365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

Instead of eating meat, I chose to order a meal with an alternative, in this case tofu. It tasted really well, so that’s worth choosing again.

At night before I go to sleep, I pull the plug from the internet. I do the same when I leave the house for a while. As I don’t need internet during these times, there is no reason to have it transmitting, which saves energy.

192 days into my 365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge: As I'm really eager to hear your point of view, I'd love to learn whether you have changed a habit to become more sustainable in the last 6 months. If yes: Which habit(s)? Is there anything that keeps you from doing more? If not: What obstacles do you experience?  Thank you in advance!

When standing still with a car, I turn off the engine. This saves apart from petrol a lot of fumes.

When driving a car, speeding up and braking takes more petrol than driving at constant speed. That’s why – when I occasionally drive – take care I drive as constantly as possible.

My energy company offers his customers to choose between different types of energy. I decided to buy renewable energy.

After drinking some milk and putting it to the side, I realized that it would be good to put it back in the fridge. By keeping it outside, it gets a chance to warm up. But then the fridge has to cool it down again. So I put things back in the fridge as soon as possible.

When I buy milk, I prefer to buy milk in a bottle. These bottles can be brought back to the shop and reused. Much better than having to throw one with plastic.

After buying a ticket to go to the football stadium, I found out that you can also use the ticket to travel by public transport for free. So I went by bus instead of for example car.

When finishing baking pizza in the oven, the warmth in the oven can keep the pizza warm. But after having finished the pizza, I open the oven the let the warm air flow out and heat up the kitchen.

During crafting, I often only need a little piece of paper in a certain color. At first, I need a new piece of paper. Instead of throwing the left overs away, I keep them in a folder for later use. This saves me a lot of new paper.

After I little accident in the fridge, I had to clean one of the shelves. Instead of leaving it in the fridge and clean it there, I took it out. By cleaning it in the sink, I was able to in the meantime close the door of the fridge.

One of my friends lost a lot of weight. I suggested that he could bring his suits to the tailor. He did. Now they fit well again.

When using my tape, I noticed that it is rather broad. So I decided to cut it in half, so that I have double the length.

As I told many times before, I love to eat pizza. The tomato sauce comes in a glass as you can see here. I have started scraping the remainders of the sauce out of the glass to reduce food waste. And I’ll from now on keep the glasses. I don’t know yet what I’m going to use them for, but I’m sure they will come in handy.

Earlier I wrote that I am not using a napkin for lunch (#123). But at home, I sometimes do need one. I used to use one of these paper ones. But having the little towel now (#113), they can be napkins too.

As I eat bread for breakfast, I often have breadcrumbs left on my plate. As I don’t want to throw them away anymore, I now eat them as well.

I recently left the office last and noticed that several lights were left on. So I walked through the office to turn off the remaining lights.

I sometimes want to fill my bottle under a tap that is too low. In that case, I fold my hands around the tap and bottle, so that all the water flows into the bottle instead of next to it.

Someone gave me this little net for scrubbing during showering. I’m looking forward to using it when my plastic one is worn off, as I’m definitely not going to buy a new plastic one!

On my research what I can do to help insects, I learned that a pot with some straw in it – I hope the bamboo fluff also works – is a great home for them. Once I found one of these pots on the streets, left their by someone who wanted to give it so someone else, I decided to make one. I hope some little creatures feel well here.

I recently found some tea bags in a hotel, that had split pins in it. I asked others who had chosen to drink this tea, whether I could have the split pins. I can use them for crafting.

As toilet paper is made of paper and requires cutting trees, I can be careful with how much I use. I try to use as little as possible.

I recently found a shopping bag outside with a lot of glass in it. The bag was left next to the street by someone. I decided to bring the glass to the glass container and clean the bag so that I can use it.

I found this quote written by Anne Frank. As it is so true, it inspired me to keep on going with this challenge.

When I do shopping, I always write a list. I have blocks with paper that I could use. But I prefer to use paper waste as it saves paper.

I'm excited to be invited to present my Challenge at the International Conference on Global Warming & Climate Change 2020, which is on September 10th-11th 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. climatechangeconference.co If you want to join too, mention this tweet so that you get a discount. Added as I have been asked: I will do my presentation by video conferencing so that I don't have to fly.

In this cold time of the year and being someone who freezes rather quickly, I tend to be cold at night. Instead of putting the heating on, I’m using a second blanket to stay warm.

I have a dispenser at home with liquid soap. I found out that instead of having to buy a new dispenser, I can also buy a refill package. Even though it is not zero waste yet, it helps.

For the first time, my Challenge feels like a real challenge. As this project has become really big and I am doing this in my spare time, parallel to my full time job, I have noticed that my energy level is getting low. So I am currently looking at what I can do differently, so that I can keep it up.

People often laugh at me for eating the core of an apple. But I don’t care as it is just as much apple as the rest. So I eat it and reduce food waste.

When I am traveling, I of course also have to buy food to-go. I usually get a bag or some other kind of container. As they are always one-way, I decided to bring my own box. And the bakery in this case was happy to use it.