Menu
Today, the life of the association is based on the daily work of the permanent team and the voluntary work of the members of the Board of Directors, all of whom are deeply committed in their daily lives.
Engineer (Mines de Paris) and principal author of the workshop
I’m a permaculturist and engineer with a passion for everything that can enable us to live fulfilled lives while preserving life and peace. I am resolutely convinced that we can all turn our lives upside down and try to change the world to comply with the Paris Agreement. Broadly debating actions that make sense and have a real impact led me to publish “Sauvons le climat, 10 actions pour entrer en résistance climatique” and then to create Designing our low-carbon lives. Two years of prototyping and collective work brought it to its current maturity.
I devote most of my time to the climate emergency. I believe the “solutions” are known and technically accessible (see the 149 proposals of the French Citizens’ Climate Convention). To preserve the quality of life on Earth, I believe we essentially need to transform the social norm. That’s why I want to develop the use of Designing our low-carbon lives.
I am now the association’s Pedagogical Director.
Until the summer of 2021, I worked as an engineer for a computer company. Increasingly concerned by the climate situation, I gradually became more and more knowledgeable about these issues, becoming a facilitator and then a trainer for the Fresque du climat and Inventons nos vies bas carbone. At the same time, I’m training in various fields: permaculture above all – in particular to design and develop my new living space in the Perche Vendômois region. But also cooperation and facilitation, non-violent communication, to have more impact in the groups I’m involved with, and to be able to support other groups. And finally, music, with my recent discovery of the tuba.
I helped set up the Nos vies bas carbone association and update the Inventons nos vies bas carbone kit. Since the participatory funding that helped roll out the kit, I’ve been in charge of the association’s administrative and operational matters.
I am now the association’s Administrative Director.
Retrained engineer even before I entered the world of work, I decided it was time to take action on the issues at stake once I had my degree in hand in 2019. Since then, I’ve been experimenting and creating my own path as a self-entrepreneur, a member of committed projects and a young civic service worker in alternative education.
Today, I’m a project manager with Our low-carbon lives, a trainer in ecological issues with the Fertîles association and co-founder of the Oasis des Âges eco-village.
I’m continuing my personal quest to reconnect with myself, with others, with living human and non-human beings, and with ancient knowledge, by training and experimenting on a daily basis. I’m also a future permaculturist, carpenter, beekeeper, market gardener or whatever makes sense in a sober, necessary, desirable and joyful world.
A Toulouse native living in exile in Paris, with one foot in Tours, I have worked in communications for several associations (Oxfam, Sidaction, Mouvement Colibris).
I originally studied humanities, and gradually trained as a community organizer, always in committed organizations.
So here I am, as part of the Our low-carbon lives team, creating links and helping those who are committed to go further. It’s a good thing: that’s what drives me. And if you’re interested, don’t hesitate to contact me!
PS: When I’m not working, I’m doing plant resistance on my windowsills or playing old jazz with my friends.
I began my career in “responsible” communications, working in the field of sustainable development and CSR. With a desire to better understand the issues at stake, and convinced of the importance of raising awareness, I became an animator for the Climate Fresk and then a trainer for animators. To strengthen my knowledge of climate and biodiversity issues, I took part in a number of workshops… and that’s when I discovered Designing our low-carbon lives. I took a year’s break to get involved in positive-impact projects, including makesense and the Fresque Agri’Alim, to accelerate its deployment. In 2022, I moved to Tours and was delighted to cross paths again with Our low-carbon lives! My role in the team is to create links with our ecosystem and disseminate our workshop to all organizations.
What do I believe in? Almost everyone has the facts. The challenge is to imagine a desirable future without fossil fuels. That’s precisely what I like about Designing our low-carbon lives: the systemic approach (we’re not just talking about carbon!) and the projection into new imaginary worlds.
Before I met the Nos vies bas carbone team, I worked in marketing for a software company. After 7 years working in digital, applying ever more innovative American marketing methods and concepts for ever greater performance, I realized that I needed to give meaning to my job.
After a lot of soul-searching, the ecological transition seemed to me to be the most sensible way forward, given the urgency of the situation!
