Surely, where Copenhagen leads, others will follow.
Denmark is home to the “world’s greenest city,” Copenhagen. There are so many things we can learn from this eco-friendly city, starting with its famous landmark, CopenHill, which is also known as Amager Bakke and OGN recently covered under Hedonistic Sustainability. Don't you just love that description?
Anyway, CopenHill is a power plant that converts waste to clean energy to produce heat and electricity for tens of thousands of local households, but that’s not all it does. It also functions as an artificial ski and snowboard slope! Plus, it has Europe's tallest climbing wall.
Copenhagen also makes it easy for its citizens to use eco-friendly forms of transportation. All of the city’s buses are electric, you can inexpensively rent electric bicycles, and you can take rides on electric, solar-powered boats in some of the purest waterways in the world.
Denmark’s groundwater is one of the cleanest in the world for a reason. According to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it’s the result of the country’s consistent efforts to purify the country’s wastewater and protect its aquatic environment with the help of more than 1,000 water-treatment plants. Perhaps partially due to the expenses associated with maintaining so many treatment plants, Denmark’s water prices are fairly high, but ultimately, that’s a good thing. Similar to how carbon taxes work, the country’s high water price deters its citizens from using a surplus amount, which allows the cycle of clean water to flow interrupted.
Blue Sky Thinking: Copenhagen is leading the way in the transformation to being a 'clean' city. Others are trying hard too, but the world needs more 'people and planet first' thinking and leadership.