365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

As we’re still in the Corona crisis while I’m writing this, I notice that a lot of one-way face masks end up on the ground. The first time I noticed this, I wanted to dispose them, but also didn’t want to touch them, so left them.  But some time later, I realized that I can pick them up using a stick or branch and put them in the bin. This works perfectly!  

Nature is so strong! This fragile flower has endured several hours of rain. Each drop of rain exerts about the same force as needed to pull out a hair. And still, it is unharmed and beautiful. So, lets bond whilst caring for our environment, so we remain part of this wonder.

When I walk through a supermarket these days, I’m shocked how much plastic is sold. Luckily, I have found a shop in my town that sells anything without packaging. If you want to for example couscous, you have to bring your own container. And of course it is all biological and as often as possible regional. Excellent!

Muscle power is sometimes a forgotten power  and still amazingly helpful.  For example, I used it to move this boat from one side to the other and cross the river. Always available, no greenhouse gas emission. And also important, it is fun to use!

My mum told me that one of her friends is gathering milk cups for a charity project. We don't know what they will use the caps for, but as I had some at home, I brought them with me to pass them on.  

Honored to be part of the Joint Task Force on Digitalization in Energy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe  and happy to see the result of our paper concerning energy efficiency improvements of buildings through digitalization. Access the paper with policy recommendations here: https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/ECE_ENERGY_GE.6_2021_5_Policy%20recommendations_final.pdf

Over the last decade, I have found out that buying something online is rather easy. The disadvantage though, is that it takes a lot of packaging to bring me the product safely. Also, it takes more CO2 emission as the products are delivered to my house. So I have decided to buy my book in the shop instead of having it delivered.

In the past, I used to joined runs over 10 km or half a marathon. I often received a t-shirt made from polyester. But I learned that these artificial materials leave microplastics in the water when being washed. So, I make sure I now wear them less often until I have found a way to best deal with this.

To be able to survive ...  plants need to be pollinated. That's because pollination results in seeds that grow into new plants. As pollination by hand is very cumbersome I'm grateful for the animals that are happy to do this for us.  Bees. A good reason to protect them!

When traveling by car, I have learned that driving faster requires for the same distance more petrol/electricity. In Germany, there is – unless specified – no speed limit. But I’ve decided to nevertheless drive a bit slower.

This can come in handy! It's an app that recognizes plants based on a picture of e.g. their leaves. This one is by Pl@ntNet , a research and citizen science project on plant biodiversity. And you can contribute to the project by taking pictures!

When I send a box by post, I close the box using tape. However, when I don’t send it, I prefer to close it the way you can see in the picture, as this saves tape. When moving to another home having many boxes, this can save a lot of tape.  

Fascinating! During my cleanup, I pickup a tin, which revealed ants and cocoons.  The ants started carrying away the cocoons immediately, bringing them to safety. And did you know that ants can carry 10-50 times their body weight? That's as if I would carry about 1-2 cars!

Another way to live sustainable is to eat as much as I need, not more. My reasoning: when I eat too much, I need more resources from this earth than necessary.

My mum had a little present for me, which made me really happy! This grabber makes collecting waste a lot easier, safer and even more rewarding!

A long time ago, my partner brought a few socks back home that were given too him at a flight. As they have these anti-slip stripes at the bottom and are too big, I can‘t wear them in my shoes. And as they are very thin, I also can‘t wear them instead of slippers. But I realized I can wear them at night to keep my feel warm. And as they are long, I can tuck my pajama trousers in them too.  

We just forget ... ... how good something is for us when we haven't experienced it for a while. E.g. after 9 months, I remember how great it is to visit my parents. I see it as a playground overgrown by weeds. So, when living in a city, you may forget how much you love nature.

A while ago, a built a compost bin (#128). Since then, I’ve been gathering things that can go in there. So I’ve started composting my biological waste. Now all kind of animals can get some food there and the waste company doesn’t have to collect it.

Trees can live without humans, but humans not without trees. That's because trees produce oxygen through photosynthesis.  The pigment that make plants green absorbs sunlight. This is combined with CO 2 from the air and water from the roots. The result is sugar and ... oxygen.

Someone sent me a book in an old wrapping, so already reused it. Great! And I realized, that this wrapping can be folded into a box, so that I can use it again when sending something else than a book. I love it!