Be Green: The Brigitte podcast on sustainability

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Episode 10: Fashion upcycling – mega trend or just a greenwashing trick?

Sure, clothes can also be sewn in style, but is that affordable? Will we meet to change clothes instead of shopping in the future? Which hacks and tricks in recycling clothing are totally underrated – and which are so overrated? And is the upcycling of PET plastic bottles into clothes, shoes and the like really the salvation or just a greenwashing trick? Host Alexandra Zykunov talks about all these questions with fair fashion activist Jana Braumüller, co-founder of the collective "Fashionchangers" (www.fashionchangers.de). They go through the trends for upcycling in the fashion industry, tell what really brings something – and which upcycling trend can easily be ignored.

What is the "Be Green" Podcast?

Can I only shop fair fashion, but run to a large chain every six months? Can I live plastic-free but throw all the rules overboard while on vacation? Can I call myself eco-mom even though my children only want to eat sausages? Yes, you can, we can – and above all we can talk about it. Because a sustainable lifestyle is not glossy, it is not just as easy-peasy to implement, photographed unpackaged with a fancy filter over it, and I have halved my CO2 footprint. We want to live more sustainably, but we pound, and yes – we sometimes fail. And finally there is a podcast that speaks honestly about these sides of sustainable lifestyle.

Because this is exactly what Alexandra Zykunov, the co-inventor of the sustainable magazine “Brigitte BE GREEN”, will talk about from today in the brand new podcast “Brigitte BE GREEN. Sustainable without mincing words ”. Together with large and small green fluencers, colleagues, friends and experts, she speaks very openly and very honestly about what a sustainable lifestyle really is, what it gives us, but also what it demands of us. Struggles, fails and laughing a lot at yourself included!

All episodes at a glance

Episode 9: "Green finance – is that possible?"

We don't buy plastic, we have green electricity and we shop second hand. But don't know what actually happens to our money. Because the vast majority of them park their salaries and savings with conventional banks – and in case of doubt they finance war weapons, nuclear power or companies that are ripping our earth up every minute.

The solutions? Has journalist and podcaster Anissa Brinkhoff, who has hosted the BRIGITTE finance podcast "What the Finance" for years, is familiar with Moneten and has already interviewed numerous guests about Green Financing.

So it's no wonder that hostess Alexandra had to pester you: How complicated is it really to switch to a green bank? In the worst case, what can happen if I leave my money at my house bank? And how green are green ETFs really? Be sure to listen!

Episode 8: "Partnership and Sustainability"

It neatly separates the garbage – has to constantly fish his newspapers and bags of chips out of the garbage because he couldn't throw them into the recycling bin next to it! He's a vegetarian, she throws a burger on the pan with friends every Thursday. How much sustainability can the relationship take? Can you just leave five standing there? Should one even? And when does it say: my values ​​simply no longer work? Hostess and editor-in-chief of Brigitte BE GREEN, Alexandra Zykunov, will talk about this with her friend and colleague Liske Jaax. They reveal their eco-relationship building sites – she wants a car, he doesn't see it; she feels like a second Greta, he feels taken by surprise – and reveals which strategies you have developed for yourself, so that in the end you don't have to choose between saving the world and a relationship. Pointed out, with a lot of humor and a lot of laughter at yourself. Be sure to listen.

Episode 7: “Sustainable Christmas? Doesn't work! "

Let's be honest: Christmas and sustainability are actually mutually exclusive: the advent calendar battles, the wrapping arias, the madness of presents. Alexandra Zykunov and climate activist and journalist Anne Dittmann reveal in this episode a) psychological tricks why we think we need what we buy; b) show cool alternatives for advent calendars & Co. But also c) they both say very honestly: Oh come on, let’s be five, we have Corona, that’s exhausting enough.

And the two raise the question: Should we let Christmas be a bit of Christmas this year too …? For everyone who is torn as to whether and how a green lifestyle can go hand in hand with X-Mas and when we should just relax – be sure to listen.

Episode 6: "Eco battlefield family celebration"

Christmas is just around the corner, and even if in a stripped-down Corona version, the turkey talk will probably start again soon: "Come on, it's only a bird once a year", "Come on, forests are being cleared for your soy schnitzel", “Come on, grandpa doesn't believe in climate change”. Well, who has inner fists clenched?

Host Alexandra and colleague and friend Liske Jaax ask themselves how much sustainability our family celebration can take. How do you react when your great-uncle unpacks his fake news tirades again, denies global warming and teaches us that “after all, our avocado also has the bad ecological balance sheet”? Liske and Alexandra tell honestly about their private celebrations, with whom they have conflicts and when, whether they still do it and – very importantly – give tips on the tricks they use to meet the great uncles of this world? A particularly honest episode – Liske and Alexandra are not allowed to celebrate family celebrations. Be sure to listen!

Episode 5: "Sustainable with children – is that even possible?"

Typical resolutions: "When I'm mom, I of course only use cloth diapers, mash homemade parsnip mash, which I naturally picked from my own balcony, and only accept triple certified second-hand wooden toys." Yes, no, that's clear. And then life comes in between, the baby only peeers the cloth diapers, the parsnips do not want to set fire and all relatives cart the flashing-pink-made-in-China-plastic-stuff at birth – which the child will of course never give back . Is a sustainable lifestyle really right when you have children? And what if they only want to eat chicken nuggets instead of hummus?

