Operation: Day's worth of work

Every year, Norwegian high school students take a day off school to "sacrifice" a day's work to a given charity. The event is known as "Operasjon dagsverk" - Operation: A day's worth of work. The charities usually has to do with education, and with focus on a speific area.

This year, the theme is global warming and the location Central America. And this is where it gets interesting. The idea is that through education, youth can take a stand against the ever increasing life standards and its environmental impact. So far so good.

The problem, as I see it, is the recurring one: We implement a "modernized" school system which promotes higher living standards, higher consumption and thus also higher environmental impacts. This is demonstrated by the fact that their example of education for a prosperous future is, indeed, as a mechanic of combustible engines. That is not to speak of all the other types of education that can get you a job as a factory worker in a multinational corportation with high environmental impact.

And then I have not even touched the fact that the 8 page A4 information full colour "brochure" is printed on extra heavy paper and covered with chemicals, then distributed to hundreds of thousands of students and teachers across the entire country - instead of just distributing a PDF. Alas, less than 1/3rd of what you end up donating to the cause is spent on wasteful management and other environmentally dangerous activities.

Reklaamid

Täna on 2.9.2007 ja ma loen reklaamid Dellilt. Dell on väga tige firma. Saadavad reklaamid firmale, mis on registreeritud, et ei taha reklaamid. Minu firma ei taha reklaamid, aga Dell saadab ikkagi. Pool aastat tagasi teadasin Dellile, et ma ei taha reklaamid, ja et reklaamid on maha visatud paperid. Kui ma loen reklaamid, siis minu aeg on maha visatud.

The irony

Big business is trying to pick up on "The Green Wave" in all the wrong ways. From today's interesting package, "This year's IT event will focus on environmetal friendliness and [economic viability]" with furter details about how you become more economic by using less paper, don't have to travel round half the country to have a meeting and save on work hours. "It even becomes cost effective."

This is from the invitation to the Ementor Community 2007, October 23rd. In order to participate and "show" how much I care about the environment, I'm asked to fly across the ENTIRE country to meet them in Oslo. This is printed on bleached 350g paper with glossy finish, accompanied by a 52 page A3 catalogue of products that they have started to send me on what seems to be a monthly basis. The catalogue and the invitation came with an additional A4 letter and wrapped in redundant plastic wrapping.

Now, why do I find it so difficult to take these people's "environmental stand" seriously?