A simple Guide to Sustainability

ALEXANDRA KACMAROVA JOHANNE DAMBACHER PIA ENGELBERTS ULIANA GNIPOVA

Contents Prologue Part 1: The History of Sustainability - An overview of Climate Change - Plastic throughout time - When did it start anyways?

Part 2: ”I do it too!”

- The hunt for clout - Advertising using sustainability

Part 3: Exploring the ways of sustainability - Being sustainable at work and in school - Being sustainable at home

Part 4: “Why is it such a big deal anyway?“ - The effects on Mental Health - Really easy steps to nail your sustainability

Part 5: “What about the future though?”

- what would happen if noone did anything?

- what would happen if we did something - increasing your knowledge about sutainbility

Part 6: Bibliography

PROLOGUE

Dear Reader, first of all, we would like to thank you for picking up this book!

All of us worked hard and spent our free time researching in depth to put this book together.

Today plastic is probably the most used material in any form of industry or production.

It has managed to get into every household and nearly every corner of the world.

Whether that is in the form of microplastic, one way bottles or medical tools.

Over the past decade humanity has managed to make itself so dependent on plastic and its production that, as a consequence, we have fully lost control and oversight over the masses of plastic in our oceans, habitats and essentially within ourselves. After all, all organisms on this planet belong to the same global ecosystem and if we endanger too many parts of this system we may never be able to turn back.

As students, we are writing and illustrating this guide to express what we think about climate change and plastic consumption. This however, does not ultimately mean that we are able to give any answers or that we are able to provide any solution. We have come to notice that the solution that we need is a long process. This guide is supposed to help some of us get started so that eventually we can look back and say guilt free that we did everything we could to save not just our environment but also ourselves and that we have taken on responsibility. Ultimately, we all have to get on board and start taking action because otherwise there will be no change happening.

As sustainability has been a major topic all around the World for years (that’s maybe a bit broad, but we’ll come to that in chapter 1), and many people have been struggling with being able to maintain sustainability, we decided to make a simple guide. We will be talking about the little things that matter, while also helping you to get an overview of sustainability in general, the positives and the negatives, people using it for selfpromotion and people educating others as well as how and where to start.

We hope this guide will help you to start your sustainable journey, one small step at a time, to ultimately make this world a little healthier, lots of love, Alexandra, Johanne, Pia and Uliana

Please keep in mind that we will be referring to potentially sensitive topics regarding mental health, if you struggle with this please think twice before reading Part 4: “why is it such a big deal anyway?”.

Part 1 The History of sustainability

There is a lot of information out there about the currently ongoing climate change and there is a lot to know about the consequences of the plastic we produce and consume. However, the main part you will be already familiar with: we need to stop climate change if we don’t want the earth's temperature to rise further causing multiple possibilities for the human race to have a hard time surviving.

So how does the production and consumption of plastic fit into this mess? Well, when we produce plastic we use polymers that are not only not biodegradable, which means that they do not decompose, but we also use a substance that when burned, releases greenhouse gases. This can lead to many issues, in a nutshell: We use plastic every day but we can’t just throw it away so we try to recycle it, however, that releases even more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and so we damage the ozone layer and cause damage. Therefore we result in the alternative: throwing it away, out of sight out of mind, right? Well, that's not working out as we one might have hoped. The plastic is consequently and constantly accumulating over time and does not decompose but pollutes the environment as it is not biodegradable.

Essentially, it leads to the issue we are going to discuss, an unbelievably large part of our oceans are drowning in plastic affecting our ocean life, our ecosystem and us humans.

Therefore, there has been a movement which advertises sustainability as a lifestyle choice or even as a necessary form of living. The most extreme examples of extensive sustainability include infamous public figures such as Greta Thunberg, who are known for advocating for zero waste and reducing our carbon footprint to the absolute minimum.

But why do some people think that such a drastic change in lifestyle is necessary?

There is an estimate that by the time of 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean, that there will be three times as much plastic that there is today, that there will be 9,7 billion people walking this planet and not even close enough resources to supply all of them. How did this happen?

Climate changes happen all of the time, from the ice age to the current one.

However, this one seems to be more worrying because for the first time in the istry of our planet it seems that humans have induced this one.

There are many reasons for this and there are many aspects involved in the crisis we are currently facing. However, we have been able to pinpoint a few of them, such as greenhouse gases emitted through cars and the burning of fossil fuels and plastics in the oceans.

As students who write this book we can hardly tell over 7 billion people to stop using their cars, cause lets face it that would be just a waste of our much needed time to turn this around. So we have opted to tell you about the world and where it is currently at from our point of view. We may be students but ultimately we will be the ones who will be left behind with a destroyed ecosystem and environment. So why not give it a shot at trying to inform you about the world's malaises? Who knows, maybe someone who will eventually make a change will understand what we think.

Over time plastic has evolved and developed to adapt to the new and modern uses such as replacing certain parts of our cell phones or being used in toys to make them cheaper.

There are many reasons why plastic was invented and synthesised in the first place.

One of the rather more ironic reasons was that as plastic is an artificially synthesised material that can be produced without directly using any of the precious natural resources, in order to preserve those for as long as possible.

However, sadly the use and development of plastic has taken a dark turn.

It has been used not only for the good causes like hygiene in the medical sphere but also in other industries which did use the polymer for a good cause.

