August 14, 2012

GENEVA – Joakim Book Jonnson, a salesman for a security company and a member of the Church of Sweden, transformed his urban commuter life when he decided to leave, at least temporarily, no ecological footprint.

Simply put, he gave up emissions for Lent. He managed to live for 46 days with 80-90 percent reduced emissions.

At times, he admitted, his own project–called "40 Days–No Emissions"–made him furious.

"For the love of God, I wanted to give up! I spent hours, days, weeks, being furious for all sorts of things: plastic wrappings around vegetables, people driving cars, my roommate leaving the lights on."

Sometimes Book Jonnson asked himself why he was even trying.

He found his answer in the people around him–his friends, family and even perfect strangers–who offered a surprising number of emissions-reducing solutions.

"To my great surprise, friends, strangers, teachers, parents and family all told me tip after tip of what to eat, how to wash, how to live. There seemed not to be enough problems to deal with all the solutions, proving once again that we already know what to do," he said.

Inspired by Y4EJ Book Jonnson said that he never would have launched his project without the support of his peers at Youth for Eco-Justice (Y4EJ), a 2011 event planned jointly by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

"If it wasn't for the inspiration, meeting all those bright people who knew so much more about climate change, about sustainability, about biodiversity than I did, I would never, ever dream of starting anything like ‘40 Days,'" he said.

Since then, Book Jonnson has, in turn, spread the word of his emissions-reducing solutions to as many people as possible, both in person and through a blog he kept that recounted his experience.

"I've had the opportunity [to speak] to so many people about these ideas," he said. "I even visited an international conference within the Youth Chapters of Church of Sweden. A couple of times every week, new people called me, sent me a message, or commented on the blog, telling me what a good inspiration I became for them, how weird the world works and how easily it could be changed."

Ultimately his project changed the way he thinks about reduced emissions.

"After a while, I realized that the most difficult part was accepting that I'm only responsible for my own emissions. I can't go around blaming everyone else for theirs," he said. "I have to reduce mine, and be happy with it. After all, I started the project in order to be a role model for how a sustainable life could look like. Blaming everyone else certainly isn't part of it."

Read Joakim Book Jonnson's emissions-reducing tips: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=743&L=213&F=T.

More on the Youth of Eco-Justice training and LWF Youth eco-justice activities: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=743&L=125&F=T.

and http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=743&L=124&F=T.

More on the WCC and eco-justice: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=743&L=214&F=T.

Lutheran World Information
A contribution by Susan Kim for Lutheran World Information and WCC News.