Meet Water Maniac Walter, the new Generation Awake hero in the resource efficiency campaign from the European Commission. Our future depends on how we use resources now. In our eagerness to improve our standard of living, we tend to consume without thinking about the consequences. We forget the impact of our behaviour on natural resources such as water, fertile soils, clean air and biodiversity. And this has a price: as resources become scarcer, we put our future welfare at risk. Resource efficiency is about using resources sustainably – doing more with less and minimising impacts on the environment. It is about making the right choices to ensure a good quality of life, not just for now, but for the generations to come. Using natural resources more efficiently is the only way to achieve the health, wealth and well-being we all aspire to. Becoming resource-efficient means changing our way of thinking and patterns of behaviour and taking account of how our choices affect natural resources. It’s not about consuming less – it’s about consuming differently.