One of the more recent examples are the world wars during which the governments have decided that they would use plastic to replace and modify certain weapons in order to make them more useful during fights. For example , parts of a gun such as the magazine and the frame are now made out of plastic in order to make the production of weapons much cheaper.

By average we use about 1.5 billion plastic bottles a day, about 50 years ago we only used a fraction of that horrific number.

The times have changed massively and there is still an accelerated increase in how much plastic we use each day. Any person across Europe, Asia, the US or other countries uses so much plastic that it has become a quest of sheer impossibility to accurately determine how much is actually used. Unlike common knowledge dictates there isn’t just plastic in the cans and the hygienic and cosmetic products.

There is plastic in the one-way bottles and bags we use. This stuff is on our roofs. It is in our walls and floors. It is in the washing machine. And frankly, if we are all being honest it is in our food, our diet ultimately, we as human beings contain plastic.

Studies show that we eat up to five grams of nanoplastic, commonly referred to as micro plastic, per week. Doesn’t sound so bad? Well let's put it into perspective shall we?.

In a whole year of 365 days that adds up to over 1.8 kg of microplastic per year. In an average lifetime of 80 years that adds up to per 146kg of microplastic that we take up in our body, simply by eating fish and other animals of the world every day. This not only shows that we need to preserve the environment but also how unhealthy put behaviour really is. In this world we all are a global ecosystem, which means we all depend on each other and we depend on other species to do their part in the cycle of nature for us to be able to live a long and healthy life. Now, we could argue that we are the most important species and we could even go as far as saying that it doesn’t matter if one species goes extinct Well, once again, let's put this opinion into perspective. Let's take a grizzly bear because those are commonly labelled as dangerous. They eat fish, these fish need to be eaten in order for them to stay alive. If the bears live in the rainforest, they will carry the fish on land to eat it and they will leave bits and pieces behind. Those will then feed the forest and other animals and organisms in the forest such as the pest.

This pest or worm is going to get attracted by the dead fish and their arrival will eventually cause birds to come and start hunting them. At this point all of the pest and all of the birds and other predators will have absorbed the microplastic or will have already died from it. This means that the rainforest's natural cycle is out of balance and that now there are maybe more predators than prey and these species will be endangered. Many people tend to underestimate the importance of the rainforests. They are about 6% percent of the earth's natural surface, that is about 30,6 million kilometres squared of land that absorbs the carbon dioxide release of over eight billion people.

We need the balance of the natural world to be in order. Humans inevitably consume so much plastic that our health is at risk, but we are also risking the survival of millions of organisms and different species.

We need the balance of the natural world to be in order. Humans inevitably consume so much plastic that our health is at risk, but we are also risking the survival of millions of organisms and different species.

No matter how we put it. We can claim that we are the superior species. We can say God made us superior and that we have the right to do this because this is our planet. But that is simply not true. God or not, we are lucky that we get to share this planet that we have with a wide range of organisms and that we get to be on this planet that provides us with food and resources. This privilege includes that we have to respect the planet and other organisms because one simply cannot survive without the other. We may be intelligent but crocodiles have sharper teeth. We may be intelligent but jaguars are faster. We may be intelligent but we can’t fly like hawks or owls. We may be intelligent but we can’t swim or hunt like sharks. There is a balance between the abilities we have and the ones that are given to other organisms.

Maybe that is the reason why we slaughter them, because we know that in the wild we wouldn’t stand a chance neither would we survive a day. Maybe it is that fear that keeps us on the path of destructive behaviour, even if we know better and why we have kept denying and increasing our negative impact on the environment.

What happened in the past however, can’t be changed. Moreover, we could try to say that it is a waste of our time to try and change the impact we have because the damage is already done, but this is our survival we are talking about. This isn’t whether we should ask our crush out to prom or whether we should sign a contract that will further maximise our profit. Climate change, our carbon footprint, sustainability. All of these concepts are affecting each and single one of us, from American people to people who live in Singapore or Indonesia or maybe Tanzania, or maybe pandas in the forest or snakes in the water or birds in the sky. We are all in this together. Now, we can debate whether there is still anything we can do or we can all realise that it really doesn’t take much to protect ourselves and others and simply start acting like we care about our survival and put our fears aside.

If all of us were to do a little. Just a few minor changes in lifestyle, the impact could be monumental, and who knows, maybe even save our lives.

Unfortunately, the aim of maximising profit is way too stable in our society to give it up now, after centuries of businesses flourishing. Therefore, instead of giving up this aim we rather see it being out together with the ideal of sustainability and make everyone sacrifice a little and gain a little at the same measure.

Part 2 - “I do it too!”

The overflow of information that we have about the currently ongoing climate change is massive. People who are not experts have a very hard time figuring out which statistics and information to trust. Subsequently, some people have become very defensive about the topic of sustainability. This is usually where a public figure or celebrity comes in advertising their own sustainable lifestyle, which either ends up admired or called privileged and in the end we get fed up about hearing and talking non stop about climate change just like we got fed up with Covid at some point. Is advertising useful?

Is advertisement about the consequences still useful?

We all are very well aware of the consequences of using plastic everyday and what the one way plastic bottle we are drinking out of will do to the ocean and the life within it. Nonetheless, more and more people are becoming annoyed by the conversation of climate change.