Host Alexandra talks about this with activist Milena Glimbowski, who brought the zero-waste shopping movement to Germany and Europe with her “Original Unpacked” store (www.original-unverpackt.de) in Berlin in 2014. She is the mother of a two-year-old son and subsequently tells quite honestly and bluntly how she deals with failures, whether she really only dries all her laundry on the clothesline, which baby products you can mix supereasy yourself – and how she deals with them when the relatives are once again hauling in plastic gifts. Gift tips for the birth and laugh flash included – be sure to listen!

Episode 4, Part 2: "Plastic-free bathrooms are not always the real thing"

Mascara to mix yourself, coconut oil to remove make-up, but for which forests are cleared again, and, uh, a shower instead of toilet paper? Not everything that sounds like a hip eco bathroom is that cool in reality. What works really well and which eco-changes in the bathroom might we prefer to ignore? Together with the eco-activist Jana Braumüller from the fashion collective www.fashionchangers.de, podcast host Alexandra Zykunov talked honestly in the second episode about the plastic-free bathroom about what they have already changed in their bathroom – and what they failed miserably. But don't worry, no one will get out of this episode frustrated: the two women provide their professional tips on how they dealt with their failure and which new green hacks they have discovered as a result. The ups and downs of a plastic-free bathroom, there is a lot there, musty fabric make-up removal pads and laugh flash included – be sure to listen!

Episode 4, Part 1: "Plastic-free bathrooms are not always the real thing"

Flour instead of shampoo, razors that look like murderous tools and solid toothbrush tabs for choking? Not everything that sounds like a hip eco bathroom is that cool in reality. What works really well and which eco-changes in the bathroom do we prefer to ignore? Together with the eco-activist Jana Braumüller from the fashion collective fashionchangers.de, podcast host Alexandra Zykunov chats honestly about what they have already converted in their bathrooms – and what they failed miserably.

But don't worry, no one will get out of this episode frustrated: the two women provide their professional tips on how they dealt with their failure and which new green hacks they have discovered as a result. The ups and downs of a plastic-free bathroom, there is a lot there, including "death scales" and laughing flash – be sure to listen!

Episode 3: “Don't you feel like it anymore? How do you find your guilty conscience again? "

Let's be honest: You have given in to your green lifestyle since Corona, haven't you? "Zero waste shopping? Oh come on, just get out of the supermarket quickly – it doesn't matter whether the zucchini is shrink-wrapped or not. Is fair fashion so important? Oh come on, I just want to do something good for myself in these crazy times and recently I escalated at the big online shops. ”Booked a trip, ate meat, drove a lot of car? Denying it only makes your conscience worse. The good thing, however, is that it is totally normal that we all collapse – even environmental psychologists confirm! Because our brain only has a limited capacity for worries and bad news and Corona is just suppressing absolutely everything – even our best ecological resolutions.

And because insight is the first way to get better, Alexandra Zykunov, editor-in-chief of BE GREEN, wants to talk honestly about our corona fails. With who? With her co-editor Daniela Stohn, of course. Because who should speak best about their eco-failures during Corona than two people who otherwise do an absolutely exemplary eco-magazine? They reveal their struggels (spoiler: very bad meatballs), but the most important thing: they reveal psychological tips and thinking strategies on how we can motivate ourselves again, how we can find our guilty conscience and get out of the eco-hole again. Did you feel the same way during Corona? Then be sure to listen!

Episode 2: "How's it going? Sustainable menstrual products "

In the second episode of the BE GREEN podcast it gets a bit more intimate, because host Alexandra speaks about a topic that is actually not really talked about in public. Namely: the period. But why is this topic so taboo? After all, menstruating people bleed for an incredible six and a half (!!) years in their lifetime. And that's a hell of a long time! Especially when it comes to the 17,000 tampons and pads that each of us leaves behind.

So it's no wonder that sustainable menstrual products such as cups, period underwear, sponges and the like are booming. The big but: switching to sustainable menstrual products is not as easy at all as it is always claimed to be instagrammable. It rubs, it slips and, yes, it's very bloody. How does that really work with the cup? Doesn't your underwear overflow at some point? And isn't free bleeding total, well, disgusting?

In this episode, host Alexandra tested sustainable menstrual products with her friend and colleague from the magazine "Emotion", Liske Jaax, and they both talk openly about it. You like: Bäää? We like this: no, exciting! Because you can secretly listen and find out everything you always wanted to know about Mens products. Alexandra and Liske do away with clichés, freely tell you which products didn't work with them and why we should all talk about our days. Be sure to listen!

Episode 1: "Only fair fashion is just too corrosive"

In the very first episode, Alexandra talks to the founder of the sustainable online magazine “Viertel Vor” (www.viertel-vor.com) and Greenfluencer Anna Schunck about how easy-peasy it is theoretically to simply switch to fair fashion. Because it is not. Firstly, fair fashion is expensive, not everyone can afford it – keyword: privileges. Second, you often look for a wolf when you want to check that the label is really green and not just painted green. And thirdly, let's be honest, we can actually totally forget about strolling because 99 percent of the pretty pedestrian zones don't (yet) have fair parts.

So that we don't get ourselves wrong: this episode is not a free ticket to just keep shopping as usual! And we are very well aware of why we chose a sustainable wardrobe! But it was and is certainly not easy-peasy. And that's what we want to talk about, and very honestly.

Because who wants a handful of perfect eco? We want millions of imperfect ecos! And we want to talk about everything that happens in between. So that we can all do better in the end. Because: excessive demands have not saved anyone. Least of all the planet. "Brigitte BE GREEN. Sustainable without mincing words. ”A really, REALLY honest podcast on the subject of sustainability. Be sure to listen!