10 tips for a “greener” life

Most people want to take an active part in stopping climate change and protecting the environment. We have therefore prepared ten tips for you on how to integrate more sustainability into your everyday life.

Regardless of whether it is about deforestation or plastic waste: climate change is proven Opinion Germany ranks third among the biggest problems the country is currently facing. When it comes to finding a solution, many are relying on politics and business.

You don’t just have to watch and wait. Because you can also do something yourself to make your life greener and to integrate more sustainability into your everyday life.

Sustainability in everyday life: Just a drop in the bucket?

But before they take appropriate action, many people initially feel overwhelmed. Because they don’t know where to start. Large gestures are not always necessary to support the health of our planet from home.

Also, no expensive equipment or special resources are required to embark on the journey to a greener everyday life. Because the term “sustainability” is multifaceted.

Small gestures with a big impact

Whether it’s reusable grocery bags, air drying laundry, and turning off electronic devices when not in use, these are just a few of the ways that we’re helping nature – and our wallets too.

Sustainability in everyday life: ecological, economical and social

You hear the most common tips again and again in everyday life: For more sustainable mobility, you should take your bike or the bus instead of driving. It is best to bring your own reusable shopping bag to the supermarket. And you’ve certainly heard of the harmful effects of microplastics and palm oil.

However, sustainability is not just limited to the environment. In order to live greener, it is also important to take a closer look at the economic and social footprint you leave behind.

Because instead of just producing less plastic waste in the kitchen, you can also pay attention to how you can make food and clothes last longer or under what circumstances the products you consume are manufactured.

10 tips for more sustainability in everyday life

You can do a lot in everyday life to live more ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. We have put together ten practical tips for you from different areas of life that can help you to integrate more sustainability into your everyday life.

1. Make your purchase more conscious

When shopping, there are a few little tricks to live more sustainably. The tip is well known, regional products to avoid long, CO2-heavy transport routes and to support the agricultural economy in the region. In the same breath it is recommended food seasonal to buy.

However, sustainability does not just begin when you are already in the supermarket. Even at home you should think about what you want to buy specifically. In Germany, around 55 kilograms of food are thrown away per capita every year.

So think about what you need for the week beforehand and make one shopping plan. Also check your inventory. This will help you avoid wasting food.

Besides, you can do yours make food last longer. For example, you can store bread in a sealed box or wrap it in reusable oilcloth. So it stays fresh longer.

2. Use food sharing apps

Before you buy everything new in the store, you could also over food sharing inform. Over different apps you will find bakeries, supermarkets and restaurants in your area that don’t want to throw away their leftover groceries.

They’d much rather sell them for a lower price at the end of the day or even give the fresh produce away for free. So she could food sharing movement have already saved 104 million kilograms of food from the bin.

3. Be careful what and how you consume

Did you know that in Germany around 320,000 disposable cups every hour hot drinks be consumed? Of these, up to 140,000 cups are “to-go”. Every year, Germans use almost three billion disposable cups. You can avoid this by bringing your own thermal mug.

Alternatively, you can treat yourself to a few minutes and drink coffee, cocoa and tea directly in the café. You can also do this at home Coffee live more sustainably. For example, instead of paper filters and capsules, use a metal or cotton filter. In this way you can avoid unnecessary waste and also save money.

On topic Drink You should also watch your water consumption. You can simply exchange water from the bottle water from the tap exchange. Because mineral water generates just as much CO2 as all German air traffic.

In addition, bottled water is much more expensive and produces a lot of plastic waste. In addition, the privatization of water causes social ills worldwide. The tap water in Germany is noisy Consumer Center everywhere of good to very good quality and can be drunk without hesitation.

5. Support biodiversity

You can also do a lot in your garden to help the environment. For example, by letting your lawn grow and not mowing as often, you promote it biodiversity. You also save time that you can spend enjoying nature.

Additionally, you could plant some wildflowers to support insects even more. In addition, a rich variety of insects attracts many birds.

3. Lower your energy consumption

In order to make your everyday life greener, it is important to think about your personal energy consumption. Here, too, you can already improve a few things with a few small tricks.