The views on how bad the situation really is are very split. However, it seems that people have started to use the ideal of being sustainable to improve their image. But what harm can that do?

Today there are many celebrities today who massively advertise the ideal of being sustainable. Subsequently, the degrees of sustainability vary among people who advertise it. On one end of the spectrum there is an extreme such as Greta Thunberg. She has been regarded as a miracle after she started protesting every Friday in front of the parliament in order to raise attention for climate change and for what she thought to be a very important issue in our world. Ever since then she has been advertising her cause by causing headlines such as her using a small boat in order to cross the atlantic ocean for 14 days. This was her protest against planes and the proof that there are alternatives for travelling.

She is further known for her extreme views of what the government should be doing in order to reduce the greenhouse effect that it produced through greenhouse gases.

She as a person and her actions have been analysed many times over the past years, however, it does not change the fact that she represents the opinions of many young people nowadays.

Inspired by her carbon neutral attitude she has managed to win a massive followership and keeps advertising all over the world how we can live more sustainably. Moreover, she is seen as an important public figure and as somewhat of an expert on the field of climate change.

Nonetheless, she is not the only celebrity that has been advertising the ideal of being sustainable. She is on one end of the expreme, however, there is barely a celebrity that does not try to show that they are living either sustainability or even organically.

On the other hand, there are many celebrities out in the world who advertise sustainability, yet we don’t greet them with the same respect at times.

This is because the ideal of being sustainable has become a very popular way to better the image of a celebrity. Assuming that a Kardashian were to present herself as completely sustainable, we would not be paying attention to her actions anymore but rather look for the ulterior motive in her becoming publicly sustainable. This can lead to us judging the person rather than focusing on the fact that they are doing something good for the planet. Further, we might even go as far as condemning the ideal of being sustainable simply because we do not identify with the celebrity or we don’t like them.

Over time it has become very clear that being sustainable can pose many issues, especially because for certain products that we rely on such as cosmetics there simply are very few sustainable substitutes. So instead of trying to find alternatives, we advertise sustainability as part of our image and for the admiration we get from others. This can lead to people being overly confronted with the concept of preserving our planet and grow more and more annoyed by it. Sometimes even to the point of people distancing themselves from sustainability if they can. Statistics have shown that over 20% of people surveyed across a range of countries, such as the US, Germany, Israel and many more, do not think that climate change is a major threat and 9% even go as far as sayig that it is not a threat. Although these numbers seem very low, if 9% of the world population does not believe that climate change is real that comes out to 720 million people.

A infamous quote by Anne Marie Bonneau surrounding climate change goes as follows:

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly”

This quote, best describes what the main challenge that we as a global community face. We are advertising climate change all over the place, but how effective is that?

We all are aware about climate change, yet most of us actively choose to ignore it or are simply not confronted with the consequences of our careless use of plastic. We advertise the consequences, but essentially we divide into two categories: The developed countries which are not directly impacted by the rising temperature of our planet yet, and therefore have the luxury of underestimating it.

While the other category inhibits developing countries, such as China or india. They have millions and millions of people who live in poverty. These people are neither provided with alternatives for plastic products, nor could they afford these, as the alternatives are currently much costlier than the cheap plastic goods.

So how are developing countries supposed to contribute to our target of zero waste and how are developed countries supposed to believe in it if we don’t experience the consequences of our actions until it's too late?

On the other hand there are also very positive forms of advertisement. One of the most public ones that create a positive effect on youth are events such as the met gala. The Met gala is a very public event during which the most popular celebrities in the world get to show off very outrageous dresses. However, over the past years more and more celebrities have shown dresses or tuxedos that were upcycled. One of the more recent examples is the singer Shawn Mendes who advertised his upcycled tuxedo during an iterview. It is subtle moment like these when celebrities advertise to younger audiences that they support the movement of being more sustainable and it is moments like these that can become very crucial when younger generations, who get influenced by idols such as singer and start like Shawn Mencdes, are forming their opinions, that they are getting a positive message in regards to sustainability.

This therefore, can lead to a more positively thinking community and one that is more willing to make sacrifices, even minor ones, in order to be more sustainable.

Additionally, should celebrities continue to advertise the ideal of sustainability in a subtle and honest way, not by only showing it on instagram(because that can make their agenda and sustainability seem questionable, but through actual actions, such as investing time, energy, effort and money into an outfit that is sustainable, than others who value celebrities opinion would be much more inclined to regards being sustainable as something positive. This sort of positive advertising hence would have a good effect on our global community. Hence, celebrities should rather choose to advertise their ideals and visions and interpretations of sustainability through their actions and in this case, let their outfits speak for themselves. Moreover, celebrities should stop trying to improve their image through excessive display of their sustainability because people tend to get fed up with it. People are much less likely to change their opinion about a concept they have labelled in their hands as negative, than labelling the person as negative.

Ultimately, we need advertisements. We need to be informed efficiently about what is happening around us and around the world. But we need advertisements to be efficient and stop claiming that only the people in politics and economics who have influence, can do something about it,meanwhile our environment and our own habitat is slowly but steadily getting worse. Every person, no matter what age, can contribute to our goal of zero waste. Now, just like Bonneau said, none of us need to be fully sustainable like Greta Thunberg, but instead we should educate ourselves on possible alternatives for the products that we consume on a daily basis that have a negative impact. If we all collectively manage to decrease the negative impact that we have on the environment we can make an actual and real difference. We just have to start doing it right now.

