Dear environmentally concerned community,

We think Good Friday is a good day to replace our April fools’ welcome from April 1 because what we do and how we shape the world indeed has a lot to do with what we believe. And this can finally decide upon life or death.

And because, most remarkably, exactly a certain group of people who continually refer to their Christian belief and seem to make up the majority in the US, are those who most consistently refuse to do what was the core message of Jesus Christ: Change your life!

Don't worry, to distance ourselves from those people, this website is not missionary, rather the opposite, but a crusade against those who think oil is god-given and those brave people (of course strong believers) who protect us from economic disaster planned by a world conspiracy of wicked scientists, greens and communists preaching climate change and consequently the need to change, are the lobbyists of oil and nuclear power.

Again remarkably, those who resist the urge to change most vehemently are exactly those who consume by far the biggest amounts of resources. For comparison: While a Thai consumes around 3 liters of oil equivalents per day, a Malaysian consumes 6, a German 11 but an American 26 liters (7 gallons). Yet, nowhere else in the world, the resistance to measures to reduce the oil consumption is stronger across the population, and this is symptomatic. Though the only thing they fear is an economic crisis if the nation would embrace energy saving measures and people already felt the real harm in the last crisis in 2008 - greatly acerbated by the oil price peak in 2008 (which was far beyond what any "economic green-horn" could have wished for) - they will always find thousand reasons, be they yet so irrational, why certain more or less obvious symptoms may still have different causes than the most likely one - that unfortunately indicates that we'd have to change our lives.

Interestingly, these people are strict defenders against all other forms of perceived risks, hazards and dangers But when it comes to risks related to energy consumption then suddenly all normal rules and procedures of risk management or simple precaution are abrogated. While they are ready to form coalitions of the willing and do not hesitate to use "preemptive strikes" to protect their own interests they abstain from any worldwide conventions on the reduction of greenhouse gases. The only concern is securing enough oil, from any source available, no matter what side effects, to become more independent from the dealers.

Doesn't this pattern somehow seem familiar? - That exactly the one who consumes way more than all others says there is no reason to reduce, consumption is not harmful and no problem as long as the price is OK, and that reducing would even endanger his wellbeing?

Yes, it's the pattern of an addict, and we all know that addiction is a real disease, often a deadly disease, and directly or by drug-related crime, devastates not only the addict's own life but that of his environment, and hence, what we need is not more affordable booze but a good doctor and an effective therapy.

The problem is not always the drug. Many people enjoy drinking alcohol and are no alcoholics. The problem is that of too-much. The idea that, when alcohol makes us happy somehow, more alcohol makes us still happier. This is what we can see throughout consumption patterns reflected in the advertisements, and what we get to hear in the energy debate as well, linked to the idea of economic growth.

And here, we come to a very crucial point which indeed affects our economy: The addict is the best customer: because he doesn't choose on his own free will but he HAS TO buy to gain the happiness promised by the ever more psychologically perfected advertising machinery that persuades us to buy what we wouldn't otherwise.

The results, we can see not only in the obesity figures. It's mostly not bad food - we know we all have to eat. It's the problem of too much.  Now imagine: We all stop eating too much, drinking too much, smoking too much etc. but keep a healthy diet. Can you imagine what would happen to our economy? How shall the food industry grow now by a healthy 3% a year when we don't consume more? What's about the doctors and nurses sitting around idling? The workers in the beer and tobacco industry etc.?  Hence, reducing consumption is a horror vision for any industry and the economy on the whole, at least as we know it. And this cannot be desirable, is it? That's why you will never hear any such suggestion from said certain people but rather where to get more and cheaper booze.

Hence: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die”.  Remember this one? Well, it's from the bible, however NOT from Jesus Christ. His message was: if you believe, turn back and start a new life.

If you believe in Jesus Christ or not, in God, in Mohamed or Buddha or any other divine being or not, one thing is for sure: that your belief shapes your life - and your death - and your world, even if you believe in nothing, not even what your doc tells you.

Are you one of those saying "we anyway do not really know so I continue as usual and when I die I die" or one of those who believe - in our responsibility to leave a future for our children not only without financial debts and that change can lead to a better life - before you are forced to change but when it’s too late?

There are a host of options for a more sustainable life and saving resources for future generations without having to climb back on the trees, some are even for free, some low-cost, some require some higher investment. Anyhow, all measures are earning, even financially, the more as energy and commodity prices will most likely continue rising.

As many scientific and political institutions have pointed out, the most crucial factor is energy as most of the energy used today still comes from fossil fuels releasing CO2 as the most likely cause for an already clearly changing climate.

SAVE YOUR ENERGY - YOU'LL NEED IT.

Energy and other resources are in everything you buy and use. Even if the biggest direct energy consumers and hence greenhouse gas emitters are the big industries, it's YOU who decides what you buy personally or via your community etc. and hence, what is produced and how.

Finally, it's YOUR decision, and moreover, two thirds of today's energy is consumed within private households. So there's plenty you can do right at your home.

A BonNovo-planned and equipped award-winning house in Austria has proven - like many others - that a family home can well reduce the average household energy consumption by 90% and this at even lower cost than an average family home.

We will now step by step expand our website and explain where the biggest potentials are and how you can save not only our environment but also your money.

But for now, we wish you a Happy Easter and a Happy New Year for those who celebrate this now - hopefully a happy New Year with

BonNovo - the Primacy if Sustainability

Best wishes,

Wolfgang Novacek