I am donating to organisations in 50 European cities, every month, once
While living in Vienna, Austria, I donated 100 EUR (86 GBP) to a local environmental activist group in the UK, Friends of the Earth Birmingham, on 5th July.
Here are some things they have done that I think deserve their funding:
- They advocate for infrastructure improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.
- They have successfully lobbied against road widening.
- They support the Clean Air Zone that came into effect last year.
- All these efforts, and more, have led to cleaner air in Birmingham.
You may ask why I am supporting an organisation in the UK (and not in Austria, or at any other place): The climate emergency is a global issue; reducing CO2 everywhere in the world is good. I started using data to discover places where I can find proof of decreasing pollution levels.
I build myself a tool powered by NO2 data from Copernicus that simulates a race of NO2 levels in major European cities. I donate 100 EUR to climate protection projects in one of 50 European cities that wins this monthly "competition". Birmingham won in June. This tool is also hosted here (sorry - it's just a shiny app 😅 #nodev). As things stand today, Copenhagen leads the July reward field.
NO2 is produced when fossil fuels are burned; this process also produces CO2, the main greenhouse gas that fuels climate change. On the other hand, high NO2 levels lead to more premature deaths in local communities.
Reducing NO2 is good, for locals and globally. This may only be the beginning. A worldwide effort to support local climate action, probably powered by satellite data, could be more than a drop in the ocean.