Part 3 Exploring the ways of sustainability

Carry a reusable water bottle with you Simple but effective! A reusable water bottle eliminates about 150 single use water bottles per person each year. Even better if you get a water bottle that is made from reusable plastic or from things like sugar, corn and vegetable oil.

These Bioplastics are just as sturdy as traditional plastics. The most popular types are PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), PLA (polylactic acid), and acetate.

Look at where your supplies are from Ordering an environmentally friendly made product from the other side of the world is just as bad for the environment as buying a badly made product from your local store. The transportation method is often overlooked. try to find a good balance between these two!

Delete Spam emails and unecessary email subscribtions.

We can only imagine your face while reading this. YEAH! This is indeed a huge problem! The average spam email causes emissions equivalent to 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per message. While an email with a long (or multiple) attachments produces about 50g of CO2. Now imagine thousands of these emails being sent out per day, to millions of people.

The reason they cause so much CO2, is simply because all of these emails need to be stored on a server, which needs a lot of energy, especially if the server needs to be cooled down and most of the time, this energy is not environmentally friendly.

So: simply unsubscribing to useless email newsletters is a really easy step to reduce your carbon footprint!

Print less / Promote a paperless office Easy peasy in this age of modern technology!

Simply invest in digitalising your office, beware of also having a good energy source, as, as we told you previously, computer servers take up a lot of energy!

Most importantly though, if you cannot let go of printing, simply change to a different Ink cartridge provider! Ink cartridges for your printer are definetly not a small part of unsustainability.

- Carbon dioxide is often leaked during production and transport.

- The ink cartridges and Ink itself contains lots of harmful chemicals like butyl urea, which prevents your paper from curling; cyclohexanone, which helps ink stay on the paper; several dyes including reactive red 23 dye, acid yellow 23 dye and direct blue 199 dye, which contain sulphur; ethoxylated acetylenic diols which change and modify the surface tension of the water and colours; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) which is full of contaminants and ethylene glycol.

- Packaging is also a major part, as it most commonly not compostable and litters the environment. Furthermore, the ink cartridges are not very longlasting, meaning that you have to buy a lot, meaning you produce a lot of waste.

And so on.

So: get sustainable ink cartridges for your printer. Some examples include: Tomatoink, Brother Danmark (yes, that is written correctly!) and Inkjet and Hp have started to make their cartridges more sustainable.

Get some plants Not only do they look and smell nice, but plants are proven to have some great effects on (mental) health and act as natural filters for indoor pollution. So instead of investing in an expensive air filter that takes up a lot of energy, simply get some indoor plants!

Encourage sustainable transportation Either by an email (just one), recycled paper prints or simply by word of mouth. Tell people to take the train, bus and co. next time they complain about the traffic they were in on their way to work. Look at this wonderful diagram below this text!

The transportation ways at the bottom use the most CO2, while the ones at the top the least!

Start a sustainability team Be the leader of a wonderful team that encourages others to start their sustainability journey and helps your office or workspace be more sustainable.

With the help of this guide for example.… we mean… just as an example you know?

Maximise natural light Okay, so we truly hope you know the basics like turning off the lights when you dont need them! But what if you need light?

Natural Light!

Tatarata! Yeah we know, we know, simple. But do you really do it? Reducing the light you use not only helps you be more sustainable and having less light-attracted insects in your workspace, but it also reduces electricity costs. So maybe your department will be able to buy that new coffee machine you all so desperately wanted.

Mirrors, prefereably in corners opposite from the windows reflect and lighten up your area. Problem solved!

Start recycling If you look at the diagram below you can see the way trash is split up to maximise efficient recycling and waste disposal. Simply set up multiple trash cans.

Sorting out your left overs may seem like a less fun activity to do and many people like to avoid it. However, it only takes a few minutes even less to put to garbage into the right bin and it has a real impact on the environment, since this system has been put into place by the goernements. The main reason is that now recycling firms have a much easier and cheaper job and therefore are more incentivised to actually recycle. Well, they do it for their reputation as well, but nonetheless, this is a very impactful way to help our environment.

Keep in mind that some of the “being sustainable at work/school“ points can be used at home too!

Set yourself reduction targets Because it is a very simple and straightforward point that we gave you here, we decided on giving you some examples instead of a long monologue: - buy one kilo less plastic this month - use public transport at least 3 times a week - prepare smaller portions of food to reduce overall food waste - keep reusable bags for shopping in my purse/car/next to my door - maximise my fridge efficiency (see later on in this chapter) - talk to friends about how to become more sustainable - plant a tree in my garden / get a fruit or vegetable plant for my window - etc.

Reduce food waste!

Simply looking at the amount of food that you through away in a day may help you to understand the amount you waste in a year. Now imagine that for billions of people on this earth.

That is a lot!

So how can we reduce this?

- Plan ahead what you want to cook - keep track of the food you‘re buying - check the use-by date when buying food - worship your freezer! (Frozen food is a simple way to make food last longer) - eat left overs the next day - start a compost - Re-plant the food waste (e.g. Onion roots which you didnt include in your cooking)

Keep in mind where you buy standard household appliances from.

See the chart below for how much energy household appliances use on average. With that knowledge in mind, you can deepen your research on which companies produce the product with the least amount of energy needed.

