Why do you want to create something epic? You say on your website you want to create something “better than reality”.

Von Wong: There are lots of documentary photographers out there, capturing great stories. I think it is important to always have a different approach. Documentaries have a very important but also a very different way to communicate with people and reach a different sort of demographic which is important. To create these epic stories, just happens to be something that I am particularly good at. I try to educate through adventure and I found that the internet likes things that are really flashy and it’s something they have never seen before. It is an effective way to communicate with an audience that is not already interested.

Your picture with a mermaid drowning in plastic bottles was exhibited at the UN Environmental Assembly in Nairobi last year. Do you see yourself as an environmentalist?

They reached out for me and asked if they could use my latest work on plastic pollution. In the end, they used around seven or eight of my pictures, some of the plastic pollution topic and some others about toxic laundry. I wasn’t invited to Nairobi unfortunately, so I did not attend the assembly. But this is what I try to do: I want my images to help people who are struggling to get their message out there. I don’t necessarily consider myself as an environmentalist, there are so many amazing environmentalists doing far more than me. At the end of the day, I am just somebody trying to do positive things with the skills I have.

How do you create an interaction between your art and people, outside of social media?

I am more focused on the online engagement for now. In the future, I would like to get more into creating installations. That is what I am doing right now: Creating installations – and after the work we destroy it. So, in many ways, I am creating temporary art installations and I would love to find a way for them to live on. The problem is that it costs a lot of money, you need a place to store it, exhibit it… Hopefully someday someone is going to say: “Hey, let’s make it something more permanent!”

Sometimes, for example with the mermaid and the plastic pollution, we transform the work into educational posters which you can buy then. And I think, we are going to do the same with the e-waste posters, so that everyone can buy it without making profit. For now, the only way to own one of the pictures is either as a gift or if it is related with charity. Maybe one day, when I become a starving artist, then I might sell them. (laughs)

Who supports you in your complex photoshoots?

Mostly it is all done by volunteers. People I never met before text me that they want to help. Mostly I post something on social media asking if anyone is in town and wants to help and people just show up. For the e-waste project, there were about 50 volunteers.

You have a background in engineering and are now a photographer – when did conservation and social aspects become important for your work?

It was about two or three years ago when I was getting off the back of a large campaign and it felt meaningless to only do advertising. So, I started to search for a purpose and tried different ways – in the beginning I was doing documentary videos and I decided I wasn’t that good at it. So, I decided to do my crazy photography instead. (laughs)

The goal right now is to get cooperation to start supporting global campaigns. And as we are starting to get more conscious, people will start to care more about what a company stands for and not just about the final product. We live in a global economy and as everyone is doing basically the same, it becomes more about what they support, what their values are. I want to get these companies more involved – something like social capitalism. (laughs)

For me, it is a little harder to work with the establishment in the conservation field because they already have their way to do things. That is why I want to concentrate on good corporate behaviour. Instead of always pointing the finger on how companies are doing the bad thing, I want to do the reverse and reward the ones doing good things. I want to bring big brands to spending more money on social impact – it’s not about taking the brands that are already doing a lot in that area but trying to encourage those who don’t have it as a primary focus.

Adidas for example, recently launched that by 2025 they want 100% of their footwear to be made from ocean plastic – these are the kind of initiatives that will carry us into the next century. If more big brands do it, more little brands will follow, too.

Do you think that companies are shifting towards “good” attitudes?

They have to because the world is going to shift. (laughs) Maybe the next 20 years they can go on like now but in the next 50 years, they can’t. Sooner or later, the world has to make this shift. And I want to accelerate this and be on that side of the battle when it comes.

In your last project about e-waste, Dell lent you all the electronic materials you needed – and took it back afterwards to recycle them. How does this recycling look like?

They sort the material and break it down to smaller parts. We were at the facility in McKinney, Texas. There, they took all the metal parts and run it through a metalogical process to separate all different types of materials. After the recycling, less than one percent of the materials goes to the landfill. It was very impressive!

Do you know what is the impact of your pictures outside of social media?

