Sustainability - Our Green Health

How to Reduce the Use of Plastic and Save Plants, Animals, and Our Health

16/03/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

How to reduce the use of plastic is essentially our responsibility. Luckily there are numerous ways in which we can reduce the use of plastic, either at our job or at home.

As a matter of fact, it is quite easy. Imagine what our average day looks like. We get out of bed, freshen ourselves up, get dressed, eat, work, eat, try to relax, and go to bed again.

During such an average day there are 3 activities that are inseparably linked with the use of plastic: hygiene, consumption, and leisure. Every type of activity offers alternatives for the plastics we use.

Why Water Management is Important and How We Can Contribute

04/03/202204/03/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

Water management is important. This is a conviction we all share. Water management is important because we need clear and clean, in other words, potable water.

At the same time, water management is complicated. It’s complicated because it’s a cyclic and very vulnerable process. For example, our water is purified twice, before and after we use it.

This is a costly and peculiar way of managing something which is so important to us. Fortunately, we can make a substantial personal effort to improve water management.

How to Convert to Organic Farming?

25/02/202225/02/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

How to convert to organic farming is complicated. Not because of the actual agricultural transition. The final results will give most farmers much more pleasure and satisfaction. Modern conventional farming is doctored out for the farmers in the offices of banks, multinationals, and supermarkets. There is not much fun in farming like this.

No, the biggest problem of the conversion, and the consecutive organic farming experience, is the incessant bureaucracy. This should not be a problem when conventional farmers also had to go through all the same paperwork. Yet, they don’t have to.

Grow your own Fruits and Vegetables Sustainably and Tasty

14/02/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

What motivates us to grow our own fruits and vegetables? The effort as such of course. The prospect of a harvest, no matter how modest. A green and at the same time colorful garden. Foods without poison. Improvement of the environment.

The fact that the exercise it takes to grow your own fruits and vegetables, in combination with the outdoor work, keeps you fit. Of course, the examples of others also motivate particularly well, because there is no motivation without inspiration.

Why we Desperately Need Sustainable Citizens’ Initiatives

28/01/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

We desperately need more sustainable citizens’ initiatives, because we cannot trust politicians to take the effort. I explain my lack of trust in politicians by expressing my amazement about some peculiar political beliefs.

I do this to introduce a project that tries to change devastating agricultural practices for the better: GO Agrodiverso.

It’s an amazing project because it’s aimed at the conservation of as great a variety of national fruits and vegetables as possible. The participants want more biodiversity in agriculture.

Global Biodiversity Dictates the Quality of Our Life

24/01/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

Global biodiversity dictates the quality of our life. You might compare it with our personal health. It’s one of our most important assets. The reason of course is that it makes us feel good. Yet, there is more. We perform better when we are healthy. Physically and mentally. We measure our well-being by our health. Our quality of life is measured by our health.

There are a lot of pines where we live. All the neighbours in our street spray poison against the pine processionary caterpillar. This spraying is totally nonsense and goes against every biodiversity logic. All the natural enemies of this caterpillar live here: the praying mantis, dozens of bats, cuckoos, and the great tit. Our neighbours consciously destroy the habitat of these animals and are a threat to the biodiversity in this area.

What’s Wrong with Nuclear Power, and what are Alternative Energy Sources?

21/01/2022 by Tom van Oosterhout

In 2019, nuclear power produced 10% of the global electricity used worldwide. Natural gas provided 24% of the global electricity consumption in 2019. Both are very expensive, non-renewable fossil fuels.

The difference is that nuclear power can only produce electricity, whereas natural gas can also be used to heat buildings, and serve as a combustion to cook, and for cars, ships, and aeroplanes.

There is much concern about nuclear power and natural gas because the European Union plans to accept these as green energy sources to combat climate change. From whatever perspective we judge nuclear power and natural gas, they are all but green.

Climate Change and Statistics are Inextricably Connected

15/12/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Climate change and statistics are a much-debated issue. That is because, more in general, statistics tend to predict the future. In the case of climate change, our future looks rather bleak.

To produce climate change statistics is a highly professional job, requiring meticulously applied scientific, mathematical methods. Only very few professionals know the ins and outs of these methods.

This is probably why the United Nations (UN) generated its climate statistics from 130 countries across the globe. The UN also debated the indicators for their climate change statistics with these countries. This bottom-up approach must provide the much-needed trust.