What does sustainable living mean for us? What defines sustainability in the first place and how can I make my ecological footprint more CO2 neutral without restricting myself too much in my life? What does Green Living mean and how do I recognize that something is really sustainable? How do I combine sustainability with design? At Createbeautifulthings we want to explain this and much more and show you how you can design your home sustainably, including aesthetic design.
Every day, cities and constatly growing and our surroundings become more and more cramped. Miles of concrete landscapes as far as you can see, but fortunately there are houseplants that bring a sense of nature back into our homes. Properly placed, they not only exude...
Have you ever walked through your door and thought, oh God what died here? Children, pets and even yourself carry many different smells into your home every day that seem really hard to fight. The way your home smells is actually the smell you carry through your daily...
The concept of sustainability originally comes from forestry. It means, that you should only ever cut down as many trees as they are able to grow back. This is important so that the forest remains intact and can be used for each generation. So for us, this means two things:
1: In the long run, we must not live at the expense of people in poorer regions or even our future generations.
2: Environment, economy and society are mutually dependent and should always be kept in balance.
The way in which economic and technical progress has been pursued up to now has unfortunately ignored the aspect of an intact environment in many cases. This now threatens the livelihood of our future generations and causes great suffering in poorer countries like Africa, Chile and India. But even countries like Germany will not be able to avoid climate change if we don’t do something soon.
The idea of sustainable development is an effort to achieve greater justice and a balance between the environment, the economy and society. On the one hand, every person in the world should have the same rights and opportunities for development without being exploited; on the other hand, we must ensure that we leave our earth in such a way that our children and grandchildren can fully enjoy and pass on our planet, with its stunning beauty and great wealth of species. To achieve this sustainable development, each person must do their part to bring our world back into balance.
Sustainable living for us means that we try to leave as small of a Co2 footprint as possible by designing our home and living green. To achieve this, the desire to inform ourselves is the first step in the right direction. It is important to find out which materials are or can be produced in a particularly environmentally friendly way and also to weigh up whether the logistical effort is justified.
Two examples of misunderstood goodness are advocados: The so-called superfruit is great for your health, but anything but regional, so hipping it from one end of the world to the other, costs a lot of Co2. And second, the latest trend in electric cars. Clean to drive – as long as you use green electricity, but a mess in the extraction of lithium, for the batteries of these cars or even in your smartphone.
No, and we want to make that clear from the start: We love our environment and that’s why we want to be able to find and offer innovative design solutions that are designed to live a sustainable lifestyle. A lifestyle that is progressive and enriches our everyday living. However, it should not make us feel negatively restricted, such as suddenly only being able to buy furniture that is environmentally friendly but has no aesthetic appeal at all. Sometimes you have to choose between two evils and then you have to choose the lesser evil.
Resources should generally be used in such a way that they are not wasted unnecessarily. In addition, they should be processed specifically for their area of application and not simply because it looks pretty. We will find design solutions for you that are smart and functional, but above all give your apartment or house the feeling of a home.
How can I tell if a piece of furniture is particularly sustainable or not? In our guide, we aim to keep you up to date on which materials and designs are generally sustainable and can also be produced regionally. Of course, if a piece of furniture comes from Timbuktu, you can’t assume that just because the furniture makers used oak, that it wasn’t shipped halfway around the world.
However, in order to be ultimately sure about a piece of furniture, you can orient yourself on the basis of environmental certificates. Yes, and which ones can I trust now? That’s right. There are thousands of certificates and not all of them deliver what they promise. However, here we have a small selection of certifications that seem trustworthy to us.
The seal of the Blue Angel is one of the first environmental seals that existed in Germany and is constantly rechecked by the Federal Environment Agency. This angel is now on about 12,000 products to find and these are not only these gray college pads or toilet paper. Smartphones that have replaceable batteries and are particularly low in radiation.
Washing powder and cleaning agents without microplastics. Even furniture and vacuum cleaners carry this seal. Important criteria for awarding this seal are that they are particularly environmentally friendly, but have also been produced under fair working conditions.
You can find all important award criteria here
Quelle
Since experience with the efficiency label for electrical appliances has been very positive, the German Quality Association (DGM), in cooperation with testing institutes and the Federal Environment Agency, has developed the red-green emission label for furniture as well. In terms of appearance, it is very similar to the energy efficiency label, but it is not mandatory. The label distinguishes between four categories from A – D and is based on the limit values for substances that are hazardous to health.
A corresponds to the requirements of the Blue Angel, D corresponds to the legal limit values. Furniture manufacturers who wish to carry the label in perpetuity must ensure that all furniture passes the tests. According to the DGM, the limit values for these tests have been agreed with testing institutes such as TÜV Rheinland, the Eco-Institut and the Federal Environment Agency.
Quelle
This seal comes from the Association of Ecological Furniture Stores and is awarded for environmentally friendly and healthy furniture and mattresses. All furniture and upholstery fabrics with the ÖkoControl mark are made from renewable raw materials and must meet high requirements for freedom from harmful substances, material quality, origin, production and recyclability. The Sigel stands according to own data for:
Quelle
Sustainability is possible in all areas and if you already design your home sustainably, the thought of an earthship comes quickly. In other words, from your own electricity to your private sewage treatment plant, you can be independent of the social grid and thus live in a controlled environmentally friendly way. We take you on a journey from planning to implementation with reports about experiences, successes and also defeats of people who have dared the step to their own Earthship.