It is hard to tell who we reach. But for this campaign we are giving away a postcard for everyone who donates their electronic waste. We have 1000 postcards to give away but so far, we have no calculations about how many items we collected. I hope to have in the end a huge amount of extra recycling as the result of this campaign.

Do you see a change in awareness caused by your pictures?

There are always positive and negative reactions. Lots of parents and teachers are excited about it because they can show it to their students and it is very interesting for them to engage with it in a different way. But how do measure the efficiency of art? That is really hard.

Any ideas for new projects already?

I always like to tackle different problems with every project. So, I am always coming up with different ideas – there are like 20 different ideas in my mind. (laughs) It is then important to figure out the one that works out and finding the right people to collaborate with, finding the right stories to tell.

e-Waste, sharks, plastic bottles – they don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other. Where and how do you get your inspiration?

With the work I do, I try to connect with different people who care about the same things. Often, they say “Hey, I saw your work, would you like to talk?” and I just say yes to everybody – and sometimes, the project becomes real. One of the projects that we are launching next month was similar: We got access to a huge facility in Cambodia to raise awareness for the environmental costs of fast fashion – just because I talked to this one girl by chance. It is always about finding the people who are passionate about making a difference. We will publish our project about this probably close to Earth Day on April 22nd.

Do you have a message you would like to spread?

Participate in the challenge, recycle your e-waste, get a free card at rethinkandrecycle.com!

Thank you for your time, Benjamin!

Thank you so much!

The post “I want to reward companies with a good impact” appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

But among delegates of almost 200 states and more than 16 000 participants in the Bula zone in total, it´s easy to get lost and to lose track. Clearly, you do recognize some faces. Nobody would confuse Schwarzenegger with Al Gore or Merkel with Macron. However, I wanted to get some more profound impressions and decided to get in touch with the people.

“I am here at COP 23, because I think climate change…”

I asked participants to complete this sentence in order to find out about their motivation or ambition, their specific interest in, personal connection to or simply their understanding of climate change itself. The answers I received in these candid interviews were as diverse as you can imagine them to be, if you, more or less randomly, select individuals for a quick chat at a conference where the whole world comes together.

“… is real!”

First of all, it should be noted that climate change “is real”, it “is happening”. These statements might refer to the unbelievable denial of the obvious ongoing environmental variations by the official position of one particular country. Nevertheless, I spoke to a representative from the very nation who described climate change as “an urgent problem we have to deal with”. That´s why we all came together these days in Bonn, because in fact it “is a problem”, it “is a life or death issue for the planet”, but it also can be understood as “the most important justice question of the 21^st century”.

“… is a threat.”

Furthermore, people see a threat in the continuing climatic changes. Especially the interviewees from the Small Island Developing States like Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Seychelles, expressed that. They attended the COP because of climate change being “the biggest threat to our planet” and “a crucial factor regarding the survival of Small Island Developing States”. On a very personal level, climate change “is threating everyone and everything I love” or “negatively impacts my community and I want decisions that reduce climate change vulnerabilities”. “We are all affected”, but it is these nations who are currently suffering the most from consequences they didn’t cause.

“… is important.”

Actually, climate change is seen as “the most important thing to deal with in our and in future generations”. “Fighting against it´s devastating nature is crucial for mankind”. Therefore, generally all participants at the COP are busy. The time for every statement is limited, decisions will have to be made and even the most protracted negotiations have to come to an end in order to be able to present a satisfying outcome. Considering this, I understand all people who did not want to answer my question.

“… can draw attention.”

An international conference of the magnitude of the UNFCCC COP 23 provides great chances for every participant. You can connect to people from all around the globe and get into touch to important politicians and famous personalities. That’s what makes the COP an excellent platform to draw people’s attention on aspects related to the core topic. For example, on human rights: “climate change and human rights are related to each other and we need to incorporate the rights into the core of the Paris Rule Book”. Other aspects comprise the importance of the “involvement of indigenous people and their traditional knowledge” or the “integration of young people into the decision-making processes”. Ultimately, climate change can be considered to be “paramount of sustainable development”.

