Emission Zero is a cross-border project on citizen-driven responses to climate-change in contemporary Europe. As in the past years we have seen the negative consequences of climate-change and the focus on climate-change protests to pressure governments, it is now time to re-address attention to citizens as the agents of change and to understand these citizen-driven responses to climate change. The European Union is at the forefront of climate change action. In the past decade mentality is changing and climate-action is gaining terrain. We would highlight this trend in different European countries.
This project tries to visualize these international movements responding to climate change. It will take us to the UK where the ‘birthstrikers’ refuse to have children in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, in Sweden the term ‘flygskam’ comes up, a movement of people who refuse to fly. In the Netherlands the ‘tiny house movement’ has gained popularity, comfortable tiny houses focusing on sustainability and ecological principles. In addition, in Spain is a new movement trying to create ecological villages in abandoned ghost towns. In Germany we will focus on urban gardening as a booming response to cut the supply chain and reduce emissions.
Emission Zero is a collaborative project carried out with Luke Ambrose, a journalist from the UK. It is awarded a Reporters in the Field Grant by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. I do the research and photography; together we do the analysis and writing. Pre-Covid I was able to visit the Tiny House Movement in the Netherlands (first 5 photos) and BirthStrike in the UK.