Innovation and cooperation go hand in hand
Leonora Oppenheim, who travelled from London for the launch of One Tonne Life, writes for renowned pro-environmental blog TreeHugger. With millions of readers primarily in North America, it is the world’s largest forum for green news, environment-smart solutions and product information. Its aim is to make the eco-aware lifestyle more mainstream.
What does One Tonne Life mean to you?
“The main impression I get is that it is a training project. Everyone involved has as much to learn as the others. It’s about more than teaching the family new things – it’s a joint adventure. All the brands can learn a lot – from each other and from the test family. The project will generate plenty of information on how their products are used, and that is invaluable. One might see it as a research and development project for the companies involved.”
Do you feel the project has a clear message?
“Perhaps the most important message is that innovation and cooperation go hand in hand. None of this would be possible without cooperation. It’s a very positive message the large international brands participating in One Tonne Life are putting out – that they understand they must cooperate since the climate issue is such an enormous challenge. We must begin with this type of joint experiment. We’ve been writing about the climate issue for so many years and concepts and prototypes have been produced but nobody has previously had the opportunity to carry out practical tests in this way.”
Are you aware of anything similar elsewhere in the world?
“Nothing that is so large-scale and that harnesses such spearhead technology. I’ve seen reality-TV shows in which a family has been chosen to live off-grid on a voluntary basis and where this is already their lifestyle. A film team visits them and documents their lives. But I’ve never seen it done in such a mainstream way as in the case of One Tonne Life.”
What impact do you believe the project may have on the world?
“I’m really glad I came here. One might argue that it’s ridiculous to fly in a journalist from London to document a CO2-lean project. And in a sense it’s difficult to justify. But it has made such a difference to actually come here and talk to all concerned and sense the energy and the genuine feeling that the project is generating. Blogs like TreeHugger have a very broad audience and information about the project will be quickly spread throughout the world. Other major eco-blogs such as Inhabitat will doubtless write about the project too.”
Have you met the Lindell family?
“Yes, they’re really cute! They are truly enthusiastic, particularly Hannah. She’s the driving force, a very alert girl. She made a lot of insightful comments during our conversation.”
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