We know there are many ways in which we can care for the environment and we love to explore them! To share with you our take on this, we have asked some of our team members what their favorite practice is to be more sustainable in their everyday life. Here are the answers:
1. Bringing your own shopping bags
Megan always brings her own bags when she goes grocery shopping to reduce plastic waste. She also tries to buy her fruit and vegetables from a market or local shop because it is never wrapped in plastic. Even though she has to visit multiple places for her food, she loves it as this helps her to slow down her life and to shop in a more socially driven way. Plus, she gets to reconnect with memories of loved ones - this string bag once belonged to her grandmother!
2. Repairing and exchanging old clothes
Nora is lucky to have two sisters with whom she can share and exchange clothes. The three have been doing this for years. This allows her to pass on clothes that she does not wear anymore and then maybe re-discover her love for them again years later. Plus it gives her the feeling that she always has new clothes in her closet. She also loves to repair pieces of clothing. Here she is with a dress that her sister bought 4 years ago, that Nora repaired and now loves to wear!
3. Hitchhiking
Paula’s favorite way of traveling is hitchhiking. She has already hitchhiked from the Netherlands all the way to Italy 3 times! This helps her to reduce travel costs and pollution that would be caused by taking a bus, train or plane. The cars that pick you up are already on the road. So no extra burden is added on the environment. In Germany, it is especially easy to get around this way because people are very happy to pick others up. Plus, this is a great way to meet new people that you would not normally encounter.
4. Buying “ugly” fruits and vegetables
Johanna loves to buy food which does not fit the beauty standard and would normally be sorted out by commercial retailers. It makes her happy to buy twisted cucumbers, mini avocados and massive onions at local markets and Turkish supermarkets. She also collects a box of crooked vegetables from the Berlin-based social start-up "Querfeld" every week. Querfeld trades fruits and vegetables that were sorted out at harvest because they do not meet the visual requirements of capitalism.
5. Carrying a water bottle
Vera always carries her water bottle with her. This is a very simply yet so effective way to be more sustainable in your daily life. She says she has been doing this as long as she can think and it prevents her from buying throw away plastic bottles when she is outside. Plus, this helps her to keep hydrated and who wouldn’t want that? This is her with her favorite bottle - and of course she uses one of our mimycri backpacks to keep it by her side.
6. Practicing the Capsule Wardrobe method
Kim loves fashion and has been working on her wardrobe for years to keep her consumption sustainable. To do this, she counted all of the pieces she owned - yes including socks and underwear - and decided which colors and styles she liked and which ones she wanted to keep out. Now she knows that she does not want to buy anything in orange or purple. This helps her to keep focused when buying new clothes to makes sure that she only gets things that she really wears.