- Green Lifestyle
Green shopping made easy.
Very unfortunate, but true: Nutrition and consumption – aka shopping – have the largest share of a person’s personal carbon footprint (next to housing) – …
Barbara Beiertz
… at least statistically, in Germany it is 10.3 tons (!) per year per person. And it should actually go down to 1 (!) ton. These are the German climate targets* But how can we consume more consciously and sustainably? Doesn’t that simply mean…
To give up consumption?
No. And yes. Sustainability – meaning the long-term responsible use of resources, environmental protection, climate protection – can be achieved by doing without. If we stopped eating, drinking, breathing, driving, flying, making phone calls, etc., the climate catastrophe would probably soon be over. But so would our lives. It may be a very black and white picture, but it’s basically true. People eat, drink, breathe, live… The only question is: how? Our social and economic systems are based on growth and therefore also on consumption. You can like that or not – changing it is… phew. Environmentally friendly, resource-conserving consumption is rather easy. The most important factor – and therefore the biggest lever for each of us – is what we buy: The product.
The more sustainable the product, the more sustainable the purchase.
Kind of logical, isn’t it? Let’s take coffee as an example. Its cultivation can account for 70% of the environmental impact in the worst case or only 1% in the best case.** Organic Fairtrade coffee like that from Mount Hagen is therefore much more sustainable than conventionally grown coffee, which is produced at starvation wages and dumping prices. But it’s not just cultivation that makes food sustainable.
5 tips for buying food more environmentally friendly.
- Organic or Demeter cultivation – that goes without saying. You only need to look for the relevant organic labels (more on this in the link section).
- Regionality. Is not always decisive. Tomatoes from Germany are definitely not climate-friendly in winter, but they are in summer. ***
- Seasonality. Definitely important. Raspberries or strawberries in winter are a no-go, just like tomatoes (also they don’t taste good).
- Shop plastic-free. The less packaging, the less waste, the better. Bringing your own bags is not that complicated.
- Plant-based. Animal products have a significantly higher carbon footprint than plant-based products. Which doesn’t mean that everyone has to become vegan. But pea milk, for example, is a great alternative to cow’s milk.
And finally: Eat up.
In Germany, 690 pounds of food are thrown away – every second!**** In view of this, “zero waste” takes on a very personal note. So, if you only buy what you actually use, you’ve already achieved a lot. Which, by the way, doesn’t just apply to food.
Clothes alert.
Did you know that every European buys around 57 pounds of textiles on average per year and throws 24 pounds away? And that only 1% of it is recycled? All in all, this caused around 595 pounds of CO₂ emissions per person in the EU in 2020***** (EU population: 448 million). Unbelievable? But true. And unfortunately, the trend is rising.
More conscious shopping, more second-hand, less “fast fashion”, fewer bad buys and more repairs would help. As there are now also a whole range of responsibly produced fashion labels (“Utopia – The best fashion labels for fairtrade clothing and sustainable fashion”), even buying new clothes can become a little better.
Personally, I was quite shocked by all these figures. You often think: “Oh, that little bit doesn’t matter”. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Every little bit “harms”. – But every little bit also helps. It’s easy to remember the 5 tips for climate-friendly food shopping. Being a little more conscious with your clothes is also easy. And – boom – sustainable consumption has become much easier.
If you want to learn more about this topic: We have put together a few links for you here.
More information and tips for more sustainable shopping:
“What is sustainability? And does it work at all?”
“Is everything that claims to be organic actually organic?”
“How fair is fair trade? Part 1.“
“Black coffee – prepared green.”
“Bye bye fast fashion.“
“Fashion victim”
Sources:
*www.bmuv.de/themen/nachhaltigkeit/konsum-und-produkte/nachhaltiger-konsum#c12955
**www.br.de/radio/bayern1/inhalt/experten-tipps/umweltkommissar/kaffee-kapseln-pads-umwelt-100.html
***www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/6232/dokumente/ifeu_2020_oekologische-fussabdruecke-von-lebensmitteln.pdf
****www.wwf.de/themen-projekte/landwirtschaft/ernaehrung-konsum/essen-wir-das-klima-auf
*****www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/de/article/20201208STO93327/umweltauswirkungen-von-textilproduktion-und-abfallen-infografik
