Lesson 3 Contribute

Small Actions, Big Impact. Share Talk to the community

“Going green” seems to be all the rage these days. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization

Stores and companies use phrases like this to (FAO) of the United Nations, a third of global food

promote their businesses as eco-friendly. It makes production goes into trash bins annually. In Germany

sense to try to live in a way that does not harm the alone, around eleven million tons of food are wasted

environment, but is it easy to go green? In your every year. Having been founded to tackle this

home, for example, do you always unplug your TV problem on a local scale, the online platform,

when you aren't watching it? Do stores in your “foodsharing.de” allows extra food in your fridge or
neighborhood always keep their doors shut when the
cupboard to be distributed to neighbors. The basic
heaters or air conditioners are on? Probably not.
concept is simple: people sharing food. The only rule
Some innovators have taken on the challenge of
is not to pass anything on to others that you
“going green,” and have come up with some brilliant
wouldn't eat yourself. This project may change the
ideas to make “going green” easier and simpler.
way people think about food: if food is not shared,

it is wasted.
Reuse Oldies but goodies!

Everyone has things that are no longer of any use,

Waste Not Drink and eat it!
and chances are, those things will eventually get
Using disposable cups may be convenient, but it is
thrown away. However, some of the things that get

thrown out are still useful to other people. Goedzak not necessarily eco-friendly. They are a massive

is a Dutch way of allowing people to get source of waste. Every year, people in the U.S. use

second-hand things that might otherwise be thrown over 100 billion disposable cups, and Koreans

away. It is a special garbage bag that can be filled dispose of over 15 billion cups each year. That's

with used, but still usable items. Placing the bag what drove a few novel designers to come up with

outside on the pavement makes whatever is in it edible coffee cups. A cookie forms the main

available to anyone in the community. Goedzak's structure, with a white chocolate layer on the inside
bright color attracts attention while the transparent
and a thin layer of sugar paper on the outside. This
side of the bag reveals its contents. People can help
structure allows you to drink coffee without finding
themselves to anything they like. What an idea!
yourself holding a soaked mess. You can think of it
These transparent garbage containers have helped
as a treat for coffee! You may have to consume
many Dutch people go greener by reducing the
extra sugar, but it will definitely create less waste.
amount of trash going to landfills.
 Use Less Holes mean a lot Read More

What can you do to go green when you have 500 Throwing Away a Fortune

photocopies to make? Many green strategies focus Every year thousands upon thousands of tons of

on using less paper, like printing on both sides. electronics, from air conditioners to smartphones, are

Another green strategy is to use less ink, which is thrown out. This adds up to huge amounts of waste

which has to be managed, especially for smaller

what many people already do. But what if you could
countries like Korea. Is it possible that electronics
take it a step further? That's what Ecofont is. A
waste is actually a resource? Like a mine in the
designer thought that if he could create fonts that
ground, many people are beginning to think of
have tiny holes in them, he might be able to make
electronics waste as "urban mines" because of the
more efficient use of the amount of ink used. In fact,
amount of gold, silver, copper, plastic, and steel that
Ecofont uses about a fifth less ink than traditional
is waiting to be used again.
fonts without ruining readability. The brilliance of
To manufacture electronics products, resources such
Ecofont is the different perspective it takes on going
as gold, silver, copper, glass, plastic, and steel must
green: the use of less ink by the font.
be mined, purchased, or produced. As resources

become harder to get, urban mines may become a

An eco-friendly way of life is not about changing
more economical solution. About one ton of rock
the entire world overnight. It is about becoming
must be dug up in a mine to get around five grams
aware of your own wasteful ways and then helping
of gold; however, one ton of mobile phones may
others become aware of theirs. After awareness
contain around 300 grams of gold, in addition to
comes the process of adopting slightly different ways
other recoverable materials. The potential value of

of doing some daily tasks. When you do these urban mines increases when resources become

things, you are keeping your environmental bank expensive and waste is not recycled.

account full. When you go one step further and help Although electronics waste may be seen from an

others do them too, you are an activist and big economic point of view, there is another side to this

changes can happen. story: the environmental issue. Recycling electronics

waste can lower ecological damage from traditional

mines and decrease air pollution from transporting

materials over long distances. Moving forward does

not always mean making new things; sometimes

looking at an old problem from a new perspective is

the simplest solution.