The mission to save the world

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for most people, climate change is a very distant issue, compared to other more everyday concerns like work or children. The problem is that now we don't have much room left. Its effects are a fact. However distant it may seem, climate change is already here," assures the director of ICAEN, Manel Torrent, minutes before the conference The citizen, protagonist of the new energy model begins. And the data confirms it. The more than probable three-meter rise in sea level by the year 2100, for example, would flood a large part of cities like Barcelona or Malaga, and the Doñana and Ebro Delta national parks would disappear. According to Manel, "if we were all more aware of what is coming, we would not hesitate to start living with wind or solar energy and we would park the car forever. Because the debate is no longer whether diesel or gasoline car. The only options now are the electric vehicle, public transport, and the bicycle."

"To say that citizens can do nothing for the planet is a lie. In fact, we are the only ones who can fix it," comments another of the speakers, Alfredo Cano, a member of Som Movilitat. Through a mobile application, this initiative allows sharing electric cars at different points in Catalonia. And this service is just the beginning of "a new era of mobility, in which sooner or later daring initiatives like that of the City Council of the French town of Ungersheim, which replaced the school bus with a horse-drawn carriage, will no longer shock us," adds the project coordinator of the Transition Network movement, Ana Huertas.

In addition to typical small actions like turning on the light only when necessary, Anna Quevedo, a member of "the first popular wind power," Viure de l'aire, says that we can also be energy generators right now. The story of how this cooperative project was formed demonstrates it: 10 years ago, a handful of residents of the town of Pujalt, aware of the risk that 80% of Spain could end up becoming a gigantic desert, set out to build a wind turbine. A year ago, it began producing energy and now supplies the annual consumption of about 2,000 families. For Anna, the best part of the experience has been confirming that, when we all work together, we can achieve almost anything. "Energy must be democratized and, to achieve this, we need each other. Weaving a network of people is what truly gives us power and makes us stronger."

As the minutes pass, the eyes of the attendees light up. We all begin to understand that, in reality, caring for the environment is in our hands. Cote Romero, general director of the non-profit organization Ecooo, gives an example within everyone's reach: "50% of the energy we consume at home is wasted because, in general, the buildings in our country are not built with energy-efficient materials. To reduce this waste, it costs us nothing, for example, to install reflective panels behind our radiators."

It is clear that if we want to preserve the beach that taught us to swim or the mountain where we played in cabins, we have to support all these initiatives (or create new and better ones) instead of continuing to feed an energy model that, as the director of Ecooo points out, features "large companies that cut off supply to their customers without batting an eyelid and a delirious leisure that consists of building golf courses in the south of the country or ski slopes in shopping centers." Fortunately, the desire to revolutionize the established order that has permeated this talk suggests that, step by step, we are closer to that headline that we would all like to hear in the news: "Citizens organize to save the world."

Text: Alba Losada Illustration: Tamara González

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