sustainability - Our Green Health

Nutritional Guidelines with a Sustainable Focus

06/01/202201/11/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Nutritional guidelines with a sustainable focus are hard to come by. A sustainable nutritional guideline combines such diverse goals as a healthy lifestyle, weight control, a nutritious diet, animal welfare, biodiversity, fertile soil, waste and energy reduction, good labor conditions, affordable prices, and a fair income.

It’s easy to attribute good health to our diet. However, there is limited truth in this. Our age, the height and weight of our body, our lifestyle, hereditary factors, our hormones, medication, and in general, our health status, contribute to how we feel.

Of course, as far as food can make us feel better, it is good to reflect on our dietary intake with a nutritional guideline. The governments of more than 100 countries issued such guidelines.

How to Attract Insects to our Garden and Support Biodiversity?

29/10/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Do you like spiders? Flies? Mosquitoes? Most people don’t. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes because of ancient-old ingrained fears.

Would we want to attract insects to our garden?

It turns out that people hate invertebrates. Bad news for those poor creatures, because they make up 98% of the animal species. And all humans do is try to destroy them.

In the movies, invertebrates come off badly, and in the Bible, too, they are portrayed solely as pests and exterminators. Small children usually have an intuitive fear of anything that has more than 2 legs – spiders, crabs – or less, such as snakes.

What Does Sustainability Mean in Art?

22/10/2021 by Hannie Mommers

When I was studying at the Art Academies, it was hardly a question we asked ourselves – what does sustainability mean in art?

On the contrary. It was the 70s and 80s. Freedom was more important than thorough craftsmanship. Many of the works of art created during that time have not survived the test of time.

In my present opinion, there are 3 ways to look at sustainability in art. The first is what materials are used, the second is how those materials are applied, and the third is what the effect of the artwork on the spectators is.

Sustainability Sucks when Embedded in a Growth-Driven Economy

15/10/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Through discussions, much reading, and writing, I sharpen my mind about the state of the earth. More and more I come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible to be sustainable.

In other words, sustainability sucks when embedded in a growth-driven economy.

But as one of my current sources of inspiration Thomas Rau says: “Let’s do what is necessary, not what is feasible.”

This article is a bit more negative in tone than my other articles but is a way to deepen my thoughts, and hopefully yours, and to keep or regain hope.

Can Technological Innovations Combat Climate Change?

11/10/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Al Gore was laughed at, at the time when he presented An Inconvenient Truth. If more politicians and engineers had taken him seriously, we would have had fewer problems with the climate today. In the case of climate change, prevention is also cheaper than a solution.

But with a despondent attitude, a turning point has never been achieved. Perhaps technological innovations can combat climate change?

Recently I watched some documentaries by and about Greta Thunberg. Her strongest comments were: “Don’t listen to me, listen to science” and “Stay hopeful, because from hope comes action”.

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

08/10/2021 by Hannie Mommers

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.

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

14/10/202106/10/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

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.

Why does Alternative Agriculture Come in So Many Unique Varieties?

04/10/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

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.