Hi guys, I’m Marlon Lipke.
I’m taking a 4-days sustainable road trip with the new Mercedes-Benz EQC.
The next days, we will explore the south and west coast of Portugal
meeting exciting people and having a lot of fun.
We are in São Brás de Alportel,
a small village located in the south part of Portugal.
We are a very small country
but one of the biggest cork producers and exporters.
People are amazed by the different applications of cork
so we can say that it’s a very ecological product
and the cork tree, it’s very ecological.
There was some really good insight into the cork production here by Sophia.
I think what amazed me the most is that the cork tree actually
takes up way more CO₂ than any other tree
because of the rapid growing skin which is the cork.
So let’s see what surprises us next.
I never drove an electric car before. This the first time.
I’m kind of excited.
Today, I’m showing you the local market here in Lagos
where we have organic seasonal products. Come check it out.
My personal thrive to play a part in sustainability:
I feel I have to do it step by step.
A big part is using less, always try to eat locally
and try to pollute the least possible.
If you’re in the ocean and you suddenly have plastic water bottles floating next to you,
you feel something is wrong.
I think that’s why surfers, yeah, they’re really aware of nature around them
and I think we have a very big responsibility, to put the message out there
that we have to do something.
This is the first beach we have here on the south coast.
Super wedgy waves, most times off shore when we have north winds.
It’s a very small beach but with beautiful waves.
So, it’s really, really cool.
Look at this light!
Afternoon session, rushing with happy hormones.
Hey Mercedes.
How may I help you?
Take us to Porto Covo.
The destination has been inserted in position 1.
Thank you. You’re too kind.
We want to safeguard the future for the next generations.
On the one hand, climate of course or CO₂-neutral mobility of tomorrow,
and then, of course the next big thing is the question of the resources.
So what kind of resources we use, how efficient is the usage of those resources
and how we can stay with the resource consumption inside our planetary boundaries.
That’s what we in research development for Mercedes-Benz are figuring out currently
and where we are really convinced that we can make it.
I was already really impressed because you were bombarded
with some really tough questions but the passion you have
and the answers you have for it is quite impressive.
You really feel, okay, there is a change coming,
and massive companies like Mercedes-Benz are taking it so seriously
and have passionate people like you so willing behind it and giving, I guess,
everything to make a change and we all know it’s a very hard one.
I always went to the beach with my dad at the age of six or seven.
He was always cleaning the beaches back in the south of Portugal.
He told me to clean the beaches.
It’s kind of in my blood that I feel that you have to do something.
I think you’re very passionate about this.
You can see it in your eyes when you talk and explain.
I think our mission is really to engage the community.
And what I’m really happy about is to have this big family of fishermen
and especially fisherwomen and they are the leaders,
they are the stewards of change in their communities.
Because my mission today is to change people, to change their hearts for the ocean.
People are motivated
but then to change your own life is always the hardest,
like it’s really easy to see something that maybe doesn’t affect your life
that should be changed
but it’s actually the things in our life which are hard to sort of let go
or take a little bit more energy. Like going to the supermarket,
don’t buy the things with the plastic, maybe have a container and refill it,
it takes more time but in the long run you feel better,
you probably have a better product and, yeah, we leave a better world
for the generations to come.
To show up here and just see the whole side of the mountain covered
and we have a really good sized group of people
but it still looked like horrific and looked impossible
and in one hour with all of us, it’s all clean.
We just make such a big difference in such a short time.
We share with people who would never have thought of doing this,
and all of a sudden, everybody’s fired up
and everybody makes conscious choices from then on.
It’s tough because after about two weeks
we kind of slip back into our life and it’s a big challenge
but I have hope.
For the first time in history, I think we have freedom of choice
to really make a change. It’s hard to do.
I think everyone has to do what they can
and obviously we hope, and there we can pressure the governments
and stuff that give us solutions for the future,
that we can fly in a different way in the future,
that we can drive in a different way in the future.
I’m driving in the future.
It’s really tough. We’re all part of it but we have for the first time
the power to actually make a change in each individual, whatever it is.
You can make decisions and just little changes step by step
and we all do that together. We will create a better future – 100%.