Olivier Widmaier Picasso

Olivier Widmaier Picasso is a jurist, TV documentary producer and author of several pieces on his grand-father’s life and work – Pablo Picasso. He lives between Paris and the United States.

From observing everyday life, habits, recurrent climatic disasters and food pollution, he has felt committed to the environmental cause. As it involves collective responsibility through constraining but unavoidable survival measures. We are glad to have him on our blog. He took the time to answer a few of Agathe Godard’s question.

What are your best eco-friendly resolutions for 2021?

Day by day, I eat less and less meat. My goal is to maintain good health with food that has the necessary vitamins. Therefore, I rarely eat red meat. I prefer white meat and fish with sufficient stock.

Farming, GMOs and the state of the oceans are scary… Reform is needed at the global level, which automatically will have consequences for breeders, fishermen and farmers, who must not be sacrificed overnight. Moreover, the economy of the food chain must become decent again. Mass distribution must act in this direction. 

In which area would you like to witness environmental innovation?

Because of its great health and environmental responsibility, food industry must change. There need to be more charging stations for hybrid cars and a major investment in infrastructure. The must is to adopt universal socket standards.

I think the pandemic will change many shopping reflexes and unnecessary accumulation. Zoom meetings require fewer suits and therefore less cleaning! The domino effect really benefits the ecology.

I strongly believe in green architecture, like the buildings developed in San Francisco that have no air conditioning and are naturally ventilated and shaded. Frankly, the hot air corridors above the buildings of big cities like New York or Dubai are madness! We need a global policy and we’ll be no less happy not to be freezing… 

Can you tell us about your eco-friendlier living?

With time, ecology has become part of my life. I am constantly sorting, in Paris, Normandy or Miami. I realised that the amount of plastic and paper thrown away every day is mind-boggling! The worst is the over-wrapping of plastic products in paper, such as certain yoghurts. I am frustrated by the waste of fossil energy and my energy in sorting, even cleaning before sorting.

I’ve been collecting cars for a long time but I drive a “hybrid” in Paris and soon an all-electric. I’ve also been looking into the possibility of converting old cars to electric motors. It will be perfect!

I also turn off the water when I brush my teeth, I turn off the light when I leave a room: these small gestures are essential and should be multiplied by millions of people. 

Which Green public figure inspires you the most?

I particularly prefer Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation. They have identified 1,000 solutions to combat global warming, putting the emphasis on technology rather than blaming populations unable to unite. This is very interesting.