Putzen ohne Giftstoffe, Bicarbonate – ein kleines Wundermittel

Natron

Auch unter dem Namen Bicarbonate of Soda, Baking Soda, Speisesoda bekannt. Mit Natron lassen sich viele, chemisch hergestellte und umweltschädliche Produkte ersetzen. Beispiele dafür sind:

a) Unangenehme Gerüche vertreiben
Katzentoilette, 2-3 Esslöffel Soda, Kühlschrank; 2-3 Esslöffel Natron auf einen Unterteller
b) Flecken entfernen
z.B. auf Küchenarbeitsfläche. Nass abwischen, Natronpulver darauf streuen, einwirken lassen. Mit Tuch feucht aufnehmen.

c) Abfluss entstopfen
Drei Esslöffel Natron in den Abfluss geben, eine halbe Tasse Essig dazukoppen. Abfluss verschliessen. Die so entstehende Kohlensäure löst Kalk und Schmutz.

d) Zahnpflege
Zum Ersatz herkömmlicher Mundwasser. Natron neutralisiert nämlich saure Speiseresten zwischen den Zähnen, so dass kein Karies mehr entstehen kann. Er beseitigt zudem Mundgeruch. 1 Teelöffel Natrium auf 1 Glas Wasser geben, kräftig gurgeln und damit spülen.

e) Windschutzscheibe reinigen
Gegen Dreck und Insekten Natron auf einen feuchten Schwamm geben, und Scheibe damit putzen. Danach mit klarem Wasser nachspülen und trockenwischen.

From No-Impact Man to No-Impact Org

City-Dweller Colin Beavan wonders, if he could live for a year without making any net impact on the environment. He swears off packaged food, plastic and paper; goes organic, turns off his power and becomes a walking, cycling, composting, local-food-eating ecologist. During his “off-grid” year, the questions arise whether our enormous use of resource actually makes us any happier. As idealism and lifelong habits collide, Beavan shows the rest of us, how we can realistically live in a more eco-effective and content life in an age of inconvenient truths.

Not only has Colin been able to prove that in fact,  a “waste-less” life can lead to a healthier and happier lifestyle, he has also provided us with guidance. On his website “No Impact Org”  you’ll find a tool – the “no impact experiment – a one-week-carbon-cleanse”.

Try it – and no excuse!

http://noimpactproject.org/

Der Grüne Planet oder Zurück zur Evolution

Weit weg von der Erde, 4000 Reisejahre weit entfernt existiert der grüne Planet,  auf dem Verwandte von uns, den Menschen leben. Sie sind soweit entwickelt, dass sie sämtliche Objekte eliminiert haben und ihre volle Konzentration, ihr Wissen, ihre Stärken und Energien auf den Fortschritt ihrer Körper, Gedanken und geistigen Fähigkeiten richten. Einmal im Jahr treffen sich die passionierten Naturmenschen in einem ausgestorbenen Vulkan, um über Neuigkeiten, Ernteverteilung und Auslandsreisen zu berichten. Gewöhnlich weigern sich die  Planetenbewohner, einen Fuss auf die Erde zu setzen; dieses Jahr ist jedoch alles anders. Mila, eine Witwe, entschliesst sich, die Reise anzutreten. Ihr Vater war der letzte Planetarier, der die Erde betreten hatte und mit ihr als Baby zurückkehrte. Nun möchte Mila endlich ihre Heimat erkunden. Sie lässt ihre vier Kinder auf dem grünen Planeten zurück und landet auf einer Pariser Hauptstraße. Der Kulturschock stellt sich sogleich ein, als Mila den Asphaltdschungel sieht und mit Umweltverschmutzungen aller Art konfrontiert wird. Auf ihrer Odyssee durch die Großstadt lernt sie viele unbewusste Menschen kennen, deren Schicksal sie mit Hilfe kleiner Tricks zum Positiven wendet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd1nh0eL4S8

Vorwärts zu einer zukunftsfähigen Gesellschaft

Wir stehen an den Grenzen des Planeten; globale Erwärmung, episches Artensterben und mehr – die Zeit, umzusteigen, ist jetzt da. Erneuerbare Energien, Bio, Fairtrade, Energieeffizienz – sind hier die Stichworte.

Vorwärts zu einer zukunftsfähigen Gesellschaft!

