As far as sustainability goes, we’re super lucky to be living in Berlin. I’m reminded of this every time I speak to friends and family back home. Often marketed as trendy, time-consuming, and expensive, a lot of people assume you have to completely overhaul your lifestyle to be more sustainable…but that’s simply not true. Being more sustainable is about figuring out what you use the most, and then finding a way to get those same products in a way that doesn’t have such a negative impact on our planet.
There are some fantastic unpackaged stores to choose from in Berlin that not only enable us to support local businesses and encourage innovation but also give us the power to refuse — to send a clear message that we don’t want our products wrapped in plastic. And because we live in Berlin, we can achieve this without too much extra effort on our part, and without breaking the bank.
Read on…
by Guest Author | Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Prenzlauer Berg, Schöneberg, Shops
photo: Andrej Russkovskij
The fashion industry is believed to be one of the most toxic businesses for our environment. Billions of clothes are produced every year and in the process, lots of chemicals and dirt gets thrown into our rivers and oceans. But the saddest part is: most of it will maybe only last one or two seasons before it gets thrown into the garbage bin, and a large portion of the produced clothes that was never sold will get destroyed without having ever been worn. This is the shocking truth that everybody knows but everybody also wants to ignore when it comes to their personal needs.
This is not the case for Hanna and Julia. The two Berlin-based designers and Yoga lovers saw an important opportunity in clothes waste to make a difference with an amazing idea: Why not use the strong fabric of old jeans to create new bags for your yoga mat?
With this concept, they created the brand Dzaino which is nowadays making more products beyond their signature yoga bags. For their crowdfunding campaign, they asked me and other Berlin-based people why sustainable local design is so important and why it’s worth supporting. I think the most important part of this projects is to show that in cities like Berlin alternative concepts of multinational brands are tested and can become a reality. A reality that we really need to save our planet. Check out their video and pics of the campaign below and support them here.
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by Claudio | Fashion, Products
photo: Elaine Casap
Old habits die hard. Not that this is an excuse for avoiding change, but… they just do. When you, like most of us, grew up in this affluent society of ours, you are used to groceries always being available to you. That yoghurt in the back of the fridge, that you forgot when you went away for a few days… oh well, sheepishly throw it away, you can get a new one today. That take away food, that you didn’t end up eating in the end – bye, there’s the bin. Again, you bought 10 eggs and ended up eating 3? If you are recognizing yourself right now, this article is for you!
There is that indifference, in all of us. But if global food waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases next to China and the USA. Unshaped fruit and vegetables, overproduced goods, portions at restaurants that are too large or expired groceries that are still fine to consume – all of it ends up in the bin, even though it is still perfectly fine to eat. Food waste is on of our biggest problems today and the fight against it should become habitual. This is why we are giving a shoutout to these awesome Berlin-based food projects that are taking a stand against it.
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by Franziska | Cafés, Food, Products, Restaurants, Shops
photo: Marlen Müller
Lina Jachmann’s new book Einfach Leben, the title meaning live simply, is a lifestyle guide that escapes the usual traps of this kind of literature: it’s neither about fast trends nor is it pretentious or preachy. On the other hand, it provides you with a lot of practical insights into the minimalist lifestyle based on portraits of (extra)ordinary people who have found ways to incorporate this philosophy into their everyday lives to make them more sustainable. Since quite a few of them are somehow linked to Berlin, we’re introducing them and their alternative habits we could all learn from below!
by Michalina | Books, People
Last week a brand new festival launched in Berlin that took over the beautiful Kaufhaus Jandorf at Weinbergspark. But the C-HR Festival is not just any kind of festival, it’s a festival for the future: The themes are sustainability, creativity, design, fashion and innovation. All of these are quite broad topics, but when you read the program of speakers and workshop hosts you will understand how it’s all connected.
We live in a world that is oversaturated by innovations, creativity and design. But we realized that many of the things that humans have developed in the past couple of decades brought a lot of negative side-effects with them. Effects that we were blind to for way too long, environmentally, economically but also socially. The C-HR Festival now wants to shed some light on some of the problems and solutions we have today and need to come up with in the future. There will be talks and speeches about pollution of the ocean, the psychology of creativity, the possible effects of veganism and so much more.
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by Frank | Events
Did you ever wonder what happens to all the used coffee grounds in coffee shops and homes all over the city? Berliner Julian Lechner wondered if there was a way to use the leftovers and came up with a genius idea, that frees you from any eco-guilt: Coffee cups made of coffee leftovers.
In the spirit of reincarnation, Julian takes used coffee grounds to manufacture new, re-usable cups. So basically, he is the Jesus of coffee, turning the leftover powdered beans into new, sturdy coffee cups. What kind of sorcery is this, you ask? Be filled in after the jump. Read on…
by Yasmin | Design
photos: Kalle Kuikkaniemi
In our time it’s increasingly important that we all work together and no matter where you come from – humanity is of great importance! For our next edition of The Berlin Experts we interviewed the makers of a great platform that offers a variety of social projects in Berlin. Everyone can join the projects and “give something back to Berlin”. There is already a huge amount of hard-working volunteers and since 2012 the platform organizes community projects that aim to better the lives of many different groups of people in Berlin. There are language courses for foreigners who migrated here, creative evenings, workshops, food events and so much more. Since 2013 there are also many projects to help refugees and other people in need.
Read the interview after the jump and have some impressions from the work of Give Something Back to Berlin.
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by Olga | People, Stories
