Comenius 2015

For the Comenius project the research question was: How do you
think citizens can get more sustainable? As a problem solver at
heart, I quickly wanted to find the root of the problem. And seeing as
Comenius is an international project, I thought Id take it to an
international level. I asked my fellow alumni from Camp Rising Sun, (a
summer camp I attended two years ago) my research questions. The
fact that these people experience their own bit of durability in their
country makes for very interesting results. The people in question all
have different countries of residence, from Japan to America, and
from Peru to Bulgaria.

Next to this, I managed to secure an interview with Nick

Goedeking, an energy efficiency legislator who is currently in
India, where he went to a conference with Al Gore to discuss
how to build political pressure for the UN climate change
conference in December in Paris.

Having met Nick twice in the past, in Hungary and in Germany

at CRS reunions, I knew he was the perfect person to
interview for this project. After obtaining his Skype, I started
the interview.
What would you say the greatest issue concerning a
sustainable environment is?
There are various aspects connected to a sustainable
environment, some say a sustainable development is too
expensive. Anyway, the most important aspects of
development are:
food security including water security (everyone needs these
resources to simply survive)
then access to health care and education to allow people to
take control over their lives
electricity plays into these fields as food and water security
can often only be assured once one has the corresponding
infrastructure (which often uses energy) Nick says,
Water and food are also very important politically, people
will reject a government if there isnt enough food. Look at
Amartya Sens theory on famine: people dont starve
because there isnt enough food, but simply because they
dont have access to the food which is available. In other
words, there isnt enough food, but the poorest dont get
any. The Governing class and the military on the other hand,
never starve. Nick States with a face full of confidence.

What are recent some developments that strengthen

sustainability?
Thats a difficult question are the first words that flop out
of Nicks mouth.
I'd say the biggest potential for sustainability are the energy
and agriculture sectors, because it is actually very straight
forward to improve. In fact, every hour the sun projects
enough energy on to the earth to supply earths energy
demand for an entire year that's a lot of energy!
the great thing is: sustainable energy would also drastically
improve the life quality of billions, the city where Im
currently residing New Delhi, for example, is the world's most
polluted city. The air quality is terrible!
But if one starts using more sustainable energy resources,
then the air becomes better which is not only good for the
planet, but also for the people. Better air will reduce

healthcare costs and free resources for investments into

infrastructure or education.
And this is the recent trend: financial investment into
renewable energy resources is at an all time high at the
moment. So as a conclusion, there are a lot of improvements,
but also a lot of challenges.
After this we wished each other the best for the future and as
I was still in the process of thanking him, he already hung up.
I almost forgot, he is a busy man.
(Nick in India->)

Taking all of this into account, it is obvious

that this is a worldly issue, and most
definitely not a local one. We need the
efforts of all the countries in the world to
make a change happen. Countless treaties have been accepted, and
theres still struggle around the world.
In my opinion, we need to capitalize on the efforts already made
now, for example, according to my research, a lot of people recycle,
which is a good thing. Taking that into account we need to use that as
our building blocks, because people are more likely to continue doing
something, or to pick something up if all their peers are doing it.
Change comes gradually, and we need to accept it, but we shouldnt
take it for granted, because if we do, we will lose all our
development. The problem needs to be solved from the bottom to
the top, meaning we have to solve the small issues first, and then the

large issues will be easier to solve. How do we do this? We have

everyone start at a local level, for example, in Emmen, Wildlands, the
new zoo, is in the process of being built. And we all know the new
tunnel dug in Emmen, the clay harvested from the operation is now
used for the construction of Wildlands. Apart from that, Wildlands
has bought the Floriade bridge, normally it would be destroyed, but
Wildlands has decided to re-use it. Thats durability.
So to summarize, we need to start acting fast, we need everyones
coorporation and we will succeed. And the most important medium
is us. And that is what this project is all about.

Now, as for my execution of the project and the way I have drawn
attention to it, I had a farily simple strategy. My first idea was to
make a post in the Facebook group of alumni, but as I checked it, I
saw the community was inactive. (This was confirmed by the fact that
after I made my post, it got three total replies and one like over the
next day). So I resulted to a different approach. The direct one. I saw
who was available and I sent them a message, I explained the context
and asked them my research questions. After getting what I needed, I
asked the person to reflect on their habits of durability. (Reflecting is

a common thing in the CRS mentality.) This is one of the main

reasons I asked my second question. Its good to know what people
are doing well, but better to know what people are doing wrong. To
quote one of my favorite artists: Criticism is worth more than
compliments.
After one interview I got lucky, one of my German friends referred
me to Nick, which you have read about previously, and he really
helped me bring my whole project together. He even wanted to
know my opinions and said he was going to impliment more of the
opinions of younger people!
Because young people are
the future, who am I to ignore
the future? As Nick said.
Overall I am very proud to say
that I have impacted the
habits of my peers, and I hope
they will keep up the durable
lifestyle. Here are some of
those conversations: