2023-04-06

JU-student coauthors book on sustainability

Is it more climate-friendly to eat a frozen or homemade pizza? Do I save more greenhouse gases if I eat a vegan diet or forgo a long-haul flight? These were some of the questions that Carlotta Schäfer, who is currently studying Sustainable Enterprise Development Programme at Jönköping University (JU), and her friends were asking themselves. Questions that resulted in the published book, “Comparatively Climate-friendly”.

Carlotta Schäfer

"We realized that even though we´re very much invested in sustainability and that I would consider myself a climate activist, I could not answer those questions. We assumed that if we don´t know, many other people probably don’t know either," says Carlotta.

Carlotta Schäfer wrote the book together with her three friends, Oscar Blank, a student in Environmental Sciences at Leuphana University Luneburg, David Schily, a student in law at Halle/Saale and Philipp von Schultz-Hausmann, a student in Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Maastricht.

Wanted to contribute to climate education

Carlotta and her friends realized there was a need for accessible information on what we can do in our daily routines to contribute to combating the climate crisis. They decided to fill this gap by writing a fun and easy-to-read book addressing ordinary citizens.

"An IPCC report is very important and amazing but super challenging to read. It’s not a thing you will read on a Saturday afternoon for fun. The idea of this book was to make a very visual book, easy to read and down to what an ordinary day could look like. The purpose is basically to inspire people to get more educated," says Carlotta.

Learn about individual actions and choices

The book highlights individual actions and choices that can contribute to a more sustainable world. It takes the reader through an average day to show how to effectively reduce greenhouse gases through small habit changes.

"We wanted to educate about climate change, the individual actions that can be done, and the most effective and climate-friendly steps anyone can take to actually show in comparison,” says Carlotta Schäfer.

Even though in her book Carlotta Schäfer focuses on what we can do as individuals to reduce our emissions, Carlotta thinks it is important to remember that we cannot resolve the climate crisis by individual actions alone.

"There is a need for societal transformation and systematic change on a global level, including the shift away from fossil fuels," says Carlotta.

Download the book for free here. External link, opens in new window.