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Pitch

We are responsible of CO2 emissions and we can lower them by the direct force of our own consciousness, good practices and habits


Description

Summary

When people experience consciousness about their behavior, the impact of the good practices and habits they might have, expand exponentially. When people see themselves as producers of CO2 emissions coming from their metabolic activities and are aware that through simple good practices and habits, those emissions could diminish, there is going to be a real lowering of them. As such, these direct changes in CO2 emissions are not large enough to have a significant impact on climate change mitigation. However, when one considers the complex and intricate sets of connections between human behavior and human consumption and the economy, there are going to be much larger consequences and impacts clearly related to climate change. We believe that many social mechanisms are going to be triggered if people develop good and conscious practices in the following major aspects: listening; feeling; good communications; writing and reading,  gentle exercise; appreciation and recognition of people, self and nature; slow and conscious eating; meditation; chanting; conversation, friendship and sharing. All these habits will help regulate metabolic oxygen use, decrease human body CO2 emissions, diminish food use and help avoiding waste. If these changes occur synchronized with conscious behavior and high quality attention, the effect is going to be permanent and is going to be associated with states of happiness, personal and group pride and satisfaction.


Category of the Action

Integrated action plan for the world as a whole


What actions do you propose?

We are proposing a new and simple educational and behavioral approach, based on open access and low cost packages to stimulate good habits and practices and generate a global effect. Now, most of these habits have been known for ages to be positive and desirable. However, we believe that they have not been considered from the three points of view we propose: as related to global warming; as stimulated by consciousness and as having wide and ample impacts on the global scale.

The educational package we are proposing is a complete new approach to improving human behavior, as it is based on consciousness and gentle attention. It is focused on a set simple habit that all people can understand and follow. It is free from ideology, moral, legal, mandatory considerations. People will feel that are part of a direct and effective means to contribute to global warming prevention. This proposal does not imply huge investments or expenditures or hard technology and goes directly to the source of the problem: unconscious human behavior. It will made ample use of the new virtual environment through innovative and attractive educational packages, simple to apply and follow. The clue of the project will be in the clever design of the packages and in the innovative ways that we will propose for their distribution, subjected to feedback and networking.

We propose to design an educational package for use in formal and informal education, virtual means, media, workshops, institutional and company training. The package will explain the principles and the ways of developing and practicing simple good human habits, conducting to diminish metabolic CO2 emissions and food and oxygen consumption in a conscious way.

The package will create awareness on the positive impacts and implications of these habits on the social, economic and global scales, in relationship to climate change, CO2 and CH4 emissions, energy use and waste generation. This package will be available to users both as an open access package and as a low cost educational package for institutions, companies, and groups. We will propose the establishing of an organization (named GENTLE AND CONSCIOUS HUMAN BEINGS) that will be in charge of generating the packages and supplying them to users. This organization could assign low cost/ open access franchises and licenses to other organizations and groups that want to promote these principles and methods all over the world.

We will propose the establishing of a web page supported by a network of users, administrators, supporters and researchers. The page will eventually highlight information and research coming from the application of the packages to stimulate public interest and access.

We propose the eventual establishment of funds supported by interested parties. These funds could be generated and allocated, to do research in institutions, to demonstrate and fundament the relationships between the proposed good habits and metabolic CO2 emissions and oxygen consumption.

As part of the proposal, as model will be developed by the proponents of this project to describe the potentials benefits for the global warming problem at the economic, social and global scale, resulting from the practice of the proposed good habits. This model can be continuously perfected by the workings of the organization in charge, once the project goes in its way. We will outline ways in which the proposed organization will derive its future sustaining trough projects, income from selling packages and donations.

Work has been done on the application of information, using electronic feedback by means of smart meters, generating consumption indicators (see ref.1). Our idea is to apply a similar concept to personal emissions associated to conscious habits and generate awareness, which will extend to greater areas of influence.   

In ref. 5, it is proposed that by the use of monitoring it will be possible to provide real data, that can be feed back to the user, creating opportunities for savings and actions. We propose also to feed back data on the benefic aspects of good habits.

Ref. 2 states that familiar ways of life and associated consumption patterns are unsustainable. But trying to persuade people through behavioral programs will not address some significant problems concerning how people think they need to live and consume. Our idea is not based on programs to motivate or convince people to change habits; rather it is based on establishing feedback and demonstrating facts.

We believe most proposals on awareness and change related to global warming (see ref 3) are associated to people opting for moral choices, once they understand their responsibilities. While this is important, our approach is different, complementary: personal habits, as such, have a much deeper influence benefic impacts on happiness, wellbeing and life. People could see this, feel the opportunities and visualize the choices as natural paths to better results, and not as moral imperatives.  


Where will these actions be taken?

The initial stages of this project will developed based on the efforts of a small group of engineers that work at INDISA, an engineering company at Medellín, Colombia.

After this initial stages, the perfected idea will be launched at higher decisional  levels, first local and national Medellín and Antioquia province, then Colombia, then regional (Latin America), then international, depending on the success of the models and the feedback received.

