COMENIUS MEETINGGermany

Environmental problem solvingLycée Etienne Oehmichen

France

PROBLEM SOLVING

1. How could we reduce our carbon footprint?

In France, the average carbon footprint is 56 400 m ² / year .In the world the average footprint is 18 000m ² / year

Name Carbon footprint Advice to reduce carbon footprint

Diane Cabartier 51 370 m ² / year •Buy family-size products with less packaging•Use public transport rather than drive •Buy recycled paper

Marine Blanchard 51 360 m ² / year •Use wood heating instead of heating oil•Eat more seasonal products

Amélie Noël-Caru 50 790m ² / year •Use public transport rather than drive

Name Carbon footprint Advice to reduce carbon footprint

Laurent Arnal 49 610 m ² / year • You are already moderate in your consumption. Apart from moving to a smaller house ,it will be difficult to lower your carbon footprint.

Eloi Jeannos 49 550 m ² / year •Eat more seasonal products

Myriam Desmoulins

48 890 m ² / year •Use public transport to go to work•Buying recycled paper

Julian & Samuel Berthe

47 990 m ² / year • You are already moderate in your consumption. Apart from moving to a smaller house ,it will be difficult to lower your carbon footprint.

Jonathan Benoit aka Turtle

47 980 m ² / year •Pay more attention to your consumption of paper.

2. How to get around with less pollution?

1. Use public transport (bus, train, tram, metro)

2. Walk or use a bicycle for short distance

3. Use a different fuel for traveling long distances. For example: LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) which reduced the damage on the ozone

layer.

4. When driving, reduce your speed to save up to 25% of gas.

5. Use carpools to go to work.

6. Maintaining your vehicle regularly reduces pollution.

3. How to become an eco-citizen?

Here are some actions that can be done in daily to become an eco-citizen:

1_ Take a shower instead of a bath.2_ Do not let the tap running when soaping your hand or yourself.3_ Take public transport.4_ Sort your waste.5_ Isolate the windows and walls in your house in order to use less heat in the winter.6_ Favour wood heating. 7_ Use low-consumption bulbs.8_ Buy only what you need and not unnecessary goods. 9_ Use rechargeable batteries.10_ Put a “stop pub/no flyers” sticker on your mailbox to avoid junk mail.11_ Avoid using air-conditioning in the summer.12_ Turn the lights off  when you leave a room.13_ Repair water leaks.14_ Recover rainwater to water your flowers.15_ Install a stop-water flush in the toilet.16_ Do not throw your papers on the floor.

4. How to become an eco-consumer?

An eco-consumer is a consumer who reflects on the social and environmental consequences of his act of purchase. He adopts a responsible attitude.

- Buy an electric car LPG car.- Prefer reusable shopping bags or baskets instead of disposable plastic bags.- Avoid sophisticated packaging- Bring back unused pills and syrup to the pharmacy.- Buy recycled products .- Buy products directly from the farmer.-Eat local seasonal fruits and vegetables.- Favour internet, radio, TV ads to flyers and leaflets.- Favour reusable and recyclable bottles.

5. What can companies do to participate in environmental conservation?

• Encourage the employees to change their transport mode : walking /cycling /using public transport/ car pooling

• Limit photocopies and print on both sides of a paper.

• Use low-consumption energy equipments.

• Switch off the devices (computers / screens / printers…) at the end of the day.

• Reduce chemicals in products.

• Design less polluting and longer-lasting products.

• Reduce packaging and give priority to natural packaging like wrapping paper and cardboard.

•Recycle old devices.

•Develop the use of renewable energy: install solar panel on the firm’s roof, warm the building with the geothermal energy and encourage the employees to use renewable energies.

6.How can our school become more eco-responsible?

Problems observed :

Open windows in winter Lights on during the day

Computers left on standby

Fluorescent food

Solutions

If the school wants to be more eco-responsible, it must first tackle the energy losses (for example by turning off computers) and it must cook organic products.