You Control Climate Change
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 05.31.06
Telling consumers to "Turn down. Switch off. Recycle. Walk.”, the European Union recently launched a campaign to get citizens to make small changes in their daily routines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pull in the reigns on global warming. Headed by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas in Brussels, the campaign aims to empower the European citizenry and "complements and reinforces our political and legislative efforts. It makes clear to which extent we all are responsible for climate change and what individuals can and need to do to limit this threat," according to President Barroso. Among other things, it explains climate change and its effects and gives some 50 tips how to reduce emissions, ranging from turning down the heating by 1ºC (up to 10% of the energy used for heating saved) to avoiding the stand-by mode of TV sets, stereos and computers (10% of the energy they use saved) and printing double-sided (up to 50% of paper saved). A carbon calculator calculates the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) saved by each action, and visitors can also download a power-saving screen saver for their computers. While the website will be available permanently, the campaign will be carried out in three concentrated waves:in June, September and November 2006. ::You Control Climate Change via ::Green Car Congress
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In this initiative, as with other efforts to raise awareness and foster behavior changes, there is no good way of measuring the impact being made by the campaign. How many people walked to work as a result of the ads? How many degrees total were thermostats turned down?
I have always cast a critical, if not skeptical, eye on general outreach actions. The measurement of change is nearly impossible in most situations - and therefore it is really hard to determine if we are spending time and money most effectively.
There's one tragic flaw in giving people a "power-saving screen saver" - your computer's monitor draws more power than all of the rest of your computer's components combined. It would be better to turn off the monitor than to run a "power-saving screen saver."
I like the message though - you can't get much clearer.
Mr Barroso should practice what he preaches though.
I used to turn my monitor off in my office every time I left the room--until the button broke. Management told me to leave it be, so now it's on all the time.