“… can be mitigated.”

Some interviewees pointed out solutions and ways to handle the challenges we are facing: “climate change is a critical issue; the impacts must be collaboratively addressed”. “All nations need to take part in order to make a “good life” for all people possible!”. This emphasis on the significance of international cooperation and joint implementations were complemented by personal advice: “climate change can be mitigated with simple ideas, changes of our daily habits and the way we view things”. We need to act now! It’s about you to make a difference.

I thank all my interview partners for their cooperation:

• Mr. Alden Meyer (Director of Strategy and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, USA)
• Ms. Alice Gaustad (Chief Engineer in the Norwegian Environment Agency, Norway)
• Mr. Arana Pyfrom (Technical Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister, Bahamas)
• Ms. Barbara Hendricks (Federal Minister at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany)
• Ms. Brigitte Beyer (Head of Political Staff at the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture, Germany)
• Ms. Clara-Luisa Weichelt (Desk Officer for Adaptation, Policy and Global Challenges at MISEREOR, Germany)
• Ms. Doriane Mollard (UNFCCC COP 23 Volunteer, France)
• Mr. F. Umiich Sengebau (Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism in Palau)
• Ms. Janinka Lutze (Naturefriends International, Germany)
• Ms. Joy S. Juma (Kenya)
• Ms. Mai Tina Ichihara (Climate Change Consultant at the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Seychelles)
• Ms. Mariana Balau Silveira (PUC Minas, Brazil)
• Ms. Mélissa Dumont (University of Lapland)
• Mr. Muawia Hamid Ibrahim Shaddad (University of Khartoum, Sudan)
• Mr. Nawaf Alshatti (Team Leader Maintenance at Kuwait Oil Tanker Company, Kuwait)
• Ms. Patriciah Roy Akullo (Programme Officer for Advocacy at DanAid, Uganda)
• Mr. Roy Harris (Secretary for National Emergency Service, Government of Nauru)
• Ms. Sarah N. Baashan (International Policies Advisor, APA Chair, Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia)
• Ms. Shema Roberts nee Nsabimana (Environment Officer at the Ministry of Environment, Antigua and Barbuda)
• Mr. Tesfaye Gashaw Yeshanew (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ethiopia)
• Ms. Tui Shortland (Director at Pacific Indigenous and Local Knowledge Centre of Distinction, New Zealand)
• Mr. Vegard Tørstad (Researcher at the European University Institute, Norway)
• Mr. William N. Kostka (Director Micronesian Conservation Trust, Federated States of Micronesia)

The post Faces of COP23 appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Title: “Uniting for Climate Education Further, Faster, Together through Partnerships”
Place and time: 11:30 – 13:00 , Meeting Room 6, Bonn Zone

The solutions to climate change are also the paths to a safer, healthier, cleaner and more prosperous future for all, said this morning Patricia Espinoza, UNFCCC Executive Secretary. However, for such a future to become a reality, people in all countries and at all levels of society need to have a better understanding of the issue and get involved. In this context, a better future cannot exist without education. That is why Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, focused on enhancing climate change education, was the first to be agreed upon by countries.

Article 12. Parties shall cooperate in taking measures, as appropriate, to enhance climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information, recognizing the importance of these steps with respect to enhancing actions under this Agreement.

On Education Day at COP23, the COP23 Presidency in partnership with UNFCCC, UNESCO, the UN Alliance on Climate Change, Education, Training and Public Awareness and the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection hosted a high-level event. Here, together environment and education ministers, as well as international organizations, meet to discuss partnerships for education as the key to prepare societies for global change and an integral part of any strategy to combat climate change and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDG 4.  Quality Education” & “SDG 13.  Climate Action

Patricia Espinoza’s speech included some statistics about a recent worldwide citizen survey on climate change. To the question what do you think it is the best instrument to reduce the level of greenhouse gases emissions?, instead of electric cars or reforestation, 77% of people chose education and supported the idea of education in the middle or long term would trigger the implementation of climate solutions. Besides, later on, she claimed that only 40% of Parties have include climate change in their educational curricula, which disrupts the local action and the innovative students and young people to take action.

Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco highlighted as well the undeniable importance of Climate Education for changing people’s perception and behaviour through education is the way to create long-lasting positive impact. Indeed, transforming our societies towards low carbon and resilience means changing values, norms and behaviour, in other words:

<< It’s time to pay attention to ‘education for social change’ strategies and create more examples in the climate change community too. >>
– Shyamal Majumdar, UNESCO

Finally, Dessina Williams from the department of SDGs implementation added that to do it truly effective right partnerships are still required. All speakers strongly concluded that there is a gap between what it is happening, what we already know and what we should do to address the issue.  

The key messages overall were:

• Education as a key driver in the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• It is still required to provide further guidance on how education can be integrated into NDCs.
• Keep working to set up strategic orientations and priority actions for anchoring climate change education and Education for Sustainable Development in national education policies and systems at government level sectors and at sub-national and local levels.
• It is time to recognise good practices linking climate change education and the SDGs.

The post COP23: Education day appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

By: Katharina Funk

We all don’t really know what to expect as we sit on our chairs, placed in a circle, watching Rosemarie Katrin Neumann from Impact Dialog preparing her things: Setting up her notebook, hanging up posters, laying out colourful slips of paper. What will we learn today? What will we do? It is a very different class, as we do not sit behind our tables, as we are supposed to talk to each other, as we are to learn things that are usually not covered in a lecture: We are here to attend Rosmaries’s Impact Training, to learn how to increase the impact of our research, of ourselves.

This means – Rosi, as she introduced herself, explains – not only to improve our communication skills but also to think of new ways of communication.  And, this is for Rosi the most important point, our representation in the social media, our digital footprint.

But first we talk about ways to exchange knowledge. We learn, how important it is to know, what contents we want to communicate and what we want to achieve. For a start this sounds quite trivial to me. But then I begin thinking about my way of communication. I have been trying to give my best, but could it be that this is not the best for others? Maybe I would have been more successful if I thought more about what the others wanted, and how I could show them that my knowledge will benefit them too.

I can use this realization immediately during the next exercise, where we are to write a policy brief. Instead of asking myself what I think is important, I try to assess what kind of knowledge a policymaker would be interested in.

I ask myself what I would want to achieve with this policy report, and what kind of information the policymaker needs to help me to achieve my goals.

Knowing the theory behind communication helps me a lot to figure out what I want and to adapt my communication accordingly.

During lunch I have the possibility to talk with Rosi. She is currently doing her PhD in Newcastle, but she is also writing Articles and running her Impact Dialog business. She is interested in effective communication and her aim is to bring scientists and policy maker together to change the world. “You don’t have to do everything by yourself.” she says, “There are a lot of people out there with awesome skills.”

She wants to empower us to improve our skills, but at the same time she encourages us to work together. As a single person you can only have a certain impact, but if you work together, you can achieve so much more. That is why one plus one is for me eleven, because together you are much more than the sum of individuals.

In the afternoon the workshop is all about our presence in social media. She has done her research and found information about almost all of us on social networks. We talk about our current presence and what we want to achieve. What we could do better and how to do it better. Rosi herself is quite active on Twitter (@RosmarieKatrin), promoting her research and sharing important information. She tells us how various researchers have already contacted her, because they have seen her tweets and were interested in her work. We talk about how we, too, can increase our impact by tweeting about our research and projects we do. In the end we learn about different strategies how to increase our followers and how to get in contact with other scientists.

Sadly, we have only one day with Rosi, so even though I feel I could have learned a lot more from her, she has to leave Bayreuth in the evening. Nevertheless, we have had a very successful training, leaving us thinking about the other side we try to reach. Having learned about the communication with stakeholders, policy makers and other scientists, why social media are important for our research impact and how to improve our digital footprint, Rosi pointed out many new perspectives and gave us incentives on how to improve out impact. But the biggest impact for me was the realization how much we can achieve together and that only together we have to power to change the world.

The post One plus One is Eleven – Together we can change the world appeared first on Global Change Ecology.