It has long been clear that we need to do something to protect our planet. We should all contribute to more sustainability and try to leave a smaller footprint. It is certainly not possible to save the world from one day to the next, but even with small steps in everyday life, whether at work or as a student, you can change towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Apart from tips on how to lead a more sustainable student life, we would also like to introduce UniApart's new project, the Grüne Haus® am Ring in Neu-Ulm: student apartments that have taken sustainability into account in their concept and construction. Together with UniApart, we show how environmentally conscious studying can work.
These things have long become a thing of the past and have no place in our lives anymore. As UniApart also demonstrated when they moved into their student flats: As a welcome gift to all students they gave away cloth bags and reusable water bottles made of glass, which we provided from aboutwater. High quality, robust, light and free of harmful substances. If you carry these two practical utensils in your handbag or backpack, you don't have to buy paper or plastic bags when shopping and can always fill your bottle with water on the go. This eliminates the need to buy disposable plastic bottles and saves tons of plastic waste.
Take the public transport or, even better, ride a bike or scooter. Car is out, that's clear. Instead, you can learn a thing or two from UniApart, which, thanks to its central location and the availability of bicycles and scooters, not only simplifies life for its residents, but also encourages them to adopt a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. Close to the faculties, shopping facilities, parks and the bus station with its many connections, Co-Living in the Grünen Haus® is ideally located for environmentally conscious studying.
UniApart with the construction of their Grünes Haus® demonstrates how energy-efficient construction can be right from the first brick. But also the efficient use of space and the energy-saving construction method with wood-hybrid construction make the student apartments sustainable living. UniApart paid attention to overcoming ecological and economic contradictions. As a student yourself, you can also do your part, switch to green electricity and save electricity in general by not leaving electronical devices on standby. It is also important to control your water footprint. Where you shouldn't cut down on tap water is, of course, keeping yourself hydrated. We need to drink enough water to keep us fit through our daily lives, but ideally this should come from the tap and not disposable water bottles. Not only do you save CO2, plastic and waste, but you also save money. When buying food and products, you should make sure that they did not require huge amounts of water for their production. Products that have a very high water footprint are for example beef, jeans, cow's milk or almond milk. So rather buy chicken, vegetables, second hand jeans and oat milk for example. You can calculate your individual water footprint here: waterfootprint.org
Print sustainably or don't print at all - more and more students are reading their required reading on their laptop or tablet for the sake of the environment. If you really want to read on paper, you can at least print double-sided or have old single-sided documents printed again on the back. Even that saves a lot of paper! If it should be reading in book form, you should try to find the books used by other students or on the Internet.
Instead of throwing them away, reuse, repair or give them away. You can give clothes that no longer fit or old clothes that you have sorted out to old clothes containers, to Caritas or DRK clothing stores or simply give them away to family and friends. You can organize clothing swap parties, where everyone brings their sorted out clothes and swaps them with each other. Instead of buying new, you can go for refurbished products and the same applies to food: don't waste too much or throw it away. A sustainable lifestyle is not only good for the environment, but also good for your wallet.
Discount brands are rarely fairly or sustainably made and use materials that are harmful to the environment and our health. Rather go for quality brands, sustainable clothing and ideally second hand, this is often of much higher quality than Primark or other discount and fashion stores and the vintage clothing is also timeless.
If we travel less by plane, it is probably the biggest contribution we can make to protect our planet. We can also start small here and rather take the train or bus for short trips or simply take more trips into nature again. Be it a hiking weekend, a camping holiday with family and friends, with a tent or a camper van. We recommend to rely on sustainable and safe water consumption when travelling, for which there are the portable Waterfilter from LifeSaver®® . Practical in bottle form for the backpack or suitcase or in the water canister for the campervan or off-road jeep. There's something for everyone. Best of all, you can make your own safe, clean water anytime, anywhere. This is made possible by an NSF-approved ultrafilter with an additional activated carbon filter and a FailSafe mechanism. Against bacteria, viruses, parasites, microplastics and chemicals. Simply FILL. PUMP. DRINK. Let the adventure begin!
Buy regional and seasonal food without packaging. We can inform ourselves about which foods are in season and thus buy regionally to save transportation and CO2. Less meat and fish consumption is also good for the environment. Or best shop at the farmers' market, where you know where the products come from. Of course, the same also applies here: buy without packaging and plastic bags.
Finally, we'd like to share a few book and movie tips on living sustainably for those who want to learn more: book: Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson, Film/Documentary: Welcome to Sodom, Plastic Planet or A Plastic Ocean
Sources:
https://www.dasgruene.haus/
https://waterfootprint.org/
https://iconlifesaver.de/
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