How can you live in an environment-friendly way?

How can you live in an environment-friendly way?

Global warming concerns all of us! Global warming is likely to produce more extreme weather events - for example droughts, floods and hurricanes. Another problem is the rising of the sea levels due to the retreat of the sea ice. Other likely effects include species extinctions, and changes in agricultural yields. The main cause of global warming is the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Another cause is the increasing concentration of atmospheric aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere which prevents a cooling effect). Other factors which also affect our climate include land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation.

Our daily action can influence our climate and protect our environment! SCI would like to challenge you to think about what you can do to make your way of travelling and living as eco-friendly as possible! In order to create environmental awareness, SCI wants to encourage volunteers to reflect on the reasons of the waste of our natural resources. Each Person can do something against global warming by saving energy. A public discussion about the climate problems is needed, too. For that it is necessary to have the background knowledge about production processes and the long term effects, they have on global warming. The global warming issue has to be seen in a wide political, social and economical context.

What ideas do you have for a sustainable way of living in daily camp life? Being a part of an international group you will discover that each person – depending on its social and cultural background amongst other things - has different attitudes or different values and needs. Things which might be very important to you may not be that essential for somebody else when discussing consumption habits and behaviours. Try to convince others on the basis of good arguments rather than to judge them too quickly or to make them feeling guilty.

It is important for everybody to question their own lifestyle and consumer habits as well. Many of the actions we can take to protect the environment better are simple and just need a bit of getting used to. Find alternative ways of living in the group which have less negative impact on our environment. Even with a small workcamp budget you can choose for a sustainable way of living!

Some examples for eco-friendly decisions – not only during the workcamp:

• Use bikes and public transport (bus and train) instead of cars or airplanes.
• Try to reduce garbage in everyday life and to separate garbage for recycling.
• Save energy / electricity.
• Make careful decisions in daily shopping!
• Buy fruits and vegetables from the local region.
• Choose food which is ”eco-friendly” (e.g. biological).
• Choose fresh food instead of pre-cooked food in tins or plastics and often contains food additives!
• Decide for food / drinks which are sold with very little (or re-cyclable) packaging. Teas and tap water are cheap, healthy and eco-friendly.
• Vegetarian meals are substantially and tasty, a low meat consume is eco-friendly and healthy. The intensive livestock farming in a highly industrialized and globalized world is one of the reasons for climate change and additionally a torture for the animals.
• When buying meat, choose good quality and eco-friendly products. Ask yourself: Is it necessary to eat meat every day? Where does the meat come from? Under which conditions were the animals kept? Have they been transported over long distances? What were the animals fed? Is it better to buy from a local butcher rather than from a big discount supermarket?
• Prepare meals which can also be eaten the next day and avoid throwing food away.
• Use only as much water as you really need. When washing dishes, save water by not rinsing under running tap water. If possible, take only one shower a day. If you don’t have enough clothes to fill the washing machine, ask others if they also need to wash their clothes.

For sure you have additional ideas to protect the environment and the climate and to preserve the natural resources! You can also find good tips for a more ecological life (SCI internal and private life) on the webpage greentoolbox.