10.5 Tips for a better world

When buying food, pay attention to where the products come from and how they are produced. It is important that the products are as regional, seasonal and organic as possible. This way you eat healthier, support small businesses in your region and reduce CO₂-emissions caused by the long transport routes. Through the purchase of Organic products you are not only doing something good for your health but also sending an important signal to the food industry. You are showing that you do not want to buy food contaminated with toxic substances and that animal welfare is important to you. When buying exotic products from abroad (coffee, mango, chocolate, etc.), pay attention to Fairtrade. By doing so, you are supporting fair working conditions and not buying products that have been produced using child labour. And while you're at it, make sure that you don't buy any products containing palm oil (margarine, creams, etc.), because hectares of our precious rainforest are still being razed to the ground for the large-scale production of palm oil! This not only accelerates global climate change but also destroys the habitat of numerous animals, plants and people.

Important.

More than half of our food ends up in the bin! Most of it before it even reaches our dinner table. Nevertheless, each and every one of us throws away an average of 82kg of food every year, 53kg of which is still edible! So only buy what you really eat and only throw away what is really no longer edible. Inform yourselfhow you can avoid food waste!

Fact.

The best-before date is set by the food industry itself and not by an authority. It merely specifies certain qualitative characteristics (e.g. consistency) of a product and is not an indication of health risks!

When buying clothes, also pay attention to Fair and ecological production. Chill out in the second-hand shop or give the "flea market" in your neighbourhood a try. You'll be surprised! The latter will save you a lot of money and the environment valuable resources that are needed to produce the clothes.

Facts

If you consider all the resources used to produce a single T-shirt, it weighs around five tonnes and around 2,700 litres of that would be water. Although only 2.4% of the world's cotton growing area is used for textile production, around 20% of the world's pesticides are used for this. As a result, 1.5 million people are poisoned every year. In India alone, an estimated 450,000 children work up to twelve hours a day to produce clothing. In return, they receive no more than a wage of 50 centimes in the evening! Sad, but true! And for your latest branded sneakers, which sell for CHF 130, the worker earns just 0.4%. Most of the money probably goes into the pockets of the companies and their bosses, who then use it to buy their new Ferrari!

Almost 90 billion litres of water are bottled in plastic bottles worldwide every year. You think this water is healthier than the water from the tap? Wrong - it's just a marketing strategy to take money out of your pocket. You're also producing a lot of unnecessary packaging material. We have such marvellous tap water in Switzerland! Why buy bottled water every day when you can use a reusable bottle, for example from refiller can be topped up again and again?

Pay attention to water consumption in your daily personal hygiene routine. After all, valuable drinking water comes out of your shower head, which has to be cleaned again after use and requires a lot of energy to heat up. So dear hot showerers: In summer, occasionally turn the tap on a little less hot and ideally buy an energy-saving shower head.

Tip

How many times a day do you flush the toilet? A normal cistern holds about nine to twelve litres of water. This means that every time you flush, you waste a huge amount of water! Are you still okay? Even if you have to deal with "bigger business" from time to time, half a flush is enough and everything is clean. Place two full PET bottles directly in your cistern. This means you use a few litres less per flush. Do the maths over a whole year! AIGHT.

Fact

Of all the water on earth, 2.6% is fresh water and only 0.3% is drinking water. In that sense, it's pretty little to be careless with.

Despite all the advances in today's technology, cars still have a very high CO₂ emissions. Try to use public transport as often as possible. With these petrol prices, you can get away even cheaper with a Half-Fare travelcard! If you still occasionally travel by car, pay attention to your driving style: high-speed and noisy cruising is more pitiful than cool and costs a lot of petrol. Sports fan. Attend a fuel-saving training course instead. It's good for the environment and fills your petrol tank.

It's best to get your arse on your bike. It's the quickest way to get around the city anyway! Or you can simply walk.

Important

If you're planning your well-deserved holiday, give Europe and Switzerland a chance. Instead of taking a cheap flight, take the train or bus. You'll save the environment massively and can enjoy the wonderful scenery on the way. After all, the journey is the reward. If you fly, then at least offset your CO₂ -emissions. For example here: atomosfair.de / myclimate.org / Fairclimate Fund

After tip 8, it should now go without saying that you should separate your rubbish from now on. But it is much more important to make sure that you produce less waste. Grab your rucksack or a cloth bag when you go shopping. That way, you don't have to take a new plastic bag with you every time you go shopping, which you'll throw straight back in the bin when you get home.

Take a look around your home and be honest with yourself: how many clothes and shoes do you have in your wardrobe? How many of them have you not worn for ages? What else do you have lying around? How much stuff do you really need? How much of it is a luxury and completely superfluous? If we bought less stuff in general and therefore produced less (the principle of supply and demand), there would ultimately be a lot less waste. The more we buy and consume, the greater the damage we cause. We are already suffering the consequences of our parents' luxury lifestyle. Imagine what the next generation will look like.

A clean planet, clean air, uncontaminated food and drinking water are much more important than all that stuff that gets on your nerves after you've watched it three times anyway.

Tip

Before you throw away something old - sorry, you've been recycling lately - first think about whether a mate, your little sister or someone else could use it. Think about whether you could make something new out of what you're about to throw away. By the way, this is called upcycling.