Als konkrete Umsetzung lädt Filme für die Erde zu kostenlosen Filmabenden ein, nach welchen jeder Besucher eine ebenso kostenlose “Weitergabe”-DVDs des Films bekommt, die aber nicht behalten, sondern von Freund zu Freund weitergegeben werden soll – um so das Leben möglichst vieler Menschen zu berühren und das Wissen weiterzugeben. Auf der Website von “Filme für die Erde” können im Shop weitere Filme bestellt werden.

Die nächste Film-Vorführung:
Bei dir zu Hause?

Leih dir deine Filme aus – zeig ihn Freunden und rege damit konkrete Handlungen an!
www.filmefuerdieerde.ch

Film-Tipp
Recipes for Desaster
Ein Dokumentarfilmer überzeugt Frau und Kinder, ein Jahr lang auf den Konsum von Erdölprodukten zu verzichten. Die Familie lernt nicht nur, Werte zu hinterfragen, zugleich werden auch Willenskraft und Familienglück selbst auf die Probe gestellt. Witzig, gesellschaftskritisch und menschlich.

Kostenlos ausleihen unter: corinne@theyeatfish.ch

The 4th revolution – the abundance of renewable energies

Renewable energies are the way to go. And it IS possible to cover our thirst for energy  by using renewable energies. The 4th revolution – a documentary by Carl A Fechner, is a beacon of hope. He believes that we can indeed become a world community and that we will be able to become “unaddicted” from oil. This means that the global economy has to be restructured and also means a redistribution of power. We need to readjust the way capital is distributed all over the world.  The abundance of renewable energies means: empowering people to look after themselves. Empowering poorer countries to really become self-reliant .

Coming soon to a cinema near you – check it out:

http://www.energyautonomy.org/

Alternatively, you can also borrow the movie from me  (will only be mailed within Europe)
Send an E-Mail to: corinne@theyeatfish.ch

Rethinking the economy

I recently stumbled upon an article in the “Schweizerischer Beobachter” where  Daniel Model, CEO of  Model – a packaging company envisions his own state including his own currency. In an interview he states that our current states are illusionary. (Most western states are on the brink of bankruptcy). They make promises which they will probably not be able to keep. People become dependent from their states and expect all kinds of services instead of being self-sufficient. Indendent thinking is surpressed, people are virtually sucked dry by their governments – as state debts increase, and states look for last resorts to raise funds .

I think his vision is a beginning. However at the same time that our states may go bust, our oil-dependency, our current economical system, looming environmental catastrophies have to be dealt with.

The challenges are huge – and they are solvable. As an example Richard Branson tells the story in his book “Screw it – let’s do it” how he wants to make Virgin environmentally fit. He also works together with several NGO’s which are to be considered the “Think-Tanks” of  much needed economic change. These are:

“NEF” – the new economics foundation
An organization which aims to inspire and demonstrate real economic well-being and improve the quality of life that challenge the mainstream thinking on economic, environmental and social issues. Nef was founded in 1986 by the leaders of “The Other Economic Summit” TOES which forced issues such as international debt on the agenda of the G7 and G8 summits. NEF has recognized that the pursuit of GROWTH HAS FAILED on its own terms, and for the people and the planet. Nef is working on a new way to structue the economy.  It is NEF’s firm believ that there is nothing ‘natural’ about our current economic arrangements. They have been consciously designed to achieve a simple objective: growth. But growth is not making us happier, it is creating dysfunctional and unequal societies, and if it continues will make large parts of the planet unfit for human habitation.

http://www.theclimategroup.org/
is an organization whose goal it is to help government and business set the world economy on the path to a low-carbon, prosperous future.
To reach this goal, THE Climate Group has  created a coalition of governments and the world’s most influential businesses all committed to tackling climate change.Through this coalition, THE Climate Group is helping to set the targets, create the policies, build the confidence, and generate the political willpower needed to make the changes the world requires by 2050.

For further reading I recommend the newspaper “Der Zeitpunkt” . It is  a Swiss German monthly magazine, which creates awareness about organizations, projects, products that are ecologically speaking “sound”. For me it has become kind of a “guidance” and to me incorporates hope for a saner and healthier world.

