It is easy to say that I eat vegetarian two times a week or that I rode 100 kilometres by bike this month. What about energy? How many kilowatts did you save today? The truth is that we need better metering systems to keep us better updated about the energy use at home. While we wait for the smart systems we should still pay attention to energy use. Turn down the thermostat, plug out, switch off and turn off the (hot) tap. But how much does the energy use add weight to our eco-backpacks?
Energy makes about one fifths typical EU citizen eco-backpack. This means roughly 6000 kilograms. This includes heating, electricity use, gas etc. If you’d like to save some kilograms and kilowatts and make a difference you could for instance:
Turn off one 40 W light bulb for 10 h and save almost 1 kg
Wash one full load of dishes instead of two half loads and save more than 2 kg
Cut off hot water for one minute and save almost 1 kg
Wash laundry in 40⁰C instead of 60⁰C and save about 1 kg
Hang dry one load of laundry outdoors instead of tumble drier and save more than 5 kg (it is true that it consumes multiple times more energy to dry your laundry than to wash it).
Have you came across with the news from Vermont U.S. where rebellious people fight for their “Right To Dry” clothes outdoors? Watch the news clip.
Join the rebellious clothesline movement and pick a few other eco-actions to drop off few kilograms from your eco-backpack.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Where does all the stuff come from – the Story of Stuff
Have you already heard about the video called The Story of Stuff? Even the New York Times wrote a front page story about it. What is it all about? As the title of the film says, it is a story about the stuff we consume. What is actually needed along the lifecycle to produce, distribute and get rid of it? And even more importantly, why do we consume so much stuff?
The 20-minute well made film with clear and simple arguments illustrates well the material flows, pollution and social inequalities related to production, consumption and disposal of stuff. The video shows all the issues that are hidden from us when we go shopping. In that sense the idea goes hand in hand with the ecological backpack concept, make visible the hidden flows required to produce a certain item.
The point is that we don’t actually pay the full price for the products we buy. The externalities like environmental costs and inhumane working conditions of production are not included in the price tag. What is even more important in my opinion is the critique towards the consumer culture. The current pace of buying and getting rid of stuff is certainly not sustainable. Telling people not to consume is not very efficient if people really believe they need all the new gadgets, larger homes and so on. But when you realise how the needs actually created by the advertisements and the pressure of the consumer culture, it is much easier to ask oneself if the needs are real or not.
The SoS film has been widely used by teachers in the United States to supplement the traditional materials because of the lack of important information about pollution and climate change. When we have presented the One did it concept in conferences, every time people ask when our site will be available in other languages and how they could use the site and material for education purposes. We know that some teachers have already used our site on their classes but wanted to provide something more.
During the Finnish sustainable consumption campaign week (Nuukuusviikko) in spring 2009 we provided some material for schools and other interested organisations to arrange a simple contest to raise awareness about ecological backpack concept. At the moment we are working together with the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, CSCP on a pilot project for introducing some electronic material and new concepts to bring sustainable lifestyle issues to high school classes. The pilot project will start in September 2009 in Germany and Finland. The learnings will be presented in two conferences in Germany and Belgium before the end of the year. We look forward to launch the concept for a wider audience after the pilot phase. We’ll keep you updated about the developments.
The 20-minute well made film with clear and simple arguments illustrates well the material flows, pollution and social inequalities related to production, consumption and disposal of stuff. The video shows all the issues that are hidden from us when we go shopping. In that sense the idea goes hand in hand with the ecological backpack concept, make visible the hidden flows required to produce a certain item.
The point is that we don’t actually pay the full price for the products we buy. The externalities like environmental costs and inhumane working conditions of production are not included in the price tag. What is even more important in my opinion is the critique towards the consumer culture. The current pace of buying and getting rid of stuff is certainly not sustainable. Telling people not to consume is not very efficient if people really believe they need all the new gadgets, larger homes and so on. But when you realise how the needs actually created by the advertisements and the pressure of the consumer culture, it is much easier to ask oneself if the needs are real or not.
The SoS film has been widely used by teachers in the United States to supplement the traditional materials because of the lack of important information about pollution and climate change. When we have presented the One did it concept in conferences, every time people ask when our site will be available in other languages and how they could use the site and material for education purposes. We know that some teachers have already used our site on their classes but wanted to provide something more.
During the Finnish sustainable consumption campaign week (Nuukuusviikko) in spring 2009 we provided some material for schools and other interested organisations to arrange a simple contest to raise awareness about ecological backpack concept. At the moment we are working together with the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, CSCP on a pilot project for introducing some electronic material and new concepts to bring sustainable lifestyle issues to high school classes. The pilot project will start in September 2009 in Germany and Finland. The learnings will be presented in two conferences in Germany and Belgium before the end of the year. We look forward to launch the concept for a wider audience after the pilot phase. We’ll keep you updated about the developments.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Break the routine
We love the holiday season don’t we? Especially the possibility to break routines is great. You know spend time and effort on things we really love to do. The change in routines can be either positive or negative from the environmental perspective but that is not the main point here. Important is that during holiday we have time and energy to question some the locked-in habits of our everyday life.
It would be great to see the routine breaking mindset more often out of the holiday season too. When following discussions about sustainable lifestyles and practices there is no debate without comments like “sounds like a good idea but in Normal life of Normal people it is impossible”. I bet there are definitely normal people telling their stories about slow travel, bicycle commuting, reusable nappies and vegetarian (or even vegan)cooking to take a few examples.
Even if we are not ready to turn our whole life upside down at once we can find some of the issues so inspiring that we decide to break our routine and take a try. We all are familiar with the feeling that we want to do something better or differently. It is much easier to break the habit if we have some concrete advice to start with. Small changes don’t need to be complicated we just need the holiday type of mindset to make the (pro-environment) change. Let’s hold on to the open-minded attitude while we are back to our desks and everyday life.
It would be great to see the routine breaking mindset more often out of the holiday season too. When following discussions about sustainable lifestyles and practices there is no debate without comments like “sounds like a good idea but in Normal life of Normal people it is impossible”. I bet there are definitely normal people telling their stories about slow travel, bicycle commuting, reusable nappies and vegetarian (or even vegan)cooking to take a few examples.
Even if we are not ready to turn our whole life upside down at once we can find some of the issues so inspiring that we decide to break our routine and take a try. We all are familiar with the feeling that we want to do something better or differently. It is much easier to break the habit if we have some concrete advice to start with. Small changes don’t need to be complicated we just need the holiday type of mindset to make the (pro-environment) change. Let’s hold on to the open-minded attitude while we are back to our desks and everyday life.
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