Oh, that’s good. What can the automotive industry do in your meaning to promote a circular economy?
I mean, I think if cars were able to be repaired easier, if cars were able to have extended life cycles, if cars were created from more sustainable materials. But I really think more just smaller. And if they were or if cars were forced to be smaller, if cars were smaller, if cars were able to be shared more often, if cars were less intensive and used fewer materials, period, that would be more sustainable. But really, I think right to repair lives would make a bigger difference if cars could be extended out longer.
Um, do you have concerns about privacy and personal data stored by car electronics for shared cars, for example?
I mean, I always have concerns about privacy. I think with cars in particular, not any more than any other electronic device. I mean, I. I do worry about the data in all things, but I think with car shares I’m less worried about them using my data inappropriately even than if I owned a car.
What about electronics in general?
Yeah, I mean, in general, I’m very concerned about surveillance and I don’t trust anything that uses electronics as a way to subsidize the cost of making the device.
Yeah. Does recycling and reusing mean different things to you?
Yeah. I mean, reusing is better than recycling. Making turning one piece into something else is always more energy intensive than just using it again. So for me, anything that promotes reusing, so being able to extend the life of an object is better than being able to recycle that into something else.
On a scale of 1 to 5, one means not at all concerned and five extremely concerned. How concerned are you about issues of environmental waste and pollution?
Five is very concerned, yeah. Then five. I mean,
Could you explain?
Sure. I mean, we’re on an unsustainable path. We consume too much. And I do believe that more technology can be a benefit. But I think that there is the perpetual impulse to just develop something new. And when something better comes along, get rid of it rather than continue to make that a part of your life or continue to extend its life cycle. And I think that I’m here. I’m at this festival. I don’t know if this is identifying information. I do believe that technology provides solutions. Technology gives us ways to to become sustainable. But as it is now out in the world, I do not believe we’re on a sustainable path.
What, if any, actions do you take in your life to promote sustainability?
I mean, where where to begin? I, I don’t drive. I take cycles or public transit. I, you know, we eat vegetarian or vegan when we can. We try to avoid any purchasing of new electronics or textiles, other consumer goods, not 100%, but we try and when it’s done, we try and put them back into the world for somebody who can continue to use them. Um, yeah. I mean, we support sustainable development and growth. We’re a part of a gardenneighboursship here in Berlin. So like a community garden project, part of a community center where we host, like flea markets and things for, for secondhand goods. Yeah, I’d say yes. In some ways I could be better. I could be fully vegan, I could spend more or donate more to organizations and and other ways of promoting sustainable life. But I think we do pretty good.
How good how much responsibility does every or each individual have to make lifestyle and consumer choices that help protect the environment?
I mean, I try and hold myself to a high standard of what I do being sustainable or living a sustainable life. But I don’t think that asking individuals to make changes is a sustainable or is a path to a sustainable future. I think that the path to sustainability is to make it the cheapest, easiest and most comfortable option when you’re deciding between a sustainable and a non sustainable choice. If if electric scooters were the easiest, cheapest and most obvious option, if the infrastructure was built for them, if there were paths and if they were subsidized, and if they could get you anywhere you wanted to go, then more people would use them than cars. But instead cars are subsidized and cars should be the luxury. I think having a car should be like having a boat. There are people who need boats for work. There are people who ride boats for sport. There are people who have boats because their families always had them and they love being on the ocean. But nobody looks at you like you are crazy if you don’t have a boat know you don’t need one in your day to day life. And I think that’s how we should think about cars.
Uh, the last question. Do you see the circular economy as a local or national or international issue?
I think it’s an international issue. You can’t have a sustainable lifestyle locally. Like one can have a sustainable lifestyle locally, but the economy cannot be sustainable purely on a local basis. If you’re sourcing all of your food and you say, Oh, it’s sustainable, but we’re getting it shipped from places where it’s using pesticides and they are growing alfalfa in the desert to provide it, that’s not a sustainable future. And our planet doesn’t care about borders. We care about borders. But if we preserve our little slice of Germany and make it beautiful and clean, but everybody else is dealing with desertification. Yeah, that’s not that’s not a sustainable future. We can’t live like that.
Okay. The last question. On what scale can a circular economy be successfully implemented? What do you think?
On what scale can it be? Yeah, I mean, I do believe that it’s possible to create large scale, sustainable economic incentives. I do think that European in a European context, you know, the EU has a lot of power to implement this in a global context. We still have the power to make treaties. You know, we we saved the whales. We we saved the ozone. There are pathways to making sustainable goals agreed upon and implemented by countries around the world. It’s just very difficult.