In 2001 Jack de Vos (71) came to Schouwen-Duiveland and took over as secretary at the helm of the municipality. He retired from that job in 2007, but remained committed to the island. In recent years as a member of BewuSD, a group of concerned residents who see that the climate is going in the wrong direction. He and his wife Paula will leave the island and have chosen Vlissingen as their new domicile. He remains committed. “Because we all need to be aware that we have to start living differently.”
It is well known that the climate is not going well. The CO2 emissions are far too high and nature is making itself heard. The maritime climate is rising much too quickly and the doom is a flood of climate refugees, the too rapid global warming and with it the rise in sea level. It seems like an unsolvable problem with almost eight billion people on this planet, but that has not stopped De Vos from getting involved. “If we all do something….”
Like transition professor Jan Rotmans, De Vos is convinced that people are only prepared to change in the face of chaos. It’s going that way, he thinks. “The dinosaur became extinct because of a meteorite, which covered the earth with a thick layer of dust. That way I can see the thick CO2 layer a bit too.” BewuSD is working with Eric Odinot on making a film about CO2 and has ‘raked’ the earth on the beach at Westenschouwen with a CO2 ring around it. , which gets thicker in the film. “I think the war in Ukraine is acting as a catalyst in the energy transition.”
We will all have to start living differently in order to reduce CO2 emissions. De Vos tries to contribute to it. Beef is no longer allowed in the De Vos household and pork in moderation. Changing yourself is one thing, convincing others of it is another. “We have achieved that, in a sense, the municipality has accepted our request to declare the climate emergency. Although that term is not used, the concern is shared. Yes, that was also a discussion within BewuSD. “Whether we should use the term state of emergency and unintentionally announce it in the World Region on the Friday before the commemoration of the Flood of ’53. But it is also a state of emergency.” He also mentions the discussion among the farmers. “Politics has not played it well, but we will have to go back to ‘knetterboeren’ who mainly produce for the immediate environment.”
De Vos can become gloomy if he receives too many climate reports. Although his work seems like a drop in the ocean, doing nothing is not an option for him. But completely turning your life around is difficult, also for De Vos. “We had resolved never to get on an airplane again. But then the children go to live in Portugal. That’s where you want to go. I think we do.”
He is in favor of a CO2 distribution. Everyone gets a certain amount of CO2, which they are allowed to emit. Once you’ve used it up, it stops for a while. So you can fly to Portugal, but you will cut it right away. “In Africa, for example, less will be consumed. So you have to be able to trade the CO2 space. Then we can buy the unused CO2, but it will immediately benefit poor countries financially. That is a system I do believe in.”
In December, the couple will move to a natural gas-free home in Vlissingen and exchange their farm on Donkereweg in Noordgouwe for ‘the city’. But it is not enough to sit still. “No, we are joining Grandparents for the Climate.” But first the premiere of the film, sometime in September. Consciously can look for new board members, because they will miss De Vos. He was secretary and treasurer.
Members of BewuSD have raked the earth with a diameter of sixty meters on the beach of Westenschouwen for their film. Part of the movie.
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