• reducing by half the amount of garbage you send to the landfill or incinerator?
• eliminating from your garbage everything that harms the environment?
• reducing by one-fifth the amount of water used by your household?
• cleaning up the water that leaves your home so there is nothing in it to harm the environment?
• reducing by more than one-tenth the amount of energy used to heat and cool your home?
• if you have a car, reducing by more than one-tenth the amount of fuel you buy?
• learning how to shop so as to reduce the negative impact on the environment of your shopping basket by up to a half?

This is what is being done, year after year, by the 25 000 householdsaround the world participating in the EcoTeam program.

They report that they're not only saving money - they're having fun.

Many people have pointed out that those of us in the rich countries makeup one fifth of the world's population, but use four-fifths of the world'sresources. But did you also know that up to three-quarters of the resourceswe use are in fact wasted - they contribute nothing to our survival, health,or even well-being? The unnecessary packaging you carry home from the store,the tap that runs when no-one is using water, the heating or cooling thatdisappears through poorly insulated windows and ceilings... and much more.

Consciously changing your consumption habits is not a matter of sacrifice.It's saving money and shedding an unnecessary burden. The easiest way todo it is to join neighbours in an EcoTeam.

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro,the world community - through Agenda 21 - acknowledged the central importanceof consumption, and the need to engage large numbers of people from allsectors of society in demand-led change.

The 1996 Habitat II conference in Istanbul has reiterated the importanceof sustainable lifestyles.

Individual citizens changing the way we live are a major and necessaryforce for shifting the industrialized countries of our planet onto an environmentallysustainable path. But efforts in the North to encourage people to changetheir consumption patterns have traditionally offered only information andmodest financial incentives. These are necessary; but to make lasting behaviourchanges, people need structured support.

The EcoTeam program has been developed over six years, with pilot projectsin half a dozen countries, to provide such support.

In 1996 the following countries have or are developing the EcoTeam program:
Belgium (Flanders) + Denmark + Finland + Ireland + Korea + Netherlands+ Poland + Spain + Sweden + Switzerland + UK + USA

The EcoTeam is a small group of households, usually neighbours, who meetover a period of weeks or months and begin to change their own consumptionpatterns.

The elements of the program are:

• A book giving step-by-step advice on how the household can
  • audit their own lifestyle and assess its environmental impact
  • consider alternatives
  • set personal goals for change
  • make the desired changes, and report on them
  • support other EcoTeam members
  • transform new behaviour into habits
• A coaching system: each EcoTeam has a coach.
• A reporting system: each household reports their results, and gets reports on total results for all EcoTeams.
• A campaign structure: results are enhanced and synergy effects arise when EcoTeams are concentrated in local communities.

Potential benefits to the community include

• Saving taxpayers' money by enabling households to be more responsible in their use of resources - for example
  • extending the life of landfills
  • eliminating the need for expanded water facilities
  • eliminating the need to widen roads
• Increasing public participation in existing programs such as car pooling/ride sharing, public transport, recycling, and water and energy conservation programs
• Building demand for products and services such as bike paths and non-toxic products
• Building a sense of community
• Empowering citizens to take an active part in Agenda 21 and other sustainable community projects

A common way of starting is for local enthusiasts to start one or a smallnumber of EcoTeams, supported by coaches from other communities (suppliedvia the GAP national office).