Climate change is the single most important issue that our world faces today. I don’t want to belittle any of the other problems people are facing, but the climate crisis is a global issue that concerns everyone. Some of us might be affected sooner than others, but eventually we, and the generations coming after us, will all suffer from the consequences of our actions. 

The majority of these issues have their roots in the industrial revolution, which kickstarted a never-stopping economical growth. This process has allowed us humans to go from a population of 1 billion in 1800 to over 7 billion today. And “despite this rapid population growth, the world has not been overcome by rampant poverty”. However, this growth came at a cost: We’ve used up a majority of the non-renewable resources and have destroyed the natural balance of our planet.

We, as AERVIDEO, are part of the problem and we’re aware of that. Our mission is to create new ways of seeing and capturing the world around us. There’s no point in that, if the world around us has been destroyed. That’s why we are determined to facilitate cleaner, more sustainable products and leave less marks behind us.

Obviously, this is difficult for us as parts of our product AER are made from EPP foam, which consists of Polypropylene (PP), which consists of oil. One of those non-renewable resources that when being extracted and transported produces a lot of CO2. This means that the foam the AER consists of is made from a non-renewable resource and is not compostable.

Furthermore, we are torn, because if you think sustainability through to the very end, you can only come to one solution: We need to consume less and be more thoughtful with the resources we have. And we can’t deny that nobody really needs our products. So the logical conclusion would be to not throw your GoPro and discontinue our business. That’s a sad reality which we don’t want to accept. So we’re working on solutions. 

Here are a few small steps we’ve taken on our long journey towards becoming a more sustainable business:

The ‘AER Spacer’ is a small foam rectangle that is used to protect the screen of the GoPros while being thrown. We’ve just released a new version of this Spacer, that is made from 100% up-cycled foam. This means that we’re using old foam scraps that otherwise would’ve been thrown out. Instead of black, these new Spacers will be colorful, depending on what kind of scraps we get - something we’re happy to accept for this cause. ‍‍

In addition, we’re currently testing different recycled hard plastics for our AER Head. Not an easy undertaking, as recycled plastic is sometimes less durable and our AER Heads must be able to take a beating, of course.

Next to the products themselves, the shipping process also has an environmental impact. We’re proud to announce that, since April of this year, we’re using CO2-neutral shipping for all of our international shipments. Unfortunately it’s not (yet) possible to send a package to the other side of the world without generating any CO2 emissions. But those that are unavoidable are being compensated by supporting projects which make a positive difference to the environment. These include a reforestation project in the Peruvian Amazon and a wind farm in the Taurus mountains of southern Turkey. 

These are merely a few small steps and definitely not enough. That’s the reason why we were hesitant about sharing this before -  out of fear of being accused of ‘Greenwashing’. We understand that this is a serious matter and loads of companies are indeed making more sustainable choices for the wrong reasons.

But we do this, because we believe it’s important to start somewhere, even if the way ahead of us is still long. Transparency and honesty are part of our core values, so naturally we want to take you along on this journey.

As always, we’re keen to hear your opinion on this. If you have any questions or suggestions of what we can improve, you can reach out to me directly via pablo@aervideo.com. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.