Maximise your Fridges efficiency Refrigerators in general use about 10-20 % of energy in the entire household. After about 5-10 years a fridges energy efficiency declines. Using a current meter/ammeter help you identify when energy efficiency reduces and when to get a new fridge. Turning the fridge off during holidays is helpful in preserving the fridges life span.

When its time to get a new fridge you should generally keep in mind: - dont get one buildt into the wall (more space between the wall and fridge = more efficient, as better airflow aids energy use - Don‘t get an unnecessarily big one. (Generally 50l per person in a household is enough) - instead of getting a fridge and freezer combo, get a separate freezer (or a combo where you can turn off the freezer separately) - look at the next page‘s diagram on what to store where in the fridge. (no unecessary energy will be used for the wrong foods. Which also makes them last longer)

A Little Fridge Longer

Door: Eggs, Marmelades, sauces, butter, drinks

Upper tray: drinks, cheese, southern fruits, canned

Middle tray: dairy products

Warm left overs: leave to cool before putting into the fridge as they will use more energy to cool down..

Lower tray: meats, fish and winter vegetables,

Vegetables: Vegetable Tray (see fridge instructions when buying)

@bag_all

Use reusable bags and containers As you might have seen in many stores around your area, they are trying to improve their sustainability by simple reducing single use plastic bags. USE THEM! And dont always buy a new reusable one, keep them in your car or next to your door, so that they are easily accessible for you before your next shopping tour! This is the same for reusable containers. You can simply keep old marmalade glasses or cans! If you like it more fancy though, there are many companies that thrive to create a fashionable and sustainable environment.

Photo credits: us, 2022

Buy your Food from a local market Local markets do not only have fresh and good food they are also a vital aspect of the local economical system around you. By buying food from the local market you can decrease your use of plastic as there don‘t tend to be packaged. You support your local community instead of the big companies which transport the food from other countries increasing their carbon footprint and you get fresh food, without pesticides. On top of all of that, you meet new people as you are forced to have a human interaction with others face to face rather than phone to phone which may even be beneficial to our mental health. These markets are also usually outside and pose a great opportinuty to get out of he house and enjoy the fresh and healthy air which, by being sustainable, we are trying to preserve.

Buy some of your clothes from a second hand store Although this may seem odd, second hand stores are a good way of increasing your positive impact. These stores usually wash the clothing and refurbish it and hence avoid the very unsustainable production of some clothing while offering you a good and fashionable choice, somethimes even supporting other charities and giving even more good back to the community.

Swimsuits made from Econyl?

Swimsuits from econyl (old fishing nets and carpets) is said to be a sustainable alternative to usual nylon. Econyl can be recycled again and again (i.e. it cannot be downcycled). Recycling 10,000 tons of econyl saves around 70,000 barrels of crude oil and 57,100 tons of CO2. But there are also negatives one must know before buying: Econyl makes up less than 1% of plastic present in the ocean and getting it from the ocean is very costly as it has to be found, identified, sorted, shredded, melted, the fibres have to be spun and then made into clothes. In addition, econyl still contains some forms of microplastic! If you want to take it to the next level, you can look for swimwear that is crocheted although it might not be waterproof.

Furthermore, sustainability includes a fair working environment, representation for bigger sizes and different ethnicities and slow fashion! Therefore depending on the company that produces these a different level of sustainability is reached.

Overall, Econyl fashion is said to be more sustainable in comparison to nylon production and use, but there are positives, negatives (like for everything really) and even further alternatives.

Our favourite Brands for this: - Coco malou ethical lingerie - MyMarini - essentials for Zula - OY Surf Apparel (up until XXL) - Inaska (up until XXL) - Lovjoi (up until XXL) -anekdot (upcylcing label) - woodlike ocean - Josea - imprm - boochen (up until XXL) - Frija Omina

One last thing for this chapter !

There is one last thing that will not only help you be sustainable!

SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND YOUR JOURNEY! People are more likely to participate in sustainability if people they know do it too!

You can share your ideas in many ways: - Talking to others - Posting it on social media or in a forum - write an article or book - start a blog - host or attend an event - attend a lecture about sustainable design

Part 4 “why is it such a big deal anyway?”

Mental health is a state of emotional comfort in which a person easily improves with life situations, quickly makes decisions, works happily and builds a family. It happens in every area of ​life, from work to personal relationships. On how stable is a person's mental attitude, his steady motivation, sleep, resistance to dealing with diseases.

Looking after your mental well-being is just as important for sustainability as the extent to which sustainability plays a part in your life, impacts your mental health. For example living in a very dirty/polluted and disorganized household increases your risks of depression.* This also goes in the other direction, people having anxiety disorders and dementia are more likely to face challenges in creating a sustainble surrounding. Due to fear of uncertainty and change.

