5th of Dec: My „eco Adventskalender“ suggestion for today: Have a look around you today (and maybe over the weekend). How many items do you find which you do not need (do not need any longer, never needed at all, …)? But you cannot throw out those items, because they are new, never used, in perfect shape? Search for three items for each category: 1. Something which you could give to a friend, because you think s/he would like to have it. Then, you send an email TODAY to that person and first ask her/him whether or not s/he’d like to have that item. 2. Something which you could bring to a charity shop (e.g. Oxfam) tomorrow, and 3. Something you can give away via Ebay, Parents in Munich Items for Sale, or some other platform. Let’s find a new home for some obsolete items!

PS: You can of course also find more than 3 x 3 items, but let’s start with a smaller number, just to make sure …

#gettingridof1000things

Wer morgen Vormittag noch nichts vorhat und/oder noch sich selbst oder anderen ein besonderes Geschenk zu Nikolaus machen mag: Diese und viele mehr Materialien und Werkzeuge, Nähmaschine usw. warten morgen darauf, dass möglichst viele selbst aktiv werden, um vorhandene Dinge wieder zu reparieren. Reduce, reuse, repair!

Und ganz nebenbei bringt es auch noch Spaß, die „geplante Obsoleszenz“ der Produkte vieler Firmen einfach auszutricksen.

http://www.fragpetra.de/2014/12/04/eