Why is Digital Sustainability Important? 11 Conscientious Tips to Help You

Why is Digital Sustainability Important? 11 Conscientious Tips to Help You

For a long time, I thought that working digitally was not polluting and therefore to be welcomed. It has now become clear to me that there are different ways of working digitally.  Digital sustainability is not something that can be taken for granted.

An immense solar energy park is being built in the Netherlands. The residential area next door will unfortunately not receive any of it because the entire capacity has been bought by Microsoft that needs it for its data center.

Read more

Biodynamic Farming and its Unknown Monumental Impact on the Ban of Pesticides

Biodynamic Farming and its Unknown Monumental Impact on the Ban of Pesticides

Silent Spring is one of the most prominent books regarding the negative effects of pesticides, with direct influence on government, industry, and civil society.

More specifically the book was a fierce complaint against the use of the pesticide DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.

The book was published in 1962 and was written by Rachel Carson. The impact of the book was immediate and substantial. Silent Spring lies at the roots of the rapid and extensive growth of the environmental movement in the 1970s. 

Read more

Why does Alternative Agriculture Come in So Many Unique Varieties?

Why does Alternative Agriculture Come in So Many Unique Varieties?

To understand why alternative agriculture comes in so many unique varieties, it is good to review some of the most prominent practices. 

All alternative agriculture practices have one thing in common: the drive for sustainability.

This drive is no simple feat because it includes the balancing of totally different and seemingly opposite concerns, such as the supply of sufficient human food, and valuable biodiversity.

Despite the fact that there are still too many people who do not have enough food, and there are still way too many people who eat far too much food, not very much is required to restore the human food balance.

Read more

What are the Dangers of Sitting too Long and How to Prevent it?

What are the Dangers of Sitting too Long and How to Prevent it?

Tom and I don’t have to make an effort for 2 of the – probably most – deadly factors for an ageing person: sitting too long and loneliness. I wrote about turning loneliness actively around in How to make friends when you are older? And this article is about the dangers of sitting too long and how to prevent it.

Ever since I have had my Oura ring I am aware of how much I spend my time sitting. Even though I consider myself an active person. Originally I bought the ring to give me insights into my sleep, but the ring collects a lot more data. Not just my active time, but also the inactive time.

Read more

Basic Principles of Sustainability: What Should we Pay Attention to?

Basic Principles of Sustainability: What Should we Pay Attention to?

How do we distinguish the basic principles of sustainability? Sustainability can be divided into subtopics in various ways.

Tom and I usually keep it at 3: planet, people, profit. And those 3 can also be subdivided.

Recently I found a list that seemed very interesting to me: social, economic, cultural, and environmental, each of which is subdivided into 6 principles.

This article gives an overview of all our articles that belong to such a subtopic.

Read more

Where to Find Sustainable Communities to Our Liking?

Where to Find Sustainable Communities to Our Liking?

Where to find sustainable communities if you have recently moved to another country? It was complicated for Tom and me to find like-minded people and companies to our liking when we had just moved.

Fortunately, the internet exists. It’s easy to search on a few keywords. We started with organic and markets. Other words we have looked for are ecological, biological, sustainable event, local activities.

We then visited the promising found addresses. When you’re focused like this, it’s easy to get in touch with people. You can ask about their products or ask if they know of other people who are interested in ‘keyword’.

Read more

Why is Contribution and Reciprocity in Society Important and Sustainable?

Why is Contribution and Reciprocity in Society Important and Sustainable?

Both Tom and I talk a lot about contributing and reciprocity in society. With our friends. In our blog posts. In our Facebook posts. Most of the time this is about volunteering in some way or another. But there are many other ways.

Reciprocity in society is a common gesture. A neighbor smiles at us and next time when they are not at home, we collect their delivered goods from the courier.

Society is built on written and unwritten laws. Some are evident. You do not enter another person’s house without an invitation. Others are less obvious. For example, when you borrow your neighbors’ chainsaw, they might expect you to be extra careful when you use it.

Read more

What is a Sustainable Home and How Can We Develop One?

What is a Sustainable Home and How Can We Develop One?

The question – What is a sustainable home and how can we develop one? – requires an answer from 2 perspectives. 

The first perspective is that of the current state of the environment and the circumstances in which our home exists. 

The second perspective is that of the design and the construction of the actual home. What materials are used or do we want to be used? What are the esthetics? How much space do we desire?

Read more