A postage stamp to promote public awareness about climate change?
In 2006, the German Ministry of Finance partnered with the German Postal Service to issue a stamp about climate change. The picture --an image from space of a typhoon on Earth -- is captioned by the slogan “Climate change affects us all.” The stamp marks the 8th in a series of special, environmentally themed, German briefmarken.
The postage stamp was sold at a 0.25€ premium above the cost of a regular stamp. The proceeds from the 0.25€ surcharge funded eight projects, domestically and internationally, including aid for people displaced by typhoons.
The purpose of the stamp according to the German Post Office is, “to stress the importance that everyone can take responsibility to fight the causes of climate change… The stamp project also helps to sharpen public awareness of climate change.”
It all started in 1992 when Klaus Töpfer, then the Minister of Environment, proposed that a line of stamps with environmental themes be issued. Sold at a slight premium to face value, the additional 25 cents benefits non profit organizations in Germany and relevant eco initiatives. Were the stamps controversial? Far from it! Instead these charity stamps became immediately profitable and popular: the first stamp, “Saving the Tropical Rainforest” generated 1M€.
Germany’s 2008 environmental postage stamp is of the Berlin Zoo’s beloved polar bear, “Knut.” Two million Knut stamps were sold in 2008, raising 500,000€ for conservation and biodiversity projects.
Past themes included renewable energy, coastal protection, soil conservation and desertification, and the International Year of the Mountains. The next stamp will be released in May 2010. It’s about the world’s oceans.
To see images of previous stamps and read more information (however in German), see:
http://www.bmu.de/foerderprogramme/sonderpostwertzeichen/doc/39546.php
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