Towards sustainable lifestyles with bicycles and charcoal from coconuts
How can NGOs, sustainability centres and companies motivate people in North Rhine-Westphalia to adopt a sustainable lifestyle? That was the focus of the Platform for Sustainable Lifestyles in NRW workshop. Experts on environmental communication, product designers and entrepreneurs presented innovative ideas and engaged in a fruitful discussion.
The Ecosign Academy for Design, located in Cologne, Germany, brings together young creative people to explore ways to inspire people to integrate sustainability into their everyday lives. Therefore Ecosign was the perfect host for the Motivating People towards Sustainable Lifestyles workshop on July 31, 2013. This event was the first of nine thematic workshops organized by the CSCP. Sustainability experts were invited from different fields to take part in a joint discussion that offered a platform to share strategies and gain valuable ideas for future projects.
Good practices
At the outset of the workshop Ecosign, NABU and Kölner Tag des guten Lebens representatives shared their experiences using visual elements, people’s desire for discovery and neighbourly relationships to inspire adoption of sustainable lifestyles.On the basis of these good practices and basic behavioural psychology, participants presented and discussed their past and present projects:
| In response to the question of inspiring people to use more sustainable charcoal made from coconut shells rather than tropical timber for their next barbecue, a state-wide barbecue in cooperation with a popular radio station and/or a barbecue with celebrities was posed as a potential option.
Concerning increasing the use of bicycles for daily transportation the group explored the potential of |
uniting bike shops, rental outlets and cycling clubs around the idea of a joint rental system for load bicycles.
Success factors of inspiration
Participants discussed these kind of concrete proposals in addition to more generic goals. Ideas were collected to bring about the desired changes and the necessary conditions for success. Particularely the conditions were of interest to the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, as the funding agency for the platform.
Eight future workshops are planned within the project to focus on urban gardening, target group oriented communication on sustainability towards immigrant communities and many more. More information can be found online:
