Hasan Haj

My awareness towards taking care of our planet increased in July 2015, when I watched an Arabic program named “Khawater”, translated as reflections. I watched 11 seasons of the program in one month; many episodes were focusing in our daily life and our effect on the planet.

Since then I managed to get to a 5 Euros electricity bill for 2 months. This small amount came as a shock for people I told about it. Even the bank cashier was surprised and asked me if I live with candles. My answer was that I don’t live with candles. I simply use only what I need. All plugs are off when I’m not home.  And when I am home, only one lamp is on. I am simply taking more care to turn off everything I don’t need.

Since that bill, I’m sharing the story of it with people. Once we had a public speaking workshop and we needed to prepare 2 minutes speech at the end of it.  I spoke, of course, about my 5 Euros electricity bill.

I was amazed that when I finished, many people reached out to me and said they will start to pay attention to small things and turn off everything that is not needed. And I was more amazed when after a few months, I randomly met some people and they were mentioning my speech, saying that they remember me every time they leave the house and they make sure that all the plugs are off.

I don’t think that we all should get 5 Euros electricity bill, but I am sure that we all can decrease our bills and cut costs, and, more important, reduce our consumption to take care of our planet. If someone will decrease 10 Euros from her or his bill  – it is only 10 Euros, but if 1 million people will decrease with 10 Euros, its 10,000,000 Euros worth of electricity that can be used in the future for things we actually need. Never underestimate the power of individuals in making a difference.

Hasan Haj

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author, and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of ALDA and the European Union.