Sustainability

What does it mean to live a sustainable life?

Living your life in a way so that future generations can meet and satisfy their needs like

you can today

“If you choose not to be consciously involved in the conservation of forms of life other than your own, you

should at least be aware that by doing nothing you are still having an impact this planet.

The water you drink, the food you eat, the land you live on, and the air you pollute were all obtained at the expense of

other creatures.

The decisions we make today on how we are going to share these resources will determine which other species will

inhabit Earth for the indefinite future.”

- R.L. Thayer, 2003

When hearing about things like climate change or the loss of biodiversity, we often feel

helpless:

How can I as an individual even

make a difference?

What is an Ecological footprint?

The area of the earth‘s surface that is needed to

maintain our lifestyle

this area has to provide us with:

• energy• raw materials• nutrition• consumption

measured in hectare/person/year

In order to calculate our ecological footprint, we need to answer the following question:

What area of this planet is available to us?

• only 20% of our planet is „productive“, meaning that the rest does not provide us with anything

• more and more of that area is destroyed on a daily basis!

Ecological footprint

we use ≈ 50% more than the earth can provide us with

this means that we use the Earth’s resources 1,5 times faster than they can be renewed

Ecological footprint

What we have: What we use:

12 billion hectares

what we have to provide us with what we use now

18,9 billion hectares

the actual footprint of what we use now

Ecological footprint

the average German: ≈ footprint of 5 hectares/year

if everyone lived like that we would need 2-3 earths

Calculate your own footprint!

http://www.myfootprint.org/

It is very hard and almost impossible to reverse the damage that has been done

BUT we can stop continuing to cause damage

for this, we can make small changes in our daily lives

we all know that CO2 emissions need to be reduced all over the world

a German citizen produces ≈ 12 tons CO2/year

transportation (car, bus, train) use of electricity heating warm water production of products we consume !!!

Reduce CO2 emissions!

1 liter of fuel = 2,32 kg of CO2 into atmosphere

Reduce CO2 emissions!

⅔ of all car rides are ... shorter than 10km

½ ...shorter than 5km

⅓ ...shorter than 3km!

Carsharing= renting cars for a very short amount of time

Reduce CO2 emissions!

• available in more than 50 cities

• 1 „Carsharing-car“

replaces 5 cars prevents purchase of 5 new

cars

a flight from Frankfurt to LA produces as much CO2

as driving a car for 5 years!

Reduce CO2 emissions!

atmosfair.com myclimate.com

calculate the emissions of your flight calculate the amount of money that is needed to reduce

the same amount of emissions people donate the money to finance projects that reduce

the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions

Garbage also produces CO2:

• the average German produces 500 kg of garbage/year 100 kg of which is compostable

• by only using lunchboxes, Germans could save up to 500.000 tons of garbage per year

Reduce CO2 emissions!

Interesting Facts

• heating water on a stove uses twice as much energy as a water cooker

• TVs on standby cost Germans 3 billion € / year

( = same amount of energy that all of all of Berlin uses)

• a search on Google needs as much energy as an energy-saving lamp does in one hour!

(try Znout = zero negative output search engine)

Using less electricity

Consumption (Konsum)

• Since 1950, the amount of products we consume has

multiplied by 6

• 86% of all products are consumed by 20% of the

human population

We need more sustainable consumption habits:

• be aware of what you buy

• buy less

• buy higher quality products they usually last longer and can often be repaired

Water

Although we usually don’t have water shortages where we live

many countries that produce the products that we consume do…

Consumption

How much water does it take to grow …

... one cup of coffee?

... one bag of chips?

... one cotton t-shirt?

... one pair of jeans?

Write your guesses down on a piece of paper!

170 liters 223 liters

1820 liters

8190 liters

• more than half of the rain forests have been

destroyed

• every minute: an area of rainforest the size of 36 soccer fields is cleared

Germans use 22 kg/paper/year

that is 4 x more than the world average

Germany uses as much paper as ALL of Africa AND South America

combined!

What does our eating behavior have to do with conservation?

out of all EU-countries, Germans pay the least money for their food

within the last 50 years, food has not become more expensive

1950: farmers earned 66% of the price of one loaf of bread2002: '' 5% ''

Should food be this cheap? What do you think?

Watch what you eat!

Organic farming Intensive farming

⅔ less of primary energy high energy costs

½ less greenhouse gases high greenhouse gas emissions

no pesticides extensive use of pesticides

can provide habitat for native species

suppresses native species ( pesticides)

improves soil fertility puts a strain on soil

Watch what you eat!

they also kill native species

by 2000: use of pesticides in Germany caused damage worth 126.000.000 €

pesticide residues (= Rückstände) are even found in arctic fish and mammals

Pesticides

to produce 1kg of meat

Watch what you eat!

10kg of feed needs to be produced

Meat

• ¼ of our planet is grazed by cattle

• 1.3 billion cattle worldwide contributes almost as much to the greenhouse effect as all traffic

Watch what you eat!

most fish populations are overharvested

last 50 years: 90% of all fish populations have crashed

Watch what you eat!

20 million tons of bycatch die every year

Watch what you eat!

regional food travels an average of 260 km

other food travels an average of 1920 km

buy regional food: you know where it comes from

eat seasonal fruit and vegetables: less pesticides and less travel

• you don’t have to be vegetarian maybe just eat less meat

• even buying only 20% of organic products can make a difference

• think about where the products you buy and consume come from

Watch what you eat!

Habitat loss

habitat loss is the major force for the loss of biodiversity

in Germany, parking spots take up more space than living space!

• 70% of Germany‘s biotopes are threatened

• Biotopverbund Natura 2000: connect habitats & nature reserves with each other

Habitat loss

overpass for wildlife crossings across a freeway

by Birkenau

2% of Germany‘s surface area are gardens--> same area as all nature reserves

gardens can serve as...

- habitats for native species and help preserve biodiversity

- wildlife corridors (e.g. for birds or butterflies)

- provide food for native animals--> plant native rather than exotic plants

Help provide habitat

improve habitat for wildlife in your yard or neighborhood is easy:

Help provide habitat

put up bird houses, bat houses or bird feeders

“Insect Hotel”

just let your garden “be” = naturgemäßer Gartenbau

Help provide habitat

“Whether or not an individual happens to realize it, or to be interested in biodiversity, everybody’s life is

affected by, and affects its conservation.”

- Michael P. Marchetti

How can we make a difference?

What CAN we do?

start making little changes and be aware of the things you use, buy, eat

WasteElectricityDrivingRecycling

These are all things that may seem small or insignificant.

But taking them into consideration takes a little bit of pressure away from

wildlife habitats!

everything is always advancing and people always want more. This needs to change:

We should learn to live with a little bit less, or more important:

learn how to enjoy living life with a little bit less