conscientious consumers - Our Green Health

How Can We Avoid Holiday Consumerism in December?

06/12/202106/12/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Every festivity has turned into a marketing event to drive consumerism. This not only means presents but also creates a larger mountain of waste.

In the US 25% more waste is thrown away between Thanksgiving and January 1st, according to Stanford University. It won’t be much better in the EU. Food waste and Christmas trees add to the Carbon footprint.

How can we avoid Holiday consumerism and still have a fun December month? We move further on the green road when we deal with what we want more mindfully.

What are Great Green Presents for the Holidays to Give? 11 Tips

07/12/202124/11/2021 by Hannie Mommers

The holiday season is on its way. Maybe it’s early to talk about the presents we want to come up with to give to our family and friends.

On the other hand, Black Friday (the last Friday of the month) is coming as well. Lots of companies have nice offers either on that specific day or, to avoid crowds, spread out over a few days or weeks.

So why not be frugal and save ourselves the stress of December by thinking about green presents for the holidays now.

What We Can Do about Climate Change and Why We Should

22/11/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

What we can do about climate change has become a major challenge for us.

We are so disappointed with the outcome of the climate conference in Glasgow!

This disappointment brought back a phrase I read a couple of weeks ago ‘The climate changes only in Glasgow!’ I read it originally in Spanish: El clima solo cambia en Glasgow!

The person who shared this outcry probably meant that nobody in Spain cares about climate change.

How to Diminish our Ecological Footprint? Some (Mostly Easy) Tips

03/11/2021 by Hannie Mommers

An individual’s ecological footprint tells how much space he or she needs to live. We are not talking about how big your home is here, but how your lifestyle impacts the environment and how we can diminish our ecological footprint.

Ecological footprints are also referred to as CO2 footprints. Are you an emission-intensive person or do you live frugally?

You cause less environmental damage with a smaller footprint. It has been shown in a number of studies that if everyone had an average footprint of 1.8 hectares, nature could restore itself.

9 Tips on How to Recycle E-Waste Safely and Sustainable

05/07/202105/07/2021 by Hannie Mommers

E-waste, short for Electronic waste, means all your leftover electronics. With technology progressing so fast, many people have tons of old TVs, computers, cell phones, and other old stuff just lying around the house not being used.

How to recycle e-waste? As long as it is still in the cupboard drawer or a box, e-waste can do little harm. Although it is of course a pity that it is uselessly waiting for a destination.

Worse, many of these old devices end up in nature or in illegal dumping grounds. While there are plenty of good solutions for e-waste that save nature and can even provide us with money.

The Advantages of Organic Farming Vastly Outweigh those of Conventional Farming

13/10/202105/05/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The advantages of organic farming vastly outweigh those of conventional farming. However, the conversion from conventional to organic food production is one of the most challenging endeavors of the 21st century.

To illustrate the truth of both these arguments, I will explain what the challenges are of the conversion. I use the results from a research assignment two of my colleagues and I performed in 2002 and 2003 in The Netherlands.

A provincial board decided to join the national endeavor for an organic agricultural area of 10% in 2010. The most obvious expansion of organic agriculture in this province is that of organic dairy farming.