How could we help individuals and households truly realize the importance of lifestyle change and the various ways in which lifestyle carbon footprints can be reduced? D-mat has been working on resolving the issue for years, which has led us to invent the Climate Puzzle.
The Climate Puzzle is a design and education game which offers concrete examples on how to mitigate carbon footprints and makes it easy for anyone to plan a low-carbon lifestyle.
Recently we organized a launch event Reaching 1.5-Degree Lifestyles with the Climate Puzzle as part of Nordic COP26 Hub Helsinki, a Nordic side event to the Glasgow climate negotiations, where the Climate Puzzle was presented.
The event included expert talks regarding low-carbon lifestyles by Michael Lettenmeier, CEO and founder of D-mat, Salla Lahtinen, Chief Project Coordinator of D-mat, Päivi Sieppi, Environmental Advisory Manager of the City of Lahti, and Eva Heiskanen, Professor at the Centre for Consumer Society Research at the University of Helsinki. It became evident from the speeches that in order to successfully mitigate climate change, the combination of individual and societal action is crucial, and local governments have a critical role in providing their citizens better tools to reach sustainable lifestyles.
After the expert talks the participants got to try out the Climate Puzzle in a workshop. The workshop illuminated how the methods of the Climate Puzzle are illustrative as well as concrete in helping individuals reach their own 1.5 degree lifestyle– the game averaging about 1 ton CO2e carbon handprint per user so far. The puzzle is based on scientific research on sustainable lifestyles, mainstreaming 1.5 degree lifestyles being at the very core of its purpose. As the Climate Puzzle demonstrates, there are many successful paths to a sustainable carbon footprint, and no two paths need to look the same.
Annastina Saari, D-mat