When I joined the team, I was in the middle of my ecological transition: I asked myself a thousand questions and took action on a daily basis to gradually reduce my carbon footprint. I’m living this transition without feeling frustrated and finding new sources of happiness. This is the message I want to get across in my new mission.
Has humanity lost its survival instinct?
How much of our time – and our resources – do we devote to activities linked to the preservation of living things?
The answers that emerge from observing our society have helped me to find the meaning of my life: to assume the small role and great responsibilities of a link in the great chain of humanity.
This realization has led me to transform my personal, family and professional life accordingly and … happily!
Knowing the phenomena at work is not enough to take action on the scale required. We need something more…
Our workshops respond precisely to this pressing need to accompany individuals and organizations in an unprecedented process of transformation: that of slowing down.
Within the association, I work to understand the needs of the organizations that call on us, on the one hand, and to deliver on the commitments made, on the other.
On a daily basis, I try to share as many Good Vibes as possible, I travel by bike and I eat a Paris-Brest when I come across one that looks delicious.
Since my training as engineer (Supaéro), I’ve bounced from experience to experience: co-creating a training program with the Campus de la Transition, volunteering, a master’s degree in the history and mediation of science, running workshops to popularize ecology, and so on. My guiding principle: to continue learning and building a life project that is consistent with today’s immense ecological and social challenges, while sharing with others just how rich and motivating this approach is!
In the process, I learned about permaculture, and even if today my approach is more theoretical than practical, this culture has educated my outlook, my way of thinking and the way I design my daily life.
On top of all that, I love getting lost in the woods, observing plants, painting and DIY…
Freshly graduated with a Master’s degree in management and international trade, my career path led me to specialize in sustainable development management, particularly during my time at Lund University in Sweden (the same university as Timothée Parrique!). Passionate and committed, I devoted my dissertation to the circular economy in the fashion industry, a subject as captivating as it was frightening.
I’ve long known that I needed a job with meaning, and for me, meaning is found in continuous learning, raising awareness and helping people take action. In search of that space where I truly feel I belong, I joined Nos vies bas carbone. Every day, I’m inspired by the team’s dynamics and the association’s systemic vision.
Beyond my commitments, I enjoy immersing myself in somewhat dubious teenage thrillers, wandering around the market for fresh vegetables and trying out recipes that aren’t always very successful. Every day I work a little harder to live in harmony with my deepest convictions.
Ever since I trained as an engineer (a few decades ago!!!), I’ve been interested in climate change, having developed code to simulate the greenhouse effect.
Much later, I became an activist at COP21 with Alternatiba. I’ve also sought to take action in my professional life, by developing the concept of Positive Innovation intrapreneurially at Orange, an innovation that integrates sustainable development issues at its heart. The latest generations of Internet and TV boxes have a carbon footprint that has been divided by at least 2, and the “Coup de pouce Internet” offer enables the poorest French men and women to benefit from the best offer for their needs.
At the same time, as I’m a firm believer in the power of local action, two friends and I have launched an environmental association in our home town of Clamart, near Paris.
Then, when I finally understood the seriousness and urgency of environmental and social problems, I looked for answers, and permaculture appeared to me as a (the only?) viable and desirable “solution”. I was lucky enough to be trained by Gildas and Claire Véret, and that’s how I fell into the Nos vies bas carbone pot.
As a lover of life, I marvel at the sight of a tiny seed sprouting, at the life that is blossoming in my 2 daughters, and my little secret is embracing the trees I’m so crazy about.
Within the association, I’m a facilitator and trainer, and I’m reinforcing the team for a year on the project to train 25,000 senior government officials in the ecological transition.
My ecological awareness began quietly. Little by little, it grew to the point where I decided to leave Paris.
When I arrived in Tours, I set up a business, a space to let it grow and share the joy it brings me, to be an actor in the transition but also to encourage the more timid.
After 7 years, I too wanted to surround myself with people with whom I shared the same sensibility and who could nourish me with their experience and expertise. This is the path that led me to the association.
On a day-to-day basis, I’m easily amazed, I’m a gourmet but I don’t like bananas, I love the Loire river and books, which I arrange by theme and author alpha order (help!).
I’ve been a climate volunteer for many years. This commitment has enabled me to put into words what I’m experiencing, and to transform my individual adventure into a collective one. The creation of the Our low-carbon lives association is the culmination of these crossroads. I’m delighted to be able to contribute to it from my perspective as a permaculturist (with a diploma), local civil servant (“administrator”), trainer and janitor of a one-hectare site where I’m learning how ecosystems work by observing and cultivating.
Because beyond the data, figures, graphs, presentations and workshops, this is what brings us together in the association: the joy of being alive on this planet and fighting to be part of the solutions.
Faced with a planet in danger of breaking into a thousand pieces (a quote from my 5-year-old son…), doing everything in my power to reach the climate tipping point as quickly as possible seemed obvious to me. And since it’s not always easy to get involved, get moving, get involved, and get a strong political message across, running Inventing our low-carbon lives workshops turned out to be a great way for me to do just that.
As someone who is personally and professionally committed to environmental issues, I’m happy to continue my involvement and investment in the Nos vies bas carbone association to help reach as many people as possible!
I’m proud to be one of the association’s founders and a member of its Board of Directors.
I’m driven by a concern for global justice and solidarity that has marked my career. The encounters and commitment of the Our low-carbon lives association team to simply enable life on Earth within planetary limits led me to join the group. I’m particularly committed to deploying local dynamics all over France, to raise awareness and inform as widely as possible, and bring about the necessary, sustainable and shared changes in behavior and society.
I was delighted to join the Board of Directors of Nos vies bas carbone (Our low-carbon lives), to pursue my daily investment in a more just, sober, desirable, joyful, convivial and supportive society…
A lifelong believer in the urgency of climate change and a founding member of the Nos vies bas carbone association, I’ve been involved in raising individual and collective awareness of the issues surrounding planetary limits for over 5 years. I’ve been a facilitator and trainer for the Climate Fresk since its creation in 2018, and was a member of the Board of Directors from 2020 to 2023.
Trained as an IT engineer, I devote much of my digital time to social issues, such as the creation of Datagir at ADEME to disseminate the data produced by the agency’s experts and reach more people (Nos Gestes Climat, Mon Impact Transport, etc.).
As an agricultural engineer, I’m a contemplative thwarted! I’d like to spend my time wandering around, observing nature, playing, being with the people I love… you know: all those things that emit almost no CO2. But the world is moving too fast for me, and it seems for most of us, who often unwillingly join the mad rush. Work more to earn more, consume more to get more… Really? Is this all we can dream of? Of course not! It’s time to join the artisans of happiness, the builders of an emancipating future, the protectors of the climate, the cowboys of happy sobriety.
That’s why I’m proud to be one of the founders of the Our low-carbon lives association, which grew out of our many shared commitments with the other members of the board of directors.
My instrument of choice is the bassoon, although I also play the piano, recorder, saxophone and sing. My musical career has led me to play in numerous orchestras. Passionate about passing on my passion and concerned about the future of younger generations, I now devote a lot of my time to raising awareness of climate issues. I am committed to linking my profession as an orchestral musician with ecology, through the Cadence rompue manifesto and the Verdi collective that emerged from it.
Involved in associations and climate causes for several years, I took part in the creation of the association Our low-carbon lives, where I was particularly involved in communication issues.
I’ve been involved for 4 years now. I’ve tried out a number of different approaches: raising awareness, changing the curriculum at my school, appearing in major media, putting pressure on elected representatives, mobilization campaigns… After writing a dissertation on syntropic agroforestry, I’m convinced that, although the situation is starting to be shared, we’re still powerless because we don’t know what to do. This is precisely what the workshop is all about: identifying the effective actions I can take individually and collectively to preserve the climate, biodiversity and resources. To preserve the Earth’s habitability.
In my spare time, I travel by stop boat and sailboat, climb, climb down hicking trails and write a poem or two, just to inhabit my body and allow myself to dream the world differently!
Nicolas joined the Pedagogy team in 2023 to contribute to projects for the City of Lyon and for the ecological transition training of the French government’s 25,000 senior executives. Today, he is probably sailing on new waters 
Cindy joined the association for almost a year to help structure it.
