What exactly does an eco-friendly life look like?
Lucas Scaltritti, a 28-year-old Parisian journalist, experienced it life-size.
More meat, more planes, less clothes… From family meals to vacations by train, through his cooking, he delivers the story in a podcast.
His goal ?
Respect the Paris agreement, and emit less than two tons of CO₂ equivalent per year.
Miss Figaro. – Did you meet your challenge?
Lucas Scaltritti.
–
You have to listen to the podcast to find out!
All I can tell you is that in six months my carbon footprint has been reduced by a third.
Yet you were neither an activist nor a longtime ecologist.
The climate crisis did not matter to me, it is true, for lack of knowledge.
In 2020, I made a first podcast on ecology,
Y'a le feu au lac
, produced by
Ouest-France
.
By dint of reading reports and interviewing scientists, I began to feel guilty.
I became aware of the impact of my choices on climate crises and the importance of orders of magnitude.
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What is it about ?
From a crucial point.
We tend to focus on the most visible, like litter or plastic pollution.
But their carbon emissions are incomparable compared to air transport, the automobile or the production of meat.
Only, you have to dig to understand it.
The information is not accessible to everyone, despite the work of the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe) or independent media, such as
Bon Pote
.
Hence the format of your podcast, which is very educational?
Yes, I stage myself on a daily basis to provide concrete keys.
I didn't work as a journalist but as a citizen, using resources accessible to everyone, such as the MyCO₂ workshop, a free videoconference to measure your carbon footprint.
I wanted to reflect what a transition implies for everyone.
We often talk about re-enchanting ecology, but a life that respects the planet is not disenchanting.
On the other hand, our current way of life, from a climatic point of view, is almost criminal.
Lucas Scaltritti
What surprised you during this adventure?
The absence of lack, first: stopping the meat or the plane was much simpler than expected.
On the other hand, I discovered sources of pollution or unsuspected obstacles, like my apartment.
It's a thermal sieve, but, being a tenant, I can't do much about it.
Above all, this transition, which I thought was individual, involves my loved ones a lot and, first and foremost, my partner.
I did not suspect the repercussions of this project on his life.
Did you have to find compromises?
Not the first six months, the time of the challenge, which imposed a very strong requirement.
Our first discussions were sometimes quite frontal, about trips to the end of the world, for example.
She is very attached to them, and I have long seen them, myself, as a sign of success.
Today, I have a real blockage.
But, little by little, I believe that my experience infused my companion, that she became aware of certain things.
Conversations become more fluid and balance is more natural.
Despite everything, this life seems to leave little room for pleasure…
Let's be clear: replacing foie gras with roasted cauliflower and the plane with the train is not ecstasy.
But it's not the prison, either!
We often talk about re-enchanting ecology, but a life that respects the planet is not disenchanting.
On the other hand, our current way of life, from a climatic point of view, is almost criminal.
Read alsoHow to stay vegan, without losing your friends?
And have you discovered any new pleasures?
Yes, the pleasure of a diffuse serenity, born of the feeling of acting with accuracy.
For others, the driving force will be money – because we save money by being green –, empathy for future generations, or even selfishness: do we want to live through heat waves, hurricanes and the pandemics looming in the next ten, twenty or thirty years?
The first step is to open your eyes.
Then it is difficult to close them.
In reality, there is only one good reason to make our ecological transition: we have no choice.
"
Super Green Me
", by Lucas Scaltritti, produced by Matilde Meslin, winner of the Audience Award at the Paris Podcast Festival 2022, is available on all listening platforms.
