendly products will fall. alternatively, the government can put a tax or charge on environmentally harmful products. thus the polluter pays principle (PPP) means that an enterprise must pay for the environmental load associated with production of its good.

In the final analysis, we can show green responsibility through the way we live our lives, the way we shop, and through our daily behaviour and routines. Furthermore, the better we understand the connection between high politics about the environment and our daily actions, the better we will understand the significance of making the right choice and showing the right responsibility.