Yet again, a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle can help in creating an atmosphere that calms and reduces symptoms of certain mental health issues.**

*Journal of Psychiatric Research Volume 83, December 2016, Pages 24-28 “Hoarding and depression: The mediating role of perceived burdensomeness” **March 7, 2020 “THE NATURE OF WELLBEING: THE LINK BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE LIVING AND MENTAL HEALTH” By kellie; the sustainable living association

10 EASY RECOMMENDATIONS TO COPE WITH STRESS,FEAR OF UNCERTAINTY 1 . Rate how real the anxiety is for you personally In order not to panic, analyse your situation, whether there is a real threat to you personally and what kind of risks they are. with a threat to life, loss of money or something else 2 . Help others, it will help you feel better At such moments it is easy to get caught up in your own fears and concerns and at the same time, you can look around and think about those who cannot take care of themselves properly.Most of the suffering during such periods is caused by the powerlessness to change something and the lack of a sense of control helping others can help you reduce feelings of powerlessness as well as add some meaning

3. Stick to your daily routine as much as possible. Even if things change around you, try to stick to your normal sleep/eating schedule, this will help you maintain a sense of some kind of stability: Get up and go to bed at the same time Make time for physical activity Take care of your loved ones and spend time with your family if possible Do one thing at a time and live one day after another Be kind and considerate to yourself and your loved ones

4 . Try to keep in touch with your family even if you are physically far away Isolation and loneliness can exacerbate fear and anxiety.That's why it's important to stay connected and reach out for help and support when we need it.

5 Emotions are ``contagious`` so be wise when asking for support Be careful who you choose to talk to. try not to talk to people who reinforce your fears.Reach out to people who are reasonable, balanced, supportive and good listeners.If you do not have the right person, or you see that you are not coping with your emotions, seek help from a crisis educator or psychotherapist 6 Concentrate on things that you can control There is so much beyond our control that it is difficult to accept and therefore many react impulsively, constantly searching for answers on the Internet and considering all possible catastrophic scenarios,as long as we focus on uncontrollable things, we will experience frustration, fear, feelings of anxiety and depression

7 When painful emotions become unbearable - breathe Try to control and slow down your breathing by lengthening your exhalations: inhale for 2 seconds through your nose-exhale for 4 seconds through your nose practice mindfulness and radical understanding.

8 Stay up to date, at the same time do not check the news too often and do not get into arguments on social networks - Limit the frequency of checking news Constant monitoring of social networks if it contains trigger Content can quickly turn into an obsession that increases anxiety and panic - Stop watching the media and social networks if you see that your condition is deteriorating,ask someone you trust to keep you informed of any important news and changes 9 Find out exactly how you experience anxiety Those who are ready to run will be helped by work, cleaning and any active activity If your body freezes, allow yourself more time to be idle.

10 Vent your anger Try to give vent to aggression - go to boxing training, a shooting club or special entertainment rooms where you can destroy everything around or just scream.

ANXIETY DISORDERS

The most common category of mental health disorders in America impacts approximately 40 million adults 18 and older. Anxiety disorders cause people to experience distressing and frequent fear and apprehension. While many may experience these feelings, say, during a job interview or public speaking event (as that can be a normal response to stress), those with anxiety disorders feel them commonly and in typically non-stressful events. And bouts of anxiety can last up to six months or more at a time. “Anxiety” is actually a blanket term that includes a host of specific disorders, including: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Panic disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Social anxiety disorder Mood Disorders

An estimated 1 in 10 adults suffers from some type of mood disorder. While it’s normal to experience mood swings from time to time, people with mood disorders live with more persistent and severe symptoms that can disrupt their daily lives. Depending on the specific disorder, people may experience an ongoing sad, anxious or “empty” mood; feelings of hopelessness; low self-esteem; excessive guilt; decreased energy and more. Therapy, antidepressants and self-care can help treat mood disorder

Those suffering from psychotic disorders may be unable to know what’s real and what’s not. This group of mental disorders changes an individual’s sense of reality.

Scientists believe that certain viruses, problems with how specific brain circuits work, extreme stress or trauma and some forms of drug abuse may play a role in the development of psychotic disorders. The most common psychotic disorders include: Schizophrenia Schizoaffective disorder Brief psychotic disorder Delusional disorder Substance-induced psychotic disorder Dementia

The most common mood disorders are: Major depression Dysthymia Bipolar disorder Substance-induced mood disorder Psychotic Disorders

Dementia Although mistakenly thought to be a single disorder, dementia is a term that covers a wide range of specific mental conditions. Those suffering from dementia-related disorders may experience a decline in their cognitive abilities—often severe enough to impair daily life and independent function. While this category includes a host of conditions, Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80% of dementia cases. It slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, strips the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. Other forms of dementia take the form of: Parkinson’s disease Frontotemporal dementia Huntington’s disease Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

Eating Disorders Eating disorders are about more than an individual’s relationship with food. They’re complex mental disorders that often require intervention from medical and psychological experts.

These conditions cause unhealthy eating habits to develop, such as an obsession with food, body weight or body shape. In severe cases, eating disorders can have serious health consequences and may even result in death, if left untreated. Common symptoms include the severe restriction of food, food binges or purging behaviours, such as vomiting or overexercising. The most common types of eating disorders include: Anorexia nervosa Bulimia nervosa Binge eating disorder Pica eating disorder Rumination disorder

How to Recognize Mental Problems: The 5 Most Common Mental Disorders

Mental problems are often attributed to a bad temper, but in fact, a person may need medical help. We talk about the symptoms of common disorders together with the clinic of psychiatry and psychotherapy of the European Medical Centre.

Many people lose self-esteem, it becomes difficult for them to make even the simplest decisions.

And this exacerbates the feeling of worthlessness and helplessness. It becomes so difficult to bear these feelings that sometimes depression turns into thoughts of suicide or a desire to harm oneself.