This is the type of idea that depends on consciousness, which is a very strong force, when awakened. The use of social media, the web and other educational means, will facilitate the spreading of good habits to all levels, once people recognize that they are quite related to global climate  

It is vital to link our effort to similar initiatives in the world and publicize, communicate across cultures, and encourage adoption. We are basing our work in Latin America, but our idea is to scale up from our proposed platform and become global. For this we plan a complete set of exchanges with persons and institutions.

Of course, it is necessary to make extended use of the possibilities associated with Internet as a social place, which individuals visit daily. As explained in ref. 4, social networking has an important role to play in supporting education and personal change. Two principles are indicated: the presence of information and the application of social networking to sites that focus on the environment. and to provide information that would be optimally motivating. It is mentioned that an approach that leverages frequently visited social network sites that include millions of people, could have a powerful impact on individual performance. Frequent viewing will increase the likelihood that users encounter regular reminders and suggestions for change. By leveraging popular websites, frequent reminders and motivators are generated and also feedback about users’ performance. 


Who will take these actions?

The research and development is still at an early stage. The idea has been proposed and discussed in a group of the company INDISA, in whose AREA OF INNOVATION the proponents work. It has to with several of the proposals already presented in climatecolab environment. 

It has been subjected to several debates, examining how we can make use of the resources of INDISA, a project engineering company, to propose and develop this project. We have agreed on the following basic activities. Developing of a pre-business proposal. This will be based on an exploration of the state of the art and of the principles behind the project. This will play a clear part of the design and the experience, a creative definition of objectives. This will happen In meetings with the CEO of the company and interested partners and through creative inter-disciplinary meetings (engineering group and others) to develop the design of the educational package. This will include meeting local experts in education and ideas exchange. Approbation of the business idea by the company management. Elaboration of a first model for predicting the global and social gains after good habits. Adaptation of the results for use in the planning and design stages for the education package and the web page design. Educational package first design. Testing and feedback of initial design (implementation, analysis, results). Educational package evaluation design for prototype work. Prototype launching and testing. Educational package working design for real work testing. Design of plans for further work and its resource management.

After this initial stages, the perfected idea will be launched at higher decisional  levels, first local and national (Medellín and Antioquia province, then Colombia, then regional (Latin America), then international, depending on the success of the models and the feedback received. This will be the work of an additional team of persons.    


What are key benefits?

Conscious eating will mean 20 % lowering of food consumption and  associate solid, energy and agriculture waste. Gentle exercise will create better health, less use of medicine and easing of existing sanitary shortages; improvements of 10 to 30 % will occur. Listening facilitates social encounters, learning, focused attention and group work, which will generate creativity and projects oriented towards the environment. Writing and reading will create self-esteem, self-reference, leadership, compromise, projects and establishing personal and group goals. Appreciation will stimulate respect and care towards the environment. Meditation is positive in all aspects of group and personal human behavior and has large impacts, even when practiced by a minority of the population. Conversation and sharing open possibilities to develop projects, to create high quality attention and establish means to handle catastrophes, which in general have negative and unpredictable impacts on the environment.


What are the proposal’s costs?

Our estimated budget to develop a detailed (pre)business proposal is 20.000 US $, which has to do with hours spent by the people preparing this proposal. Our company will provide up to 10.000 US $ to help finance this this proposal.  For the following steps, we will try to obtain sources of support, from local and international entities that promote the development of innovative projects, environmental and climate change projects. Some of them will be Ruta n, EPM and ISAGEN from Medellín, Colombia. INDISA S.A., our company will keep supporting partially the project, as part of its social responsibility goals.

We estimate a cost for developing the project up to the stage of the perfection at the local and national level of US $ 140.000. About 10 % of this money will be provided by INDISA. The rests has to be obtained by donors or supporters. No costs estimates have been yet made for the extension of the proposal at the international level  


Time line

The designing steps of the proposal will take six months to one year

The perfecting stage up to the national level will take between one and two years

The extension of the proposal to the international level will take 5 to 15 years 

It is vital to link our effort to similar initiatives in the world and publicize, communicate across cultures, and encourage adoption. Scaling up from our proposed platform is a must. For this we plan a complete set of exchanges with persons and institutions and, of course, it is necessary to make extended use of the possibilities associated with Internet as a social place, which individuals visit daily. As explained in ref. 4, social networking has an important role to play in supporting education and personal change. Two principles are indicated: the presence of information and the application of social networking to sites that focus on the environment. This would make it possible to reach broad segments of the population. 


Sub-proposals

Proposal for  Global plan by  dewoldt

Using Natural Systems Principles to Transition toward a Sustainable Future

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1306823

Project: USES+ The Universal Sustainability Education System as transformation platform

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1309808

Settle the carbon debt and release the power of example!

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1308202

Climate change without frontiers:

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1307303

SOCIETY FOR CLIMATE ACTION

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1307205

Inspiring mainstream commitment to solve climate change

https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300701/planId/1307137

 


How do these sub-proposals fit together?

They deal with values. Using Natural Systems Principles to Transition toward a Sustainable Future says To be effective, global actions must emerge from globally shared values—such as creativity and compassion—that support our highest aspirations as humans. 

