A Walk to Remember!!

If you have been anywhere near a social media platform, you would know a number of concepts that are becoming buzzwords of this generation’s bureaucracy and the business world. “Sustainable development”, “organic” and other concepts falling in similar brackets are gaining more and more public attention. While this could be passed off as another version of redundant corporate packaging, there is very good reason behind this conversation, and we could have used this some 50 years earlier. But better late than never, the drawbacks of our industrial world and their ill effects on the environment are now being efficiently quantified. One such quantitative measure is what scientists have dubbed “carbon footprint”. 

Carbon footprint is a measure of carbon emissions related to human activities, whether it is related to a business or something as mundane as the carbon emissions that are used to transport your food from its point of origin to your plate. Typically, the carbon footprint also includes a measure of other greenhouse gas emissions. The United States, with only 4 percent of the world's population, supplies 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. The average American produces about 20 tons of carbon dioxide each year. 

Among the various aspects resulting in monstrous carbon footprint numbers, the one that always tops the charts is vehicle population. Cars and trucks emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, contributing drastically to global warming. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise. Too much oil, such as petrol and diesel, would cause an increase of 0.6 degrees Celsius, or 1 degree F, to global warming from pre-industrial times, and this will continue to rise in the coming decades.

Well, lucky are the residents of a small Finnish town as they now know how they can contribute towards a better life. The town of Lahti, Finland has developed an app called ‘CitiCap’ that tracks carbon emissions for local residents depending on whether they are walking, cycling, driving or holding public transport. The town is helping the green-minded citizens by giving them a platform which does not only allow them to analyse their weekly carbon footprint but also honour good behaviour with a variety of rewards: including free public transportation tickets, swimming, and even cake. The residents who don’t show much concern about the environment will also get influenced by the green minded fellow residents and the incentive. The users of the app who do not exceed their budget are rewarded with euros that can be used to buy public transport tickets, access to swimming pools, new bicycle lights and coffee and cakes at local restaurants.

Lahti is already considered one of the cleanest cities in Europe. The city won first prize in the European Green Capital 2021 competition for air quality, waste, green growth and eco-innovation.

Lahti aims to maintain neutrality in carbon by 2025. Reducing people's dependence on traffic is a major part of the city's plan to reduce its impact on the environment. Currently, 44% of trips taken to Lahti are considered sustainable. The city hopes to increase this figure to 50% by 2030. It is heartening to see such stories emerge from these parts of the world. It is also a great achievement on the part of the people of Lahti that despite being a rather small town in a large world full of emission problems, they aimed at shattering the glass ceiling of human conviction.  The big and the powerful better be taking notes, the future of the world is in the hands of these driven citizens!