Psychological symptoms can be accompanied by physical ones: loss of appetite or, conversely, excesses in eating; constipation; unexplained pain in the body; weakness; menstrual irregularities; insomnia or constant sleepiness.

You should consult a doctor when these symptoms persist longer.

Bipolar Disorder How Common: Bipolar Disorder Has Been Reported Mental disorders 45 million people around the world.

This disorder is characterised by polar mood swings - periods of upsurge (mania or hypomania) alternate with periods of downturn (depression). This does not look like simple emotionality, when a person is either sad or cheerful, everything is aggravated to the maximum.

Feeling euphoric during an episode of mania,he lives in the best of all worlds, incredibly talented and able to do several things at once. At the same time, he can not sleep for days and refuse to eat. Often, during periods of mania, people take risks without realizing their consequences: having dangerous sex or impulsively spending a lot of money. Depending on the type of bipolar disorder, instead of mania, hypomania may occur, in which the same symptoms appear, but they are not as pronounced.

Mania or hypomania is replaced by a period of depression - a time of longing and inner emptiness. If before that a person talked a lot and quickly about everything in the world, now he can refuse to communicate. It is difficult for him to concentrate on something and make any decision. For many, there is a feeling of complete powerlessness and inability to do even the simplest things - take a shower or brush your teeth.

Bipolar disorder may present several times a year, but there are more frequent repetitions.

Between episodes, many feel completely normal. With the help of psychotherapy and medication, the condition can be controlled so that it does not greatly affect the quality of life. But a person with bipolar disorder is not always aware that something is wrong with him, and often refuses treatment.

1.Decide What do you want to change first?

Remember to start small!

2. Plan!

How do you want to change it?

What is the first step?

Try to narrow it down to 3 steps!

3. Initiate Start it!

4. Keep going Don’t just do it for a short time period, keep going!

Then repeat the process, add on one thing after the other.

Remember to take breaks to adjust to a new lifestyle!

MY SUSTAINABILITY PLAN: THE THING I want to change:

How I want to change it:

Keeping Track of my Goal:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4: (if needed) Reflections: What went well:

What didn’t go well:

Please think about how you want to utilize this page! Do you really want to print it?

Part 5 “what about the future though?”

The definition of "sustainability" is the study of how natural systems function, remain diverse and produce everything it needs for the ecology to stay in balance.

But in reality, it's not only about nature. It's also about our health as a society in ensuring that no people or areas of life suffer from environmental legislation, and it's also about examining the longer-term effects of the actions humanity takes and asking questions about how it may be improved.

We could tell you at this point that we are on the highway to hell, literally and metaphorically, if we don't stop global warming. However, on one hand, we don't want to seem overly dramatic and on the other, you have no reason to believe us as we have honestly admitted to being students and not experts in this field.

Nevertheless, you can see the impacts around the world, wildfires in California, hurricanes (formed on land!) in the Czech Republic, snow in April and spring weather around Christmas, when we should be outside building snowmen and throwing snowballs at our annoying siblings who still believe in a creepy old guy coming down the chimney. Over the past years, the weather has become more minor and less predictable, and news about the water rising and that there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It may not seem like it, but this negative change has been going on for quite some time now, and even experts have to agree that this is not reversible and that there will be a change in the core temperature.

However, they also agree that damage control still needs to be done. This has led to some coming together, such as the government meetings in Paris. We have to admit that we, as humans, unlike other animals, have not adapted. We are not the fastest, strongest or smallest organisms. We are the smartest, one might argue, but we sure aren't the most resilient ones to change. We have adapted the world and the environment to fit our needs and, more importantly, our wants. This has now led to the mess we are in. If we don't do anything and just sit back, we might lose our natural habitat. And as Mike Berners-Lee said: The is no planet B. We get one shot.

And we are royally screwing up.

It is not yet clear how our sustainable future will look like. Still, with emerging technologies and the improvements of older cleaner fuel sources, many people now look to a post-fossil fuel world - including businesses. Since the 1950s, we have experienced unprecedented growth, including intensive farming, a technological revolution, and a massive increase in our power needs putting even greater pressure and strain on the planet's resources. We are also far more aware of the plight of the developing world and that facing our earth as we now observe both natural and human-caused disasters and the effects that these can have on ecosystems and the human population. We must develop new, cleaner technologies to cope with our energy demands, but sustainability is not just about the environment.

There are many speculations about how much time we have left to rectify this or where even to begin. But we believe that no one knows where to start because we cannot just collectively start following the green party or stop consuming certain goods. Even if a few people were to achieve this radical change, it would probably be cast-off as a cult before getting the praise this action actually deserves.

We need to start with ourselves before asking others to follow our example. We need to start becoming way more sustainable and respectful towards our environment. If everyone would just make that little change, we could probably decrease our massive consumption of plastic; of course, there would still be plastic, but a lot less than there is now. We could buy ourselves time and maybe even escape the terrifying number of more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. If we could consume less plastic or energy, or other harmful materials, there would be less plastic in our ecosystem overall. The danger of us consuming plastic would also marginally decrease. The temperature may stop rising as fast as it does right now. There would be less plastic production with less consumption, or we could recycle a lot more plastic when we separate our trash and decrease output further. We would buy ourselves enough time to stop the ice from melting in the near future, adorable polar bears and foxes would be able to live in their natural habitats, and we would not have to feel as guilty for destroying their lives and space.