The need to act and change our way of living has been recognized. Those ideas haven’t reached the decision makers and they haven’t had an impact on our “consumption” and waste-producing society yet. That has to happen fast – NOW. And this is what this blog is about. Tell the story of people and projects that matter and that have the power to change to create a “better world” for us all.

A new way of living

What would a sustainable world look like? How would we live and work?
Have you ever wondered? What can we do?

In 1960 Switzerland was  a 2000 Watt Society . Today each habitant uses about 5000 Watt. In Switzerland most energy is consumed in the form of fossil fuels (3000 watts out of 5000 watts). 1000 watts stem from nuclear energy and 1000 watts from renewable energies.

That means that there is a tremendous need for reduction of energy consumption – especially of fossil fuels. Swiss scientists believe that the rate of fossil fuel consumption could be halved by 2050.

“Novatlantis” is a project in Switzerland which was initiated by the ETH. It’s aim is to show by example, how a 200o Watt society could possibly look like. Of course it means that we would have to change our habits and probably also let go of our belief that our economies need to grow – no matter what.

The project leader of “Novatlantis” state that lots of energy gets lost on the way to the consumer.  In general, energy is used quite wastefully (energy bulbs as a example produce more heat than light, the way that modern car engines burn petrol, many buildings that aren’t very well insulated, packaging we use for our products, server farms that run night and day). Improving the effectiveness of how we use energy could already reduce our energy consumption by 30%!

Plastic that is used by today’s packaging industry could be replaced with bio-plastics – made of vegetable starch, which are fully degradable and cause no pollution of the environment after their disposal.

In closed  cycles only products would be produced that cause no waste and could be completely recycled (such as cars, kitchen appliances etc).

Inefficient appliances and products would be replaced by more efficient ones. (In Switzerland, conventional light bulbs won’t be sold after 2011, as an example)

Smarter living: Eco Villages show, how a community can establish a self-sustaining life-style. They grow their own food, produce their own energy, life in smaller but more efficient entities and in general form self-help-centers.

Oil has to be substituted – for instance by the use of sun energy to heat water and produce power

And finally we need to abandon the belief that any economic system can grow forever. We need to buy less, use less and be content with less. It is a hard step to take it is more or less like the situation when people had to acknoledge that the earth wasn’t flat and the center of the universe. I am really convinced that the new world will be a healthier one.

In my next blogs I will continue to write about the different ways how to use energy more efficiently and  about new technologies and scientific news.

http://www.novatlantis.ch

Tags: 2000 watts society, energy consumption, Environment, renewable energy, solar technology, sustainability

Earth 2100

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQBN5_UUEg&feature=PlayList&p=5E508CF8A647F16A&index=14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWCxH0T-p8&feature=PlayList&p=5E508CF8A647F16A&index=15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9qzByexh38&feature=PlayList&p=5E508CF8A647F16A&index=16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tQMfeAW-hU&feature=PlayList&p=5E508CF8A647F16A&index=19

Earth 2100 is an ABC-Series that shows how climatic change is going to affect our world & our societies – if we do not change our way of living and thinking.

I believe, that we can only survive as a species if we start working together and develop a global sense of connectedness. And that means we cannot go on plundering other countries, waste energy,  dump our waste on the coast of the third world and in general think it can go on like that forever.

Why societies break down:

- unchecked growth of population
- depletion of resources

A good example of that is what happened on the Easter Islands . This is man-made! The people of the Easter Island cut off all of their trees in order to build ships, erosion set in -and they could no longer grow food on the Island. People went hungry and finally killed each other!

And this isn’t an exception! Other civilizations have broken down for exactly the same reasons! Like the roman empire (they couldn’t produce enough food to feed their armies) for instance. So nothing new under the sun either!

So what to do?

a) population has to be kept in check! So that it can be sustained.  (goobye to the Catholic Church which will vanish along with mankind)

b) ways have to be found that the population can produce local food, without destroying its environment.

And in general: local communities have to be strengthened. Consum or consumption of energy needs to be taxed .

Or else we might really end up in Lucie’s world (the story teller) of flooding, droughts, famine, mass migration,  disease, breakdown of societies and and governments.

So what else is there to do?

- Tax consumption (quit taxation of  income)
- Tax fossil energies and invest in alternative energies
- Subsidize R&D of alternative energies
- get your own garden, grow your own food or buy local food
- sell your car or buy a smaller car