SYNAPSE Podcast with Ilinca & Chris | Ep 3 | Copenhagen – Urban Sustainability
Chris and Ilinca are co-hosting this episode of the Synapse Podcast, the 3rd from the theme “Synapse Your Future | The Power to Embrace Change”. Throughout the podcast, they will share their experiences in Copenhagen and how this city adresses the concept of change. The angle is turned toward technological evolution and the approach toward climate change, as it leads to societal change.
Did you know?
- Copenhagen – The world’s most sustainable city 2022 (in a report on green lifestyles entitled ‘Sustainability: The Meaning, Changing Perceptions, and Expanding Agendas’ – Online education platform GetSmarter. A sustainable city is defined as “one that’s able to retain the supply of natural resources while achieving economic, physical and social progress while remaining safe against environmental risks”.
- Green roofs on buildings: Since 2008, the city has created green roofs on new buildings as part of urban development. Green roofs reduce temperatures in the cities, enhance biodiversity and reduce rainwater runoff, and create habitats for animals and plants. But they also add color and make the city brighter and more beautiful.
- Since 1995, Copenhagen’s carbon emissions have dropped by 50 percent and it’s on track to become the first major carbon-neutral city by 2025.
- GetSmarter praised the “innovative” Amager Bakke clean-burning incinerator, which converts 534,600 tonnes of municipal waste a year into energy – enough to electrify 30,000 homes and heat 72,000. Less than 2 percent of Copenhagen’s waste goes to a landfill.
- Sustainable transport: All diesel buses are being replaced with electric by 2025, and the city is also planning to invest in electric and hydrogen-powered cars for Copenhageners. However, many people are choosing to use bikes instead of public transport. To explore the canals you can rent a boat with electric, solar-powered engines made from wood from sustainable sources.
- Renewable energy: Copenhagen is changing the generation of electricity and heat to carbon-neutral fuels such as waste-to-energy, biomass, wind and solar. The city is investing in efficient energy through district heating and cooling. That could reduce Copenhagen’s atmosphere by 80,000 tons of CO2.
- Copenhagen is investing in infrastructure that will allow for ‘district cooling’ using cold seawater pumped between buildings. Using a similar process to the ‘district heating’ method of warming buildings across Copenhagen, will reduce the need for air conditioning or other energy-intensive methods and dramatically reduce the city’s carbon footprint even further.
- Copenhagen has 300m2 of green space per person – dramatically more than many other European cities – which also holds a lot of health and wellbeing benefits for the population.
- The “Holmene” project: Nine new islands will be created each with “a green belt of nature”, reclaiming 3 million square feet of land in the Baltic Sea, 10 kilometers south of Copenhagen, creating a landscape that encourages sports and recreational use. Each island will also have publicly-inaccessible areas to provide a haven for wildlife and encourage biodiversity. The islands will also have a waste-to-energy plant, where bio and water waste from 1.5 million local residents will be converted into biogas and clean water. Between this and other green technologies like wind turbines and heat storage, the islands will reduce at least 70,000 tons of CO2 annually while producing over 300,000 MWh of energy, which 25 percent of the Copenhagen City population consumes annually.
- Restaurants that take sustainability to another level: Organic produce is not enough if restaurants want to minimize their carbon footprint. Growing their own veggies, re-using resources and re-thinking energy consumption into all processes are all green initiatives that set these super sustainable (and really delicious) restaurants apart.
Denmark’s elevated benches send out a strong message: raise awareness about the dangers of the climate crisis and rising sea levels. Project: The Copenhagen Bench 2100 Edition By TV 2 Creative.
‘Flooding will become part of our everyday life unless we start doing something about our climate. According to the latest UN Climate Report sea levels are expected to rise up to 1 meter by 2100 if global warming continues.’
About the Authors
Ilinca Sandu
Ilinca is the founder of the first student-run newspaper in her school. Her passion for literature, culture and media prompted her to bring up the idea to her school director, resulting in the creation of an innovative and thought-provoking club. She is fascinated by the relationship between the creative and the analytical, and discovering the intersectionality between her various areas of interest, such as poetry and business. As society becomes consumed with the ideas of consumerism and efficiency, Ilinca believes that humanity and compassion are the keys to creating powerful organisations that lead to positive social change.
Chris Sas
Chris’s contribution to founding the first student-run magazine of International School of Bucharest alongside Ilinca created a warm environment between students, teachers and parents. This “synapse” between the academic social sphere and current events, culture and creativity allowed for several initiatives such as the ‘Swimathon’ fundraiser – aimed to raise money for children with autism. His fascination with social and economic innovation and how it affects culture, politics and global affairs led to the desire to find outlets on how to inform and educate using mediums such as art. Innovation always manifests itself in culture. Chris is interested in exploring this phenomenon.
We are caught in today’s routine and we often forget tomorrow’s challenges. Is the rise of the superstorms, floods, and devastating fires a powerful enough alarm bell? What if climate change pulls us into this vortex, in a spiraling chaos towards our end? Can we save tomorrow?
