Tips and tricks for an improved sustainable life
Learn how to introduce little changes to your day to day life that will have a large impact on the environment
Make your internet searches sustainable
September 20, 2020
Ecosia is a social search engine that uses the profits they make from your internet searches to plant trees where they are needed most. In other words, they are the green alternative for Google search engine.
When you start using Ecosia (very simple process, just download their free browser extension at ecosia.org) you will begin to have an immediate positive impact in our environment, as all the revenues that Google was making from search ads (and that amounts above 100bn$ in 2019) could be now invested to plant trees where is needed most (mainly South America, Africa and Indonesia - our planet's lungs).
If you are prepared to make this little change or you want to know more about this social enterprise, just go to their webpage ecosia.org and start making the world greener!
Off-set your carbon footprint
September 21, 2020
Now that you know what carbon footprint and carbon markets are (wait, you don't know it yet? Read my article "What is carbon footprint and how do carbon markets work" in the Food for thought section) it is time for you to get your skin in the game.
The first thing you need to do when thinking of off-setting your carbon footprint is trying to reduce it as much as you can (or as much as you are willing to). There is no better off-setting than direct emissions reduction. However, you won't be able to reduce your carbon footprint to zero and there is where off-setting comes across. Then it is time to calculate your actual carbon footprint. There are several pages that will help you do that (see: https://lmgtfy.app/?q=how+to+calculate+my+own+carbon+footprint) and the one that I found more accurate and easy to use is https://www.carbonfootprint.com.
Once you know your carbon footprint (and where does most of your CO2eq emissions comes from - which will help you to reduce them) you are ready to off-set. In my case, my 2019 carbon footprint was 6.3t, mostly coming from flights, hotels and restaurants.
Finally, you just need to purchase carbon credits that will off-set these emissions. Again, there are several NGOs and companies to do so (see: https://lmgtfy.app/?q=offset+my+personal+carbon+footprint) and the ones that I have used in the past are myclimate.org and carbonfund.org. I won't try to convince you for one or the other; I just hope that this article has helped you achieve carbon neutrality.
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[WIP - pending to include graphics]
Go vegan
September 28, 2020
Usually when we think about actions to make our life more environmentally sustainable we think about buying an electric car, installing some cool solar panels; in general, buying new cool green things. But sustainability is more about the opposite, getting rid-off of the things you don’t need, consume less and re-use more.
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Today I want to introduce you to one of the most environmentally impactful things you could stop doing: stop eating meat, specially beef and lamb. This single act is almost as powerful as avoiding catching a plane on your holidays (e.g. a return flight from SFO to NYC emits ~1t CO2eq, link), is equivalent to not buying >10 full outfits yearly (link) and is only behind the impact of not having children (link).
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According to "Shrink that footprint", the carbon footprint of an average North American not eating beef nor lamb is a 40% lower than a meat lover, while the one of a vegan person is less than half the footprint.
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And if we were about to minimize our environmental footprint from food (according to the table below) we would also stop eating fruit, although other sources put fruit way below dairy, chicken, fish and pork (link).
So what keeps you away of stopping eating meat? I have stopped eating meat for several years now, but I still love the taste of meat and often times I'm too weak to resist it (e.g. cooked-with-love grandmas Christmas dishes). So even if you still (sometimes) decide to eat meat, just be conscious of your decisions and try to compensate it elsewhere (e.g. by off-setting more from your carbon footprint).
To help you survive in your day to day without eating meat, dairy and derivatives; I've compiled below what for me are the best alternatives to each of them:
Meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken):
Impossible food (link) burgers: they taste delicious, but they are expensive and difficult to find in Spain.
Veggie burgers / falafel: delicious as well and way cheaper than impossible food. They don't taste like meat but will still allow you to eat a good 'burger' with friends.
Tofu: my favorite, if you tell me it doesn't taste to anything I would just simply invite you to try any of the (literally) thousands of recipes (link) that macerate it with delicious species and make it as tasteful as needed.
Texturized soya: my second favorite, I add it to everything: vegan Bolognese, pizza, soups, woks, salted vegetables, everything you can imagine. If instead of water you use vegetable broth to re-hydrate it the taste is delicious.
Tempe: it's becoming popular in Spain, but still hard to find in regular supermarkets. It's very popular in Asia and I've eaten it on a daily basis in my time in Bali.
Heura: also a good alternative, it is already popular in Spain so you will find it in all supermarkets. For me, the higher price (compared to tofu or texturized soya) is not worth to pay.
Dairy:
Milk: you have an ocean of alternatives to explore, including vegetable drinks (soy, oat, coconut, rice, nuts, almond and a large etc.) or just plain natural drinks (e.g. fresh coconut water). None of them tastes like milk, but how you ever wondered how crude milk does really taste? You would probably vomit ;)
Cheese: lots of vegan cheese out there, every time I try a new one I like it more! My top recommendation is cashew cheese with aromatic herbs (e.g. rosemary).
Fish: I have tried some vegan 'sea food' soups that taste like fish, but for me there is really no substitute, you just need to deal with it :(