For example, did you know that you can save a lot of energy if you use a while cooking Lid on your pot puts? This is not only more sustainable, but also faster. Incidentally, you can use smaller amounts of water in the Kettle pre-cook – for example if you want to prepare a portion of pasta. This consumes significantly less energy.

You can also save energy if you residual heat from your stove and oven. Because both hotplates and ovens still have a certain residual heat after use, with which you can finish cooking without additional energy consumption. You should also let dishes cool down before putting them in the Refrigerator put It therefore requires less energy to maintain the temperature set on the device.

Overall, it is recommended when purchasing electrical appliances to purchase energy efficient household appliances to respect. You should use the energy efficiency class A++ or more. True, they are a little more expensive. However, they consume less electricity and pay for themselves after just a few years.

7. Switch to green electricity

In order to live even more sustainably at home, you should also consider switching to a green electricity provider contemplate. Because the electricity you use at home may come from polluting coal and nuclear power. It is better to rely on regenerative energy sources such as wind, sun or water.

4. Rely on “Do It Yourself”

You can also easily and sustainably use some of the food and cleaning products that you use in everyday life do it Yourself. For example, you can create a small bed and grow herbs and vegetables yourself – even in the kitchen or on the balcony.

Also on the subject cleaning supplies you don’t necessarily have to resort to expensive and harmful chemicals. You can do a lot of things easily and cheaply baking soda substitute. It is the home remedy with the most uses. It can easily replace industrial all-purpose cleaners, detergents, textile cleaners, oven sprays and many other chemical cleaning agents. In combination with lemon, it also works wonders. This way you can save a lot of poison and garbage.

7. More sustainability in everyday life through second hand

When it comes to fashion and furniture, you can easily take a big step towards sustainability by buying from secondhand-Goods.

Clothing second-hand is no longer old and worn out anyway. Nowadays, second-hand shops carry fashionable, very well-maintained clothes – not only in the city but also online.

With this you are actively working towards it fast fashion-Trend against. Because manufacturers produce far more clothing than we need. The working conditions in the clothing factories are extremely bad. Many people, including children and young people, work every day without a break for very little or no money. Factories are also in poor condition.

Fast fashion is also the reason for high amounts of waste. In addition, unsold clothing items are often burned and disposed of in waterways.

8. Choose sustainable service providers

Also at service products you can easily become greener. All you have to do is take a closer look at the providers whose products you are purchasing.

On topic banking you could, for example, opt for an environmentally conscious bank. Because banking institutions are allowed to use your invested money for their own investments. For example, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank have been involved in the cotton trade in Uzbekistan in the past connected. Children in particular are forced to harvest there. Sustainable Banks exclude investments in environmentally harmful and inhuman industries.

The same principle also applies to insurances. They also make investments with your membership fee. Therefore, take a close look at the philosophy and programs of your chosen service providers.

9. Use a sustainable internet search engine

studies have shown in the past that the IT and telecommunications industry is responsible for about 2.8 percent of global fossil greenhouse gas emissions – and the trend is rising.

But in everyday digital life you can easily work more sustainably – for example when using search engines. ‘Cause every time you Google used, the server farm behind it emits hundreds of kilograms of CO2 per second.

That’s why there are now different ones sustainable alternatives. The operators have made it their task to transform your daily search queries into additional added value for society and the environment.

For example, search engine operator Ecosia plants a tree for about every 45th search query. The company also donates to environmental protection organizations and supports founders and start-ups that develop climate-friendly technologies.

10. Less streaming, more fresh air

The carbon footprint you leave behind by watching the ten greatest hits on Netflix for a month is about the same as driving across Saturn. One hour streaming on different platforms causes 42.7 grams of CO2 – and everyone knows that it doesn’t stop at one hour.

So if you read a book or go for a walk with your dog or friends instead of streaming films and series, you not only live greener immediately. This can also have a positive effect on your psyche.

Sustainability in everyday life: the possibilities are endless

These ten tips show just a few ways you can make your everyday life greener. There are many more ways to live more sustainably with small changes – for example, with regard to how much meat you consume and how high your water consumption is.

Of course, the well-being of the planet is not in your hands alone. However, no one can completely absolve themselves of responsibility. That’s why it’s important that we all keep ourselves informed about how we can help the planet.

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