Whoever you are when you are reading this book, there is no reason to think that approximately 9 billion people who are walking this earth will care about your impact, meaning that your will probably simply sit around and let them do it first. This is also referred to as the bystander effect and it is the reason why most of us don't think that it is our responsibility to take care of the planet as well. But we all depend on our planet which makes it a responsibility for all of us to care and act. Although you may believe otherwise, you can have a way bigger impact than you think because you do your part for this global community, but you are also taking the first step and inspiring other people to do the same. Their impact, which they make because you inspired them, is indirectly your positive impact on this earth.

Do your small part and actively choose to be different from others. Who knows, maybe you even change the world into a better place than when you found it.

As we mentioned before there are many ways to access information about sustainability, whether that is on the internet, from celebrities or whether that includes us just looking at the next person who is claiming to be sustainable. The access is endless, but not always helpful or actually right. Some of the most efficient, accurate and helpful sources include: Government websites: for all government critics who do not want to take information from it or simply conspire against it, the government is conducting a lot of research before they post something on their website. This is often very through as otherwise the government might lose their voter’s trust and therefore their power, so you might as well give it a shot.

Netflix shows and documentaries such as Seaspiracy, Cowspiracy, 6 degrees could change the world, plastic in the ocean and many others are also considered a very reliable source of information. They also don‘t require you to stand up from your couch to look for the information and the dramatic music will capture and keep your attention so you are assured to be more informed and shocked (maybe even in a little panic) after watching them.

If you want to get more organised, maintain your mental health and additionally maintain a sustainable system in your own household as well as contributing to stopping climate change, the Netflix show „Get organised“ should be a great starting point. This is a show made by people who organise spaces of all kinds and give tipps and tricks on how to maintain a sustainable and clear working/living/playing space. If you have a little time to spare it is worth the while!

If you are annoyed by celebrities who advertise climate change and sustainability all over the place, may we suggest to read or watch some of the books and documentaries from David Attembourgh. He is a world leading expert who has been trying to raise awerness for the danger of climate change for years now and who actually has done the research to be classified as a expert!

Books like “green giants“ by Freya Williams and “the future we choose” by Christina Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac are books that are great in understanding how sustainability affects everyday life today. While books like “the uninhabitable earth: Life After Warming“ by David Wallace-Wells talks, terrifyingly, about the earth’s future.

If you want more information you can look into charities that have been trying to fight climate change and that have been successful in improving our environment One of the most important recommendations, to pick you up after watching the worrying documentaries, is to look at what people have been doing to improve our environment. GiveWell is a website that analyses, evaluates and recommends charities including their finances and actual quantifiable impact among other categories. This website conducts in depth reserach and you can pick and chose and inform yourself what people have done so far. I particularly recommend you looking at this if you need the motivation or if you want to restore your faith into humanity, becasuse it proves that there still are a lot of people who care.

There are, of course, many more websites, documentaries, experts and resources in general where you can get the necessary information and help you need in order to make an impact and to become more sustainable. We have simply tried to filter out a range of different methods and sources you can look at to achieve a certain degree of sustainability in you lifestyle. If you feel like doing more research around the topic or that you disagree with any of the sources, that is absoluetly fine and we encourage you to do so. As long as you understand that climate change can become dangerous for us and you adjust just a little, we have completed our goal of making lifestyles a littl emore sustainable.

Part 6 Bibliography

Hey everyone!

These are the sources we used to create this book!

Feel free to take a look at any of them. Our favourites are marked in a bright orange!

Websites The Guardian, 01/05/2022, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-livingblog/2010/oct/21/carbon-footprint-email https://news.trust.org/item/20190819233721-jaa90/ - greta thunberg https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50659318 - greta thunberg boat https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/18/a-look-at-how-people-around-the-world-viewclimate-change/ - statistics https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/ https://m.facebook.com/WEARTHLondon/photos/this-quote-by-zerowatechef-recently-went-viral-andwe-had-to-share-as-we-couldnt/650997768689889/ - quote https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/plastics/ - plastic in walls etc. https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/04/11/how-much-plastic-do-you-eat-it-could-be-as-much-asa-credit-card-a-week - nanoplastic per week Laura Parker, "The world's plastic pollution crisis explained ", National geographic , 07/07/2019, 19/05/2022, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution "Ocean Plastic Pollution ", Centre for Biological diversity , 19/05/2022, https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://instagram.com/familie_nachhaltigkeit? igshid%3DYmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&source=gmail&ust=1654200210211000&usg=AOvVaw10MCVqkAeaX6kIIhUd cXB8&rct=i https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bipolar-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355955 https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder https://www.crcresearch.org/news/our-community/statement-sustainability-mental-health https://www.forbes.com/sites/onemind/2022/02/23/the-role-of-mental-health-in-global-sustainabledevelopment/ https://www.greenmatters.com/p/do-emails-leave-carbon-footprint https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55002423 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/01/25/how-bad-is-email-for-theenvironment/

Books Mary Robinson , Climate Justice (Bloomsbury) Freya Williams, Green giants (Harper Collins, August 2015) Jeremy L. Caradonna, Sustainability: a History (Oxford university press, 2014)