Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development is the 14th Sustainable Development Goal and each day is a nice day to start taking action and raise awareness on the use of Oceans. This week we have challenged you to look around you and capture an idea, solution, person, changing environment that inspires change. You revelead some great inspiration by the pictures you've sent us on our #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge, specially Grant Bulloch - Congratulations you are this week's finalist on the theme #Oceans! Your photo shows a unique perspective and you truly communicate a changing environment in Großglockner glacier (Austria) through the description.

Take a look at the original caption:

This should be a picture of a glacier. Instead these tiny dots are people on the valley floor below the Großglockner glacier, heading up towards the wall of ice. What should have been a ten minute walk down to the glacier from up here is now probably a good 2 hour walk - the glacier has retreated so far up the mountain. A clear symbol of our changing climate.
Photo Credit:  Grant Bulloch.

Climate change? Terrorism? The Global financial crisis? Nuclear warfare? Pandemics? All of these are global. We are confronted with problems that are not just confined to our boundaries, but are global in nature. With advances in technology, we are now being exposed to other cultures through new media resources without even buying a plane ticket. The world has truly become a global village. We are socially, economically and environmentally married to other countries. Locally, we crave for change; globally, we yearn for a revolution. Fuel prices are ridiculous, tomatoes may become extinct, our education system is marred with deficiencies, and our values are putrescent.

As much as we complain about plight, nothing changes until we strap on our boots and walk the walk. Our daunting problems should not stop us from taking action in minute ways. The solution is very simple: Think Global. Act Local.

Photo Credit: Green Campus Initiative.

Our incalculable problems as a nation accelerate our need for piecemeal local initiatives to tackle societal problems. Endurance and patience, as forms of struggle, are greatly ignored. I am fortunate to stay in a rural community and what I have learned over the years is that the change we all want to see in Nigeria begins with us rolling up our sleeves and contributing our time and expertise to effect the desired change. When you ask an average Nigerian to volunteer or to engage positively in their local communities, they simply ask “what is in it for me?”

Photo Credit: Green Campus Initiative.

Yet we blame the government for all our woes, when sometimes all we have to do is just show up. The Greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali once said: “The service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

Therefore, in practicing what we are preaching, the Green Campus Initiative went in search of a Primary School to renovate and commemorate the 2016 World Environmental Day (#WED2016), and when we contacted the Orimolade Community Primary School in Nigeria, we felt a deep connection. Thanks to social media, over 50 citizens volunteered their time to help the Green Campus Initiative bring this dream to life. I still have hope in our youth. Today, we choose life. We left our cell phones and tablets behind, and spent time in our community doing something positive while bringing people together in physical proximity through face-to-face interactions.

Volunteers played football and games with the locals barefoot after planting flowers, painting the classrooms, cutting the grass and drawing a beautiful mural on the walls. This was certainly the kind of experience that one remembers fondly and I am thrilled to have been part of #WED2016.

Photo Credit: Green Campus Initiative.

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is the 7th Sustainable Development Goal. In this sense it is crucial that we take action by exchanging ideas on how to achieve the goals of universal access and improvement of renewable energy efficiency, as well as creative solutions. You have accepted the challenge by sharing your climate stories and creative solutions regarding clean #Energy. Your pictures are truly inspiring, one in particular, from Allan F. Castañeda, this week's finalist of #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge.

Congratulations Allan Castañeda, your photo is detailed in its description of how the windmill farm is helping to mitigate the effects of Climate Change in the Philippines while offering background information on windmill power in Southeast Asia.

Take a look at the original caption:

The Bangui Wind Farm consisting of wind turbines on-shore facing South China Sea and it is located at the municipality of Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. This is the first power generating windmill farm in the Philippines and considered one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. This windmills project by the NorthWind Development Corporation as a practice renewable #energy sources and to help reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming and #climatechange.
Photo Credit: Allan F. Castañeda.

Congratulations Green Projects team, you are the #Photo4Climate Finalist of this week's theme - #forests. You do have a unique caption and a description that offers an understanding of a Climate Solution. 

Here is the original caption: 

#Bialowiezaforest is one of the oldest #forests in #Poland. It is home for thousands of species. Now it is at risk of being cut down due to the decision of the Polish Minister of the #Environment who sees this as a cure for a probable #climatechange caused invasion of a spurce bark beetle. The only hope to stop this massive fall is in @europeancommission and environmental organisations like @greenpeace_pl. This #forest will fight the beetle without axes and chain saws.
Photo Credit: Green Projects.

B Corporations ClimateCare and Carbon Analytics have pooled their expertise to develop a new Carbon Calculator.

The online calculator is powered by measurement experts Carbon Analytics and provides users with a tool to calculate their carbon emissions. Users can then immediately offset these carbon emissions through ClimateCare’s award winning portfolio of climate and sustainable development projects. 

The calculator helps you measure the impact of specific activities like travel, attending an event or energy use.  For example, the image below shows a calculation of the carbon impact of a return economy flight from London Heathrow to New York – a distance of over 6800 miles. It shows that each passenger is responsible for 1.54 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and gives the opportunity to offset this for £11.53.

After purchase users receive an email confirmation which includes a certificate detailing the amount of carbon offset, information about the projects they have supported and guidance on how to reduce their carbon footprint further. There’s even the option opportunity to purchase offsets as a gift.

Everyone who measures and offsets emissions through the calculator will support projects that both cut global carbon emissions and make a real difference to people’s lives, including the award winning LifeStraw Carbon for Water project – that provides safe drinking water to 4 million people in Western Kenya - and the Gyapa Project, which provides clean efficient cookstoves to families in Ghana.

“Every organisation and every household has a climate impact. Most of us are aware of the issue, but while calculating your exact carbon footprint and taking steps to address it can seem complicated, it doesn’t have to be” explains ClimateCare’s Head of Corporate Partnerships, Rob Stevens.

“With our Carbon Calculator we want to help people take action. We hope that our simple, positive process will help everyone understand and take responsibility for their carbon emissions – both by identifying opportunities to reduce their footprint and offsetting what remains.“ But it doesn’t stop there. For organisations further along their carbon management journey, there is the opportunity to use the business tab to delve into the detail and carry out in depth measurements of business, supply chain and product impacts. And, once people are engaged, ClimateCare and Carbon Analytics are committed to supporting them on a journey towards carbon neutrality – or even beyond, to become carbon positive.

“Most people and businesses want to reduce their direct energy emissions (what we call Scope 1 emissions) but they often underestimate their indirect emissions, which include the source of their electricity and transportation (Scopes 2 and 3 emissions). The good news is that there are ways to see, understand and reduce all your energy consumption and emissions,” says Michael Thornton, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Analytics. 

See the ClimateCare Calculator here.