Yesterday an unknown individual (or individuals) stole a service car from Sodexho. In the margin of the theft, the news mentioned the amount of “dienstencheques” – service cheques – in the car and the repercussion this will have on paying back the companies working with these cheques.

What was astonishing, is the administration used to manage this system. Each cheque that has been used, is being copied as proof of use of this cheque, just to cover incidents as the stolen car.
So, a little calculation. Yearly (2008) almost 48.930.000 cheques were used. These cheques are copied on A3 paper. Each A3 paper contains the copies of 24 cheques.

This results in 2.038.750 sheets of paper (no they are not copied recto-verso). This will give you 856.275 meter paper, or 856 km, 5 km less than the distance between Antwerp and Copenhagen.

Lets calculate some time: About 2.5 minutes/copy: this will give you 48 employees who are working 8 hours/day and 220 days a year.

Instead of cutting back on the cheques, maybe they could improve the way of managing it.

What could we learn from the Copenhagen Climate summit: to pollute to stop the pollution?

With proud, they announced 15.000 participants from all over the world, 5000 press, the largest number ever recorded in Copenhagen.

Even if on a normal day, Copenhagen is the greenest capital in the world, my guess it will take a few years to recover from this:

Facts:

• 15.000 participants

• 5000 press

• 98 world leaders

• ? protesters

• ? staff for hotels/catering

• 1200 limos (5 hybrid cars)

• 140 private jets

• food (locally cultivated?)

Traveling by plane/per passenger:

• Fom the USA 1.179 kg CO₂

• From Australia 2.906 CO₂

• From N Africa 943 CO₂

• From S Africa 2.221 kg CO₂

• From China 1.174 kg CO₂

• From Russia 777 kg CO₂

Traveling by train: nuclear

Traveling by car (60 miles):

• Small car : 1,7 kg CO₂

• Average car: 3,3 kg CO₂

• SUV/ 4 wheel: 4,7 kg CO₂

Total estimated Copenhagen Climate pollution: 41.000.000 kg CO, the equivalent of the emission of Narsaq, the third most populated town in South Greenland, in 1 year

And what about the global Cooling summits from the 80-90; where we were all going to freeze to death.