It’s not that easy to make the right decisions for the environment. We once gave a few experts a choice.
by Jessica Braun
Regional or organic?
“Organic, seasonal and regional,” says Philipp Sommer, deputy head of the circular economy at Deutsche Umwelthilfe. Regional only comes in third place. Because a tomato that the farmer from the surrounding area spoons to the market in his van is often more damaging to the environment than one that comes to us from the Netherlands in a truck packed to the brim. And the German apple, which is stored in the cold store for months, usually causes more emissions than one imported from New Zealand when it is the harvest season there. Pretty complicated! That is why Philipp Sommer advises buying organic goods. “It is often seasonal and regional, especially if it bears high-quality organic seals such as Demeter or Naturland. And the organic shops and health food stores pay close attention to the conditions under which their goods were delivered and stored.” An additional plus for organic: The cultivation does not require mineral fertilizers – a real energy guzzler.
Petrol or electric car?
“A used gasoline engine is currently the most sustainable choice,” replies Dorothee Saar, Head of Traffic and Air Pollution Control at DUH. Electric cars do not cause any greenhouse gases on the road. And the further the energy transition advances, the more the climate is happy about electric vehicles. But the production of a new car – regardless of the drive – is always a burden for the environment. She recommends looking out for an efficient used vehicle – and more so for the kissing ball than the oversized city tank. “Direct injection engines are usually efficient, but produce more particulate matter. That is why the car should have a particulate filter.”
Netflix or cinema?
Nothing “Game of Thrones”: “Go to the cinema more,” says Zeynep Kahraman from The Shift Project. Video streaming on computers, smartphones and televisions has become a popular sport that accounts for 80 percent of digital electricity consumption. This requires data centers and networks made up of cables, glass fibers and modems, the operation of which consumes gigantic amounts of energy. “Worldwide video streaming caused just as many greenhouse gas emissions as Spain in 2018. If the video-on-demand offers from Netflix and Amazon Prime were a country, they should host the next UN climate conference, the expert jokes Kilograms of CO2, on the other hand, are really economical.
Paper bag or cotton bag?
The cotton bag – but only if you already have it! If you’ve forgotten it at home, the answer is buy a plastic bag and use it several times. According to an analysis by the British Environment Ministry, a bag made from conventional cotton is only more tolerable if it is used more than 130 times as often as the plastic bag made from petroleum. Cotton cultivation uses immense amounts of water and pesticides. Organic cotton only makes this balance a little better. And the paper bag, which lies so innocently brown on the cash register, is not a solution: it is twice as complex to manufacture as the plastic version – and it pollutes the air and water with chemicals. Because what looks like recycled material is usually not one.
Glass bottle or Tetra Pak?
Returnable glass bottle. “The beverage carton – nickname: Tetra Pak – has a far too good reputation,” says Philipp Sommer from DUH. Sure, as a lightweight, it saves transport energy. “But it does not contain any recycling materials, it uses almost exclusively new plastic, aluminum and primary fibers.” The inside of the boxes are also coated with plastic, making them difficult to recycle. “In fact, the recycling rate is only around 36 percent, not 77 percent as the manufacturers claim.” Unpleasant side effect: There are pollutants in plastic and printing ink that can be carried over into juice or milk. Glass bottles, on the other hand, are real clean men, aren’t they? “Only the returnable bottles,” says Sommer. Glass is very easy to recycle and does not release any harmful substances into its contents. But the production costs for one-way bottles are so high that they do not look good in the life cycle assessment.
Tofu or beef?
Tofu. Vegetable protein clearly beats animal protein. “Producing a kilo of beef causes about as much greenhouse gas emissions as driving 100 kilometers in a car,” says Zeynep Kahraman, head of the French climate think tank The Shift Project. Because cattle fart methane – a gas 25 times more harmful than CO2 – beef ranks second among environmentally harmful proteins. Only lamb is worse. “Growing lentils, on the other hand, produces 30 times less emissions than beef, and making tofu almost 15 times less,” says Kahraman. The expert admits that soy is not without it: Forests are cleared for the cultivation areas. Not to feed people, but European animals. “We may not all have to become vegetarians, but if we consume less meat and prefer quality to quantity, that makes our carbon footprint significantly smaller.”
Powder detergent or pods?
Powder! Even if the liquid product pre-dosed in small, water-soluble packages is so practical. But that’s ecologically nonsense, says Philipp Sommer from DUH: “As long as you observe the correct dosage, powder is much more environmentally friendly.” The loose goods even beat liquid detergents, even concentrates, “because powder does not contain water. Therefore, the effort involved in transport and packaging is less important.” If you don’t want to do without liquid cleanliness at all, you should buy refill packs, advises Sommer. “Some manufacturers already offer these made from the right recycled material.” It says: “Made of 100 or 80 percent recycled material. At best with the addition: ‘from the yellow sack’.”
E-book or printed book?
Here paper sticks the screen. “Mining, energy consumption and disposal of electronic waste,” says Zeynep Kahraman from The Shift Project, listing the reasons for this. A study once calculated that an e-reader saves almost 170 kilograms of CO2 per year by preventing the production of 22.5 books. In this calculation, however, the energy consumption of the data centers on whose servers the e-books of this world are stored was missing. According to another, more comprehensive study, you would have to buy 100 printed books to have a similar impact on the climate as buying an e-reader.
Jessica Braun is reading more on her couch instead of streaming. Now, after the end of Game of Thrones.