My last day in Vancouver, the 5th of April

What I know

 The interest of humanity, and not necessarily only in the long term, is to protect our environment. Everyone is not aware of this despite the various warnings from scientists around the world (IPCC, among others) ;

 The political and financial interests are not always the human and environmental ones. This is not a scoop (on this blog, you can see it from the tar sands case, here and here, and the difficulty of NGOs to act according to the testimony of Petruta Moisi). But sometimes there is only one step to match those interests. Gunter Pauli (as I told you about in the previous article, Belgian entrepreneur, founder of ZERI) and ZERI experiments show it. A company can become more profitable and create jobs using in a better way available raw materials and eliminating waste production. The eco-industrial park in Kalundborg (see my previous article) in Denmark is also a good example of that ;

 In what Gunter Pauli calls the Second Green Revolution (after the food revolution in India), everyone cannot win. Oil industries and other fossil fuels industries have no financial interest in it of course (but their conversion is not impossible). And when the political interests mingle with the financial interests of these industries (see the tar sands case), then it’s heading for disaster ;

 I know, finally, that the Green Revolution will eventually happen and has already begun. It happened late, but there is still time to limit the damage. I know that we are able to find solutions. Let me make a brief digression : at the end of June, during my last interview in Copenhagen of a university professor (Peder Andersen), I was delighted to hear him, on two different subjects (wind power and economies energy in buildings), telling me about solutions (or ideas) which I had already been told in Quebec and Vancouver. Indeed, an entrepreneur in the field of wind turbines in Montreal told me about the complementarity of wind power and hydropower, as hydropower can compensate for the irregularity of wind power. It was his own opinion and he had never applied this idea. But Peder Andersen has taught me that there is already cooperation between the Norwegians and Danes to make more efficient their energy systems : the activity of Norwegian dams is deliberately slowed down when there is sufficient wind in Denmark, which then sells electricity to its neighbor, and buy some to Norway when there is not enough wind, which then uses its dams at full capacity. And the same thing happened about common solutions found in Denmark and Vancouver to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. I am optimistic because I know that thousands of good ideas are just waiting to be accomplished ...

A very nice snowy day, in Helsinki, last december

What I think I know

 It seems to me that the French politicians (but I doubt that this is not the case everywhere else) for a majority of them are not very effective. Or maybe just incompetent. Even if we are not in the American society, we are still well aware of how bad our politicians behave. Maybe it’s not the right thing to do, but I cannot have a lot of esteem and confidence in them. Since the failure of the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009, I am sure that the change won’t come from the political sphere. If they wake up, fine. Otherwise, we’ll manage on our own ;

 In his book, Gunter Pauli quotes someone called Edgar Woolard, former head of Dupont de Nemours, who said : "Governments can legislate, NGOs can agitate, but only entrepreneurs can innovate". I am not a contractor and do not plan to become one, but as a future graduate business school, I’ll at least have to work in the private sector, where innovation is possible. So I think I am in one of the best positions possible, I have all the tools to act on my scale, "as the hummingbird."

Early February, when I crossed Canada for the first time, by bus (from East to West). Here, in Manitoba

What I do not understand

 Why don’t we learn from the past ? As if Chernobyl was not enough, leaders from around the world (in France, but also in China, which revives its nuclear program, the USA of course ...) are about to lead their energy policy as if nothing had happened in Fukushima. That is why I am particularly appreciative of Angela Merkel and other politicians who reappraised their position on nuclear power and learned from the disaster ;

 I do not understand why we don’t learn from what is happening elsewhere and from scientific reports when necessary. It is not only the “climate-skepticism” (as we call it in France, I don’t know how I should call it in English) that I don’t get, but also, for example, opinions favorable to the exploitation of shale gas in France when we are fully aware of environmental damage (especially for water) caused in the USA ;

 Why, when among the four countries I visited (Finland, Canada, Romania and Denmark), three of them have set up a deposit system for bottles (glass or plastic) and cans, this still does not exist in France ? Romania is not there yet, but Romania has a certain backwardness in waste management. In Finland, where I could get information on the subject, the deposit system is something obvious and this has been around for decades (since the 1970s). It was, I am sure also obvious to the French at the time when the milkmen went to recover the glass milk bottles. Is there an objective or historical reason for this huge missing (the most obvious and most damaging for France that I have noticed in a year of travel) ? I would love to know... ;

 I do not understand why the differences between men are still not accepted. Why, in 2011, when the laws are supposed to anticipate the evolution of societies (at least this is what I was taught at school) as was so well made the abolition of death penalty in France, the French Parliament showed they are far behind the times by refusing until recently gay marriage ? I am, as you might guess, happy for the very recent legalization of gay marriage in New York (great images here in the Guardian). This point is a bit far from my original topic, more focused on environmental issues, but it’s an anger that I wanted to express.

When I crossed Canada for the second time, the last night in Ontario (early April)

What I hope

 I hope that the municipal waste management around the world is inspired by the model countries in the field, which, in my experience, I think Finland is a member ;

 I hope that the mayors from around the world are inspired by the Vancouver Greenest City project, developed by the team of Greg Robertson (Mayor of Vancouver). And if a particular element of Vancouver Greenest City should be copied for such projects, I think it should be the public consultation ;

 I hope that political leaders listen more to NGOs (but it mustn’t be some intensive lobbying) ;

 I hope that other students have the opportunity I had to travel and to open their mind ;

 Among my many wishes, there are also peace in the world, the end of dictatorships and the end of discrimination of any kind, but talking about that would be too long, too banal and unrelated to the project that led me to create this blog.

The Danube, gorgious, in Galati in Romania (in June)

I know, finally, that I don’t know everything (contrary to what Mr Lelièvre said, I have not forgotten all of my high school philosophy classes). I took only a year to travel, it’s too short to understand the interests of everybody, to know all the possible solutions to environmental problems. I’m afraid I cannot understand all opinions as mine come from my culture, my social background, my experiences and the articles of TerraEco. However, in the future, I promise not to clam up to those I don’t understand, those who don’t understand, those who don’t want to make an effort for future generations and to those who have never had the chance to read this amazing blog (...). Finally, I promise to take nothing for granted, to constantly ask about myself, to never forget that modesty is not optional and to fight for the ideas I believe in.

Thank you again to all my contacts and to all those who helped me in a way or another during this year. Thank you to my readers (I never have managed to quantify you). Thank you TerraEco for welcoming me. I hope I will be back soon,

See you soon, Be green, Ben

I hope I will be back soon on the road (here, in British Columbia, last February)