00:00Pop quiz. Where can you rent a kayak for free, have a nice chat with a complete stranger,
00:08and help yourself to bread without being rung up at the register?
00:13It's our first time in Denmark. People are really trusting here.
00:18Copenhagen is a city built on trust. But just how do the Danes do it? We see for ourselves.
00:27A 90-minute kayak ride for two. It's free, but there's a catch.
00:32They have to fish out as much trash as possible from the river and canals.
00:37They mostly find plastic, but there is the occasional surprise.
00:46Bag of dog poop.
00:49The man behind the idea, Tobias Weber-Andersen.
00:53I was frustrated to see all the trash floating in the canal, so I wanted to do something about it.
00:58So the idea was to activate as many people as possible.
01:03With Green Kayak, he combines sport and recreation with nature and environmental responsibility.
01:09And of course...
01:11It is a concept that is based on trust very much.
01:15And it works. In Copenhagen, there's hardly any trouble with missing or damaged kayaks.
01:20These two paddlers give it all they've got.
01:24The current makes it an uphill battle, or an upstream one. Paddling upstream is pretty strenuous.
01:32It's work combined with fun. And you know, it's for a good cause.
01:36It makes you want to collect as much as possible.
01:40When you get something for free, you want to give something back.
01:46I don't know if it would work back home. Not sure.
01:51In the Nørrebro district, you can borrow a sympathetic ear like you can a book in a library.
01:57That's why this place is called the Human Library.
02:01Half an hour for a chat about personal stories or worries.
02:06I have a hearing limit of 50 decibel, with the same sound level of a truck.
02:12So, all sound higher than 50 decibel, I can hear.
02:16But everything that's below, and especially high tone voices, I cannot hear.
02:22Ronny Abergel knows how challenging life can be.
02:26So he came up with the idea of the Human Library.
02:30We are a library for all of mankind.
02:33So it's a place where you walk in and you get a chance to explore humanity.
02:37Through dialogue, we hope people will find understanding.
02:40And through that understanding, we pray for acceptance.
02:44All of us need that acceptance.
02:47We won't get it by standing alone and shouting.
02:50We'll get it by standing together, shoulder and shoulder.
02:53Whether speaker or listener, the encounters here take place on equal footing.
02:59People here tell us that equality is a guiding principle in Denmark.
03:05So there's a foundation of trust.
03:09Delicious breads, rolls and cake, but no cashier?
03:14Here in the north of the Danish capital is one of the city's most popular bakeries.
03:18It's tiny and always full.
03:21Customers serve themselves, tally up the price and pay online.
03:25Cheating the system would be easy, but the baker says it rarely happens.
03:30I did not put much thought into it, to be honest.
03:33It was just a way of running a bakery in a small, very quiet street
03:40located in a small street in Østerbro, Copenhagen.
03:43So for me alone, it was necessary to run a bakery, one man, as it was in the beginning.
03:52Pragmatic and typically Danish.
03:54I mean, the concept of the trust, giving the customer to come in
04:00and choose their own bakery items and pay with mobile pay is a very Danish concept.
04:08I'm from the U.S., and that would not work at all in the United States.
04:13The buns are coming in five minutes.
04:16The baked goods are a hit.
04:20But Martin Fogelius is amused by the fuss over having no cash register.
04:26It was not a big deal for me to begin with,
04:29and that the trust base alone would take so much attention.
04:33Copenhagen's reputation as a city of trust is known well beyond Denmark,
04:37and people here will tell you that's just how it is.
Comments