We in Baden-Württemberg, along with Bavaria, are the last federal states where the summer holidays are now ending. A lot of bad things happened this summer and that’s why there’s a lot of talk about the climate. Thank God! However, “the climate” is such a big topic that at the end of a discussion, the question often remains: Yes, but what should I do against the climate catastrophe?

My approach: Take responsibility. Right now!

And you don’t have to invent an MP3 player out of wood like hörbert and start a company. It can also be simpler.
For example: This summer, my wife and our two children visited friends in Fuerteventura. Yes, for that you sit four hours on a plane. And yes, we, like most people, are aware that this is not an ecologically sound way of traveling.

The price for the flights was high as usual in the peak season, but still, we did not pay the price of the flight. Only the price to the airline. Whether the airline goes beyond the legally required level for the environment, I, as a customer, cannot always influence. Perhaps there isn’t a wide selection of airlines available for every vacation destination. But I can think about the actual price of the flight, which includes, for example, the ecological footprint, simplified in this case as the CO2 emissions. Yesterday, I paid the rest of the actual flight price by offsetting the CO2 emissions of the flight at Atmosfair.de. [Yes, this is unpaid(!) advertising for Atmosfair]

Be open and call it exemplary or be a hater and call it greenwashing – I don’t care. Because the point is: It is becoming increasingly easier to take responsibility for your own consumption, and there is no reason not to do so. This can also be done without vacation flights – for example, with your car rides to work or, or, or…

The opportunities offered may not always be optimal. But even the car started as a coach and might fly one day. So climb aboard – the climate responsibility coach! 

Rainer Brang, inventor of hörbert