365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

Each time I turn on the tap to fill my bottle or when I seldom buy bottled water, I feel grateful to live in a place where clean water is readily available. I’m very aware that not everyone can get clean water this easily. And yet, water pollution is in our urbanized world an issue that requires attention constantly. And even when we treat wastewater, it remains slightly contaminated, which hurts not only fish but also us. Want to know why and how? Learn more here: https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/51c934b6-2acc-4beb-9a2f-b12ae9b2d208?utm_source=url-copy&utm_medium=wdht-web-app-share&utm_campaign=erlijng

  Recently, I was interviewed by author and poet Leslie Tate. Leslie has done an excellent job sharing my journey into sustainability: how it started with a personal challenge in 2019, leading to my focus on practical, planet-friendly solutions and influencing policy at an international level. Also, Leslie shows how my background in cybersecurity and my analytical skills allow me to excel in both digital security and environmental sustainability and how I manage to communicate complex scientific ideas in a clear and engaging way through my writing and public speaking, inspiring individuals to take actionable steps toward a healthier planet. Read the wonderful interview here: https://leslietate.com/2024/10/14/a-passion-for-sustainability/

  🖐️ This week a friend pointed out to me an interesting article in a German newspaper, talking about the term ecological handprint. Yes, handprint. 🦶 Usually, we speak about our ecological footprint. Our ecological footprint measures whether we are overusing our planet’s resources. 🌍 Focusing on “overusing” is a negative point of view. That is why I loved to learn the opposite term: our “handprint”. This concept has a positive point of view: whether we are making a positive difference to the environment. 🚮 For example, when I go litter-picking, my handprint increases. Or when I use my solar panel to charge my phone; or when I inspire others to make positive changes too; each time, my handprint increases. ⭐ As both are important for contributing to a healthier planet, I not only reduce my ecological footprint as much as possible, but also make sure that I increase my ecological handprint every day! 🤝 I hope you do this in your daily life too!

Today, I was on the Spanish Talk Radio Europe! I spoke with Giles Brown about my latest book "A Guide to a Healthier Planet 2" and how we can contribute to positive change based on science, related to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity. You can listen to the conversation here (in English): https://d11n7da8rpqbjy.cloudfront.net/erlijn/30717163_172771248385820240930-Talk_Radio_Europe_in_Spain.mp3 You can find the books we are talking about here: https://www.sustainabledecisions.eu/guide-to-a-healthier-planet

 🍲 I'm sure we have many things in common, including that we both want to have enough to eat to survive. Sound simple right? 🌿Well, with the growing global population, this is getting a lot harder. Luckily, many clever people have come up with solutions to improve food production, for example by reducing waste, increasing yields, growing other products, just to name a few. ⚡ But this solution tops it all in my opinion: 🧬learn more about the #CRISPR/Cas9 that allows deactivating genes that reduce plant resistance or triggering genes that improve resistance: https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/3e866e52-d025-46a0-b318-96b548c60d8a?utm_source=url-copy&utm_medium=wdht-web-app-share&utm_campaign=erlijng

 🎉 Exciting News! I'm thrilled to announce my latest book: Volume 2 of "A Guide to a Healthier Planet: Scientific Insights and Actionable Steps to Resolve Climate, Pollution, and Biodiversity Issues"! 📗 And as I'm very grateful that Dmitry Mariyasin, Deputy Executive Secretary at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe wrote the foreword, I'm super happy that I was able to give him the book in person last week (see picture)! 📚 https://www.erlijn.nl/link/prod.php?l=agtahp2 🌱 This book is all about bridging the gap between scientific insights on pressing environmental issues and empowering everyday people to take action. It delivers fascinating facts about #nature and #sustainability, inspiring to make a positive impact on our planet. 📖 All chapters cover new topics compared to Volume 1, bringing together further open-access research articles rarely discussed in popular discourse. It delves into crucial concepts, unveils far-reaching consequences, and

 It was great yesterday to speak again at the United Nations during the Sustainable Energy Week! And fun! This time, I explained why Germany has been very slow compared to other European countries with implementing smart meter technology. #SmartMeters are critical for today's #energyGrid in allowing households to supply electricity as well. Apart from technical, organizational, economic, and regulatory barriers, behavioral barriers played an important role as well. These behavioral barriers include:  - lack of motivation: individuals may have had a lack of intrinsic motivation, may have experienced high costs of change, and may not have felt that this technology would benefit them - lack of perceived ability: individuals may have had a fear of failure when adopting the technology or have had limiting beliefs about their (in)ability to use this technology - limited #environmentalism: individuals may not have had clear positively formulated goals about how they want to contribute to

Do you think that Germany is one of the European countries that have adopted smart meters fastest or slowest? I'm looking forward to sharing with you the answer during my presentation at the Sustainable Energy Week, organized by the UNECE.  I will also explain what impacted the adoption of this critical technology in the energy transition and what lessons we can learn from it. Learn more about the event and register here: https://unece.org/sustainable-energy/events/unece-sustainable-energy-week-2024

With a PhD in Psychology and many years of experience in personal development, I have experienced that overcoming behavioral barriers are key to a sustainable future.  That is why I'm excited to share that I have contributed this knowledge as main author to the recently published case study "Behavioural barriers in adoption of smart meters" by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Digitalization in Energy Task Force. In this case study, we explain how smart meter technology was adopted in Germany. This technology is a key element in the energy transition to using renewable energy as opposed to fossil fuel based energy.   We also explain lessons learned based on this adoption and policy recommendations, so that other geographies can adopt this technology easily and effectively as well. You can find the paper and more details here: https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/behavioural.barriers_case.study_.2024_0.pdf