WWF Belgium / Biodiversity; Animal Behaviour
The translation of this testimony was generated automatically by a translation program. Thanks for your understanding.
My main area of concern is the dramatic loss of biodiversity that we are facing all over the world and the fact that these effects are reinforced by climate change and vice versa. Knowing that our societies rely on biodiversity, via its role in the functionning of ecosystems, is even more worrying.
Actions that I have implemented are to shape my career in order to be able to work on the issue on a daily basis.
Also, I try to live a more sustainable lifestyle to reduce my ecological footprint:
I am vegetarian; I maximize the use of public transport; I go to a biological store that sells non-packed local seasonal products; I buy labelled items (Msc, Bio, Fsc, ..); buy second-hand clothes/furniture and get the damaged ones repaired; make my own ‘hygienic’ products, reduce heating duration and temperature, have led light bulbs, water saving shower, etc.
Furthermore, I try to live ‘minimalistic’ : not too many objects in my flat, not too many clothes that have the same function, etc.
Lastly, I show the example to my community (without pointing fingers at them) : I think it is my biggest impact as many of them reduced drastically their meat consumption,got into more ‘bio’ food or zero waste
Difficulties I encounter are:
- To get reliable information (there are so many conflicting sources of information) to allow for an analysis of the different existing labels, energy providers or sustainability of banks
- To use public transport in smaller cities, villages
- To use the bicycle in Brussels (the lanes are shared with buses, it is a non-sense to me)
Key changes are happening. The society is getting aware that we must care for our planet (more about the climate than the biodiversity for now, but we are working on it) but we also need politicians to have the courage to bring profound changes in the system we are living in and to make us transit towards another system of values. Ultra-capitalism, thus eternal growth, is a logical non-sense on a finite planet and it is time to change the paradigm.
Originally posted 2019-02-24 22:11:24.