They propose the use of education, the media and individual action: Project: USES+ The Universal Sustainability Education System as transformation platform says: If the people on this planet really want to change the system we can! It is like a puzzle - while looking at each piece alone is difficult to see the whole. But finding the right pieces, the solution gets much closer. A key puzzle piece is: The new media have the power to reach people directly 

They unleash the power of example 

Settle the carbon debt and release the power of example! says:

One of the reasons for the stalemate in the climate negotiations is a “wait and see what the others do attitude.” The viewpoint, that individual persons or countries can't make anything alone, is fatal. If anything can be learnt from history, that is the power of example.

They create consciousness 

Climate change without frontiers says: “The idea is to create an interactive platform, where people all over the world can upload their perception of climate change and/or how they achieved to keep ongoing their life and so share their knowledge with others.”

They mobilize commitment and support for climate actions

SOCIETY FOR CLIMATE ACTION says:regions and communities are brimming with potential. Many efforts are currently underway to mobilize residents, reconnect communities, identify climate change mitigating solutions around the world.

They propose the need to shift current beliefs and habits

Inspiring mainstream commitment to solve climate change says: society as operates as a mutually reinforcing system that exacerbates global warming. Economics, trade agreements, advertising, consumerism and poor industrial design must shift if we are to solve global warming.


Explanation of model inputs

People are producers of global warming gases by virtue of their own metabolism

As such, they are small sources

But most people are not aware of this

They are not aware of the fact that they can diminish their own personal metabolic emissions by practicing simple good habits

If they had awareness about this, they could contribute themselves in this sense

Now, good practices have unexpected impacts. There is a complex and positive feedback that connects them to thousands of loops and impacts related to social habits, cultural behavior, energy use, less food waste, less waste. All this are good for the environment and for helping prevent climate change

To stimulate these loops, is important that people become aware of their own capability to generate less global warming CO2 in their own metabolism, by seeing and witnessing data and impacts.   

This can be researched, modeled and simulated   


References

1-    G Wood, M Newborough.  Dynamic energy-consumption indicators for domestic appliances: environment, behaviour and design. In Energy and Buildings, 2003

2-    E Shove. Beyond the ABC: climate change policy and theories of social change. In Environment and planning. A, 2010

3-    L Whitmarsh, I Lorenzoni, S O'Neill, editors. Engaging the public with climate change: Behaviour change and communication - 2012

4-    J Mankoff, D Matthews, SR Fussell. Leveraging social networks to motivate individuals to reduce their ecological footprints. HICSS 2007

5-    Jon Froehlich. Promoting Energy Efficient Behaviors in the Home through Feedback: The Role of Human-Computer Interaction. DUB Institute,2009 

6 -Measuring Metabolism Using O2 and CO2, in http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/kprestwi/physiology/labs/Metab_MinVol_Lab/Resting_Metabolism.pdf

7 -Metabolic Carbon Dioxide, in http://www.veetech.org.uk/Metabolic%20Carbon%20Dioxide/metabolic_carbon_dioxide.htm

8 -Martin Liddament:  A Prototype Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Indoor Air Quality Monitor with Digital Display and SD Card Data Logger for under £55, in http://www.veetech.org.uk/Prototype_CO2_Monitor.htm

9- Kao CC1, Guntupalli KK, Bandi V, Jahoor F., Whole-body CO2 production as an index of the metabolic response to sepsis, Shock. 2009 Jul;32(1):23-8.

10 -Yuansheng Yang and R. Robert Balcarcel, Determination of carbon dioxide production rates for mammalian cells in 24-well plates, BioTechniques 36:286-295 (February 2004)

11- Healthy breathing: Explore the sensation of breathing for health and vitality. Doesn’t breathing take care of itself ?, in http://www.healthybreathing.com.au/faq/

12- Metabolism and Health, in http://www.1vigor.com/physiology/physiology.html

13- Sarah Novotny and Len Kravitz, Ph.D., The Science of Breathing, in http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/Breathing.html

14 -ARIEL SCHWARTZ, STUDY: You emit two tons of co2 each year from eating. In http://www.fastcompany.com/1699727/study-you-emit-two-tons-co2-each-year-eating

15- Rifka C Schulman MD and Jeffrey I Mechanick MD, Metabolic and Nutrition Support in the Chronic Critical Illness Syndrome, RESPIRATORY CARE • JUNE 2012 VOL 57 NO 6 

16- Hoffman Center Staff, Maximizing your metabolism, in http://drhoffman.com/wp-content/plugins/post2pdf-converter/post2pdf-converter-pdf-maker.php?id=2559

17- Hamid R Farshchi, Moira A Taylor, and Ian A Macdonald, Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women, Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:16 –24. Printed in USA. © 2005 American Society for Clinical Nutrition, in http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/1/16.full.pdf

18- Dr. Jooyoung Julia Shin, M.D., The Physiology of Meditation, in http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_shin_0400.htm

19- Kesterson J, Clinch NF., Metabolic rate, respiratory exchange ratio, and apneas during meditation, Am J Physiol. 1989 Mar;256(3 Pt 2):R632-8., in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2493750