365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

Do you think it is tiring to walk up a hill? I'm sure these children didn't think so. So what is the difference? They were enjoying themselves. And this is true for me too: when I'm enjoying something, it becomes so much easier. That's why I have so much energy for my sustainability work.

Of course, I have often heard about organic foods. But to be honest, I don’t really know why this is more sustainable. So, after having bought this organic milk, I did some research. I found out that products that are produced using organic farming can get this label. Organic farming means that the production is based on methods that intend to be environmentally friendly and enable animal welfare. Excellent, this sounds as if it is perfectly in line with my Challenge.  

When I shoveled snow two days ago, I noticed that my neighbors didn't have a chance to do it yet. So I knocked on the window to ask whether it would help them to their part too. As they didn't have the equipment, they really appreciated it. As a thank you, they gave me this local honey.

I had some batteries with a specific shape on stock. But as they are so specific, I hardly ever use them. As I needed one recently, I found out that they had gone off so I can’t use them anymore. So I have to throw away all these batteries unused. This taught me that I only buy batteries when I need them.  

If you want to start saving money today and want to continue saving money for the rest of your life, then you don't want to miss this: Today, I'm excited to share with you my renewed website!  On this website I share online courses that will make it easy for you to help saving our home by adopting a (more) environmentally friendly lifestyle.  The first course is on how to live more environmentally friendly AND save money at the same time !  You can find the course here: www.SustainableDecisions.eu   Enjoy the course and making your dream come true with the money you saved!

When doing dishes, I capture the water and soap in the sink. This saves a lot of water and as I use warm water, it also saves a lot of energy. Furthermore, I start with only a little water, as the amount increases anyway when I rinse the soap off.

I wanted to go for a walk today when I found out that it was my turn to shovel snow. I could have become grumpy that I couldn't follow up on my plan. Instead, I realized shoveling snow is also exercise and outside, so I enjoyed these moments just as much as I would have enjoyed my walk.

As I've been cooking for several days (#221), I have a huge pan that needs to be cleaned. To be able to clean it quicker when doing the dishes by hand or make sure it gets clean in the dishwasher, I soak it beforehand. To save a few liters, I decided to use bath water. It may sounds a bit dirty, but it doesn‘t matter as I‘ll clean the pan afterwards anyway.  

I shared before that I got the advice from a professor to use my brain and follow my heart. Today, this is a challenge, as I need to make a decision about whether I do a particular project or not, about which my heart and brain have different opinions. Well, I'll sleep on it.

After getting the wrapping off my butter, I noticed that there was quite some left on the inside. I decided to scrape it off. It turned out to be enough for one slice of bread.  

On today's walk, I strolled passed these old car tires. They are part of a playground. I think it is a great way to reuse them, as rubber tires are hard to recycle, meaning that they also often end up in huge piles on landfills.

I saw this e-bike being parked close to my house. It is begin owned by a physiotherapist who visits his/her patients at home. And instead of using a car, he/she has chosen a more sustainable option. Well done!  

During my lunch break, I almost always go for a walk or run for at least half an hour to do some exercise and also to get some sunshine. The sunshine helps me to feel good even in winter. That's why I believe is true for me: one walk a day keeps a depression away.

When wrapping the present yesterday (#72), I also had a present that didn’t fit in this paper wrapping. I had a look in my paper bin and found an old magazine with nice pictures in it. I decided to use two of the pages to wrap the next present. It doesn’t look as good as yesterday, but the principle works. So, I’ll keep an eye open for more beautiful pages for future presents.

Yesterday, I shared I'm solving technical issues, which today involved passwords. In 2018, I shared on the German television what can happen if an account gets hacked and how to choose a strong password. Today, I added subtitles so you can watch it too:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLk9RWELozg&t=72s&cc_load_policy=1&cc_lang_pref=en

A family member told me proudly that he had repaired his bike after it broke. I‘m not surprised, that the bike broke as the odometer said about 30.000 km / 18,641 miles! Wow, I‘m impressed and all these km/miles by bike saved so much CO2-emissions!  

Due to my IT-background and experience as ethical hacker, I'm used to working my way through technical issues. And so I did today. And I realized that what Nelson Mandela says indeed applies to my technical issues, I feel it will also apply to my sustainability mission.

For my birthday, I got a book that was wrapped in a nice, colorful piece of paper. I decided to keep it to be able to make someone happy with it later. As you can see here, I had a present with the right size and I think it looks great.  

128 days into my 365 Clover Challenge:  O wow, I've been working so concentrated all day, and have been so focused on my work for my surprise that I completely forgot about my post for tonight. So just in time, I wish you a good night and a nice rest of your day!

Whilst cleaning my home office, I found some books from a course that I did years ago. As I don‘t need the learning materials anymore and it is too much of a niche to put give to someone else, I decide to put the paper in the paper bin. I took the bindings out for recycling and was able to use them as garden fence.