Steven Vromman

writer and consultant

City:

Ghent

Age:

Country:

Belgium

Steven grew up in a small village in Flanders in times where everything was possible and there were no limits. In his early teens he began questioning things, and he became more and more involved in North – South issues, human rights and justice. On a trip to Bolivia, at the age of 26, he was confronted with the reality of the situation for the first time, and seeing with his own eyes the disparity, he was determined to do something about it.

“It is not a question of poverty but distribution of wealth. It is a struggle against poverty yes, but also against richness”

Steven now lives in Gent, with his two children (Marieke 15 & Adam 12) half of the time. He was working in the NGO field when he decided to test whether it would be possible for him to live a good life while respecting the limits of the planet. This meant drastically reducing his already low ecological footprint. So for one year he was busy finding and trying different ecological solutions. For instance: no flying, he became vegetarian (plus eating local, seasonal and organic), he started collecting rainwater for the toilets, compost his organic waste, and he installed 1 Solar panel on his roof. With only one solar panel and all the measures he made to reduce his energy consumption, Steven is now mainly self-sustainable in his energy use.

“Once the idea to reduce my impact was clear, the rest was practicalities”

After finishing his year of low impact, he realised that it is possible to have a good life while respecting the planet, and that it is cheaper, healthier and more social. So he continues living in a very sustainable way, enjoying also a closer relationship with his children.

“we don’t need to be afraid of living with less material things and with less money, we gain so many other things by taking a step back to breath and take our time”

focus:

ecology, economy, society

Level of activity:

behaviour change, big actions, small-medium actions

keywords:

consumption, education, energy, food, household appliances, outreach