WHEN Danish anthropologist Nikolaj Blichtfeldt decided to study a Hangzhou community's low-carbon initiatives, the only thing for it was to go and live there. Soon the academic was learning all about tea leaf pillows and pomelo fruit bowls, he tells Xu Wenwen.

Late one night in 2011, anthropologist Dr Nikolaj Blichfeldt was googling information on "Hangzhou" and "low-carbon" on his laptop at home in Denmark, after his supervisor had told him the city was implementing low-carbon pilot projects.

As he searched, a Shanghai Daily article about a low-carbon community initiative in Dongping Lane in Hangzhou caught Blichfeldt's eye.

"Hangzhou locals have echoed the city's low-carbon call by lowering the costs of their bills … (through everything) from reducing the brightness of a computer screen to calculating how much food should be stored in a refrigerator," stated the article.

"People in the community have set an example for saving the planet," it added.

Impressed, the Danish academic decided to add a visit to Dongping Lane to his schedule for a visit to Hangzhou. Through an affiliation between the prestigious Zhejiang University, which has links with Copenhagen University where Blichfeldt works, the academic came to Hangzhou in the autumn of 2011 for three months.

He returned last year, living in the community for five months so he could interview residents almost every day.

The anthropologist has been studying Chinese language, culture and society for years, so communicating with Chinese people is not a problem for him.

Now back in Denmark, Blichfeldt is working on his paper examining "a local Chinese interpretation of the idea of climate change through an ethnographic study of a climate change mitigation campaign in a residential community in China," according to the summary.

He took time out to give an update, through email and Skype, on how his project is going and share his experiences of life in Hangzhou.

"The project has more than met my expectations. I was constantly amazed by the people of Dongping Lane community and all the interesting things they told me about their thoughts and lives," Blichfeldt says.

In his first stay in 2011, Blichfeldt studied the Hangzhou public bicycles scheme, went to Tianzi Hill landfill to learn about the city's garbage sorting plans, visited China Hangzhou Low-Carbon Science and Technology Museum, interviewed residents of Dongping Lane, and even gave them a lecture.

Closer understanding

But for Blichfeldt that was not enough, as he sought a closer understanding. So for his second visit, he lived in the Dongping Lane community for five months.

The academic says a typical day of his life in Dongping Lane would go something like this: In the morning, he would step into the community office to meet and interview a resident who had been asked to be a volunteer by the office staff.

The interview usually lasted three hours, and in the afternoon he went back to the apartment, went through records and sorted out ideas.

Sometimes Blichfeldt accompanied office staff on visits to residents' homes, distributing degradable garbage bags, publicizing environment protection and discovering low-carbon "tricks" locals devised.

Sun Xiaobao, a 71-year-old woman who devised impressive low-carbon strategies was interviewed by Blichfeldt several times.

"Many of our tricks amazed the foreigner," Sun recalls.

Examples include a pillow filled with recycled tea leaves, which is believed can help soothe the eyes and brain, and a "fruit bowl" made from half of a pomelo, which both smells good and is degradable.

Senior citizens have proved the driving force behind the low-carbon campaign, says Blichfeldt.

Intimate local knowledge

"I'm very impressed with the work being done in the community, and I think it is both interesting and praiseworthy that the voices of the older residents are being heard and that their intimately local knowledge of everyday life is being used in the campaign," he says.

And if the Dane got more time, he helped resolve neighbor conflicts, taught kids English and took part in health lectures held by the community office.

The versatile Dr Blichfeldt also joined Red Rainbows, a foreign band in the city, giving free performance to residents in festivals.

Surveys conducted by Blichfeldt focused on more than low-carbon initiatives.

"His questions ranged from how the community office elects officials to China's foods safety problems," says Zheng Xin, the director of the community office.

Zheng recalls that the foreign expert noticed small everyday details as well: like Chinese people prefer meats to vegetables; and fried and grilled foods to boiled and steamed ones.

And in Blichfeldt's paper, dietary habits and China's migration pattern to cities are considered in relation to climate change.

The paper is not finished but Blichfeldt has already drawn a main conclusion. He says in Dongping Lane people "make the issue of climate change familiar and intelligible by connecting it with immediate concerns - such as health, general quality of life and the economy - so climate change as an issue is never left standing alone."

Instances of this include: saving resources often means saving money; cycling rather than driving for health and saving gas; and noting that eating more vegetables than meat is not just climate-friendly but also healthy.

"The threat of climate change is transformed into the challenge of low-carbon life which is made up of things that are well-known, local and specific," the academic says.

"People there demonstrate that global processes, such as climate change, are closely tied to everyday life."

In addition, Blichfeldt taught locals some new low-carbon tricks. His friend, Chinese-American student Steven Zhang who came to the community to assist in interviews, introduced the community to earthworm dustbins.

These contain earth plus earthworms busy turning kitchen waste into rich compost. Now residents find that their old veg peelings provide the perfect raw material for growing plants and flowers.

Blichfeldt plans to return to Hangzhou in October, to discuss the results of his paper with the Dongping Lane community - and spend some time with his friends there once again.