No one has regretted the time spent on traveling. I travel with a sense and goals. I have been walking throughout the hills in Murmansk region during two weeks in July and spent two more weeks in Germany within farming-sustainability program called WOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). I was living in Berlin for a week, exploring how this city becomes sustainable and green. I also spent the last summer days in the greenest University campus in Finland — in Lappeenranta and finished my trip in Helsinki staying there for a weekend.
During the trips I found out a huge number of green practices realized for different regions. I think it is necessary to share some tips and finding with those who will read this article. Some of them will be useful for traveling, others you can implement in your community or project\home. In this article I will describe not all eco-susty ideas that I’ve found out during my trip but only those that I remember right now.
1. The base.
Instead of jars that may cause some difficulties if you travel by plane, I buy all the cosmetics in a solid form. Ideally, I want to learn how to make cosmetic by myself but I still use solid shampoo and soap and store them in aluminum LUSH box. Deodorant that I used is a hard stone allunite. All this solid stuff is lighter, more compact, more durable, and nothing may run out during transportation. Moreover, the solid products I use are eco-certified and not tested on animals.
Kleankanteen stainless steel bottle. Water in mountains and European countries are so clean that there is no need to buy plastic-bottled water, not to mention the costs of production and plastic recycling.
2. Step one after another
Kolvitsa tundra is so uninhabited that during the whole trip we have met the only one fisherman on the seashore. Therefore, we were responsible to the virgin nature of these northern regions. The hills were covered with mosses and lichens, which are very vulnerable for climate change and anthropogenic influence. It is better the whole group to step one after another in order to not destroy the fragile ecosystems.
3. Preserving.
People leaving in commune Karmitz in Germany are trying to become more independent and do not spend a lot of money on food provision for all members of the commune during winter season. Therefore, most of the used products are grown on farms and harvest are canned. Such kind of food conservation requires less natural resources due to the lack of need to pay for electricity that are required for freezers and refrigerators.
4. Gift and free exchange.
As well as in almost all country houses, there is a common huge shed in the commune. It looks like spacious three stories height house. Residents of the village give their unneeded goods, clothes, furniture, interior items and utensil. Everybody may take what he or she needs. Some space in the shed is occupied by workshops for wood, metal and bike repairing.
In Finland and Germany, there are containers in the streets next to public places in which you can put things\books you don’t need. In Helsinki a concept Kierratyskeskus exists — (Reuse Center) center for recycling and utilization of stuff and materials. Some stuff are given to people for free, some others you can buy for low price.
5. Finland.
In Lappeenranta, I only visited green campus in Finland at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LTU). This university demonstrates the way of sustainable development and ecological life style to whole Finland. In addition to implementation of many different technologies, it recently became famous for a very important
Also, Finland has a special holiday — the Day of Finnish nature. Since 2017, this country has become the first country in the world that raises the national flag in honor of its unique nature.
6. Public gardens.
In Helsinki and Berlin, I often came across lovely public gardens (community gardens). My favorites in Berlin are the garden on the field of Tempelhofer and Princessinengarten on Moritzplatz. The first was created more recently, when the airport of West Berlin (Tempelhofer) was given to the public. Now different communities make lots of activities, sports and food there. In order to create a garden on the Moritzplatz, activists dismantled and cleared the territory of the former landfill where it is now possible to grow their own plants, attend workshops and lectures and sample dishes from local products.
