365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

People often say "I want to grow old". I then wonder whether it is really about getting to an old age. Yes, I love to stay around for a long time too, but more importantly, while I'm here, I want to live meaningfully. For you, family, friends, the world. 

Recently, I noticed that my mouse started double-clicking even though I clicked only once. After researching what the problem could be, I learned that the mechanics in the mouse are broken. This is not surprising as I've been using this mouse for many years, and have probably made millions of clicks. My first thought was to order a new mouse, but instead asked my partner whether he has a spare one. He found an old mouse that is still working. Great!

This Thursday (April 1st) at 3.30 pm CET, I'll present at this Scientists for Future climate conference for schools (language: German). I'm very much looking forward to do this for the youngest generation as I wish them a bright future! 

A few years ago, someone gave me his old bed. I have used it ever since, but it was time for a new mattress. And as the bed was too small, I decided to buy a new bed. But as the old bed is still okay, I decided to give it to someone else. She was very happy with it, and I was too since it got a third life.

Thank you for your votes on Twitter ( www.twitter.com/ErlijnG ), I'm happy to continue giving! As I love you to have more time for things you like and spend less time at work, or have more money to spend/invest/donate, I share with you how to save lots of money by living more #sustainable here: https://bit.ly/3vmHA0d

To protect my pans so that I can use them longer, I have these protective ... I don't know what they are called. As they come in a pack of three and I only needed one more, I decided to craft one from blue felt. This is more environmentally friendly, as I otherwise would have had two that I wouldn't use.  

This week, I noticed that my eagerness to serve the world is misinterpreted as that I'm willing to do and give away absolutely everything for free (including my racing bike, art, online courses). When I share and give a lot of value to you, I guess you'd like to give to me too?

When a TV is running in the background, this means that I’m not looking at it and I’m only listening. When I only want to listen, I can listen to the radio, an audio book, or something similar. This saves a lot of energy as a TV uses more power. And the bigger the TV, the more this is true.  

This week, I did a course and learned a lot! Now it's time to put it into practice. Also, I booked the next course, because to me happiness doesn't result from for example fame or money. It is (after having covered basic needs) the result of personal growth and serving the world.  

Last Christmas, I received this card. As you can see, it is a double card. But I noticed that only one half had a written message on it. So, I decided to cut the card in half: I can send the front half next Christmas.  

Yesterday, I went on a cycle tour with my racing bike. This was a very sustainable trip as I didn't produce any CO 2 . Also, my bike is already 16 years old and like new; not many cars make it to that age in such a good shape. I love it!

This broccoli was huge, so for dinner way too much. That’s why the stem turned out to be a leftover. But I kept it to have a healthy snack. Yummy!

This week, I learned that tweaking things here and there creates a compound effect. This means that when I improve 4 things by 10%, it doesn't add up to 40% in total but to 46%. This is another great way to explain why small differences add up and make a huge positive difference.

When I found these shoes outside, I realized that it is actually silly to keep them there during the winter when I‘m not using them. Because outside, they wear off a lot quicker, which means I have to buy new ones sooner. So, I quickly shook off the snow and stowed them inside.  

During my course this week, climate change is addressed as well. I never thought of it this way, but think it's clever: we're leaving a lot of trash on the ground including plastic; we leave even more trash in the air in the form of greenhouse gases.

Drinking from the tap is nice and easy, but when I drink like this, a lot of water runs past my mouth. So, capturing everything in a bottle ensures that no water is wasted.  

As I like running long distances (Day 226) and I'm doing this Challenge now already over 1,5 years, I need to keep my energy up. This means for me continuously balancing between doing things and having a break. When I find the right balance, my performance peaks and I feel best.

In my efforts to reduce my waste even further, I wondered what I can do with avocado seeds when I occasionally do buy one. As they are so strong, I don‘t put them in my compost bin as they will be there for ages. After doing some research on the Internet, I learned that I can squash them and then brew tea with them. It worked great, and the good thing is, is that I will be able to put the leftovers in my compost bin.  

I really like it when I notice that others are taking action on climate change as well. All in different ways. So I promote others initiatives, this time by signing a petition in favor of our environment.

To be able to come up with my ideas, I need a clear mind. As with the sky: the fewer clouds, the more light, the more clearly I can see. So I keep my mind clear by e.g. eating healthily, resting enough, doing sports, mindfulness and clearing limiting beliefs.

The times it was my turn this year to push away the snow, I decided to just shovel it aside instead of using salt. It worked perfectly and saved a lot of resources.  

Something I'm not proud of but do anyway is seldom watching the news. I do this because negative news drains my energy: I feel powerless as I can't do something about it. That's why I instead focus my attention on things I can positively impact, such as my sustainability work.

When I was young, the chocolate spread glasses had nice drawings on them. That’s why we washed them afterwards and kept them. My parents still have some of these glasses. Some of the pictures are worn of, that’s how often we have used them. This one doesn’t have a drawing but I still like it.  

Starting tomorrow, I'm doing a 5-day course on how to run a business effectively. I'm looking forward to it as I'm always eager to learn. This allows me to give more and continue giving to you and the world. And as the course takes place in ET (New York) time, I'll be jetlagged (6 hours difference). So, don't worry when my posts are late.

For years, I had this ostrich egg shell laying around. Until I got the idea to make an Easter egg out of it and give it as a present to a family members. Even when I say it about my own work: I love the result!  

I just got back from a plog (a run whilst gathering waste on the way). It was a first for me. I'm looking forward to next time, so that I can improve my technique: I gathered so much that the bag soon became too heavy to run. What do you do with waste when plogging?

Reflecting on what I am throwing in my bin, I noticed that one of these things are pantyliners. So, I started wondering whether there are washable alternatives. After a quick search, I found some. I’m glad that I did that, because it works really well. No more pantyliner waste.  

Today, I had a day off from my sustainability work. And off doesn't mean I had a break. It means that I spent my time on an IT-related project. The reason: I currently have to do additional projects as I don't earn a living with my sustainability work yet.

My partner found out that it is possible to clean carpets by putting them upside down in fresh snow. Apart from saving water, energy and money, the advantage as well is that they don‘t get drenched. Of course this doesn't clean it completely, but definitely helped.  Would you like to find ways to save money in your daily life? Then this course will get you kick started: https://www.sustainabledecisions.eu/start-saving-money-short-and-full-course  

Yesterday, I wanted to use this picture for the Snowball effect post. But while working on it, I got distracted and then forgot about it. The good thing about letting go of perfectionism is that others often don't see imperfections: if I hadn't told you, you wouldn't know either.

With the days being shorter again, it is dark when I wake up. So, of course, I switch on the light. I noticed that after a while, I still had the light switched on, although there was already plenty of daylight. So, I opened the curtains and switched off the light.  

Yesterday's story is a great example of how much more impact we have than we realize: the children cleaned the river bed and now thousands from all around the world know about it. And this snowball effect probably goes on without these children knowing. What did you do or will you do today to trigger a snowball effect?

As I‘m currently not building a house, this is not relevant for me today. But for some neighbors, it is. Insulating is helpful both in summer, when it keeps the heat out and in winter, when it keeps the heat in. This means that it saves either energy to either cool down the house or heat it up. Would you like to find ways to save money in your daily life? Then this course will get you kick started:  https://www.sustainabledecisions.eu/start-saving-money-short-and-full-course  

Today, I received this email from a neighbor thanking the children who cleaned the river bed. As she doesn't know them, she asks to forward the "thank you" on. How lovely from both the children and this neighbor! Fingers crossed that this message reaches the children.

After an “after-work-dinner” in a big city, I wanted to return to the hotel. Getting a taxi would have been easy as it would bring me from door to door. But the next subway station was close and it gave me more time to chat with a nice colleague. And because of that, we saved two taxi trips.  

Thought experiment: when you'd know for sure that you'll live another life on this planet, would you take more care of your environment? Would you live differently today? I already do as much as I can for future generations, independent of whether I'll be one of them.

During cooking, I noticed that my pan wasn't on the cooker properly. I of course put it back on immediately, so that no heat was wasted.  

What a nice coincidence: a few years ago, I often did live-hacks (notice the v), presentations in which I showed live how you can hack for example a website. Today, I'm sharing daily life-hacks (notice the f), on how I make my daily life more environmentally friendly.  

Sometimes I, for example, forget to drink the water that I put in a refillable bottle or have water left from a hot water bottle. When this happened, I tend to pour away the water. Now I have a plant that is happy with this drink.  

Today, I learnt about the important work of the GREENWOODD+ Social Forestry Program , which focuses on helping forest communities who are tempted to sell their forests to large private companies: selling their forests has short-term financial benefits, but long-term it is disastrous, as they are their ongoing source of income. And the forests become grassland, which means the biodiversity is strongly reduced as well. I love it that by supporting these owners, they support both on a social and ecological level.

I can‘t remember when I heard from it the first time, but I immediately thought it is a great idea to borrow a coffin. Because from a mere rational point of view, it is quite a waste of beautiful wood. So, by borrowing one, it still looks good, but nothing – or only an inner coffin made from recycled cardboard or wood – is wasted.  

When I start tidying my house, I start with one room, get that done and then move on to the next. That's why I think is a clever idea to also apply this approach to sustainable living. Catherine Polet shares in this article how to get a waste free kitchen: http://bit.ly/3rusxPP

I was asked by a certain institution to send them some information. They provided me with a piece of paper to put the details on. I decided to send the information by email to save an envelope, stamp and the effort to transport the letter.  

Yesterday, I had a very inspiring chat with Lena Pippert. She and her sisters are organizing cleanups ( https://oclean.hamburg/en ); a great initiative! I loved to hear that more people are joining each time. And we laughed about the weird things we sometimes find when cleaning up. 

Do you have an exciting sustainability project you would like the world to know about? If yes, let me know about it so that I can write about your project on my blog and social media.  Learn more about the next steps:  https://www.sustainabledecisions.eu/tell-me-about-your-project

Even though I use my broom most of the time (#93), I do sometimes use my vacuum cleaner. This weekend, the filter was so full of dust that it didn‘t clean properly anymore. Instead of buying a new filter, I cleaner the old one. Now it is good to go again!  

As an IT-security expert, I advocate implementing "security by design", which means that security is taken into account from the beginning of the design process. Similarly, as a sustainability expert, I advocate implementing "sustainability by design", which means implementing for example carbon neutrality and circular design already when setting up a business or product.

As using chestnuts (#100) is too dangerous for me, I decided to try another recipe. This detergent only consists of soda, citric acid, curd soap, water and a few drops essential oil, which are all environmentally friendly. It turned out to be very easy. As I got 3 liters at once, it was really worth the effort.  

In several courses I did, examples were given of people who seemed to have become successful overnight. Was their success a coincidence? Maybe not considering the work they did the years before and the theory in the picture. That's why I take sustainable actions today to make a huge difference tomorrow.

I recently realized my drain got clogged. As I refuse to use chemicals to clean it, I started with taking the drain apart and clean the tubes. I admit it was disgusting at times, meaning it was very worth it. And for the bit I can't take apart, I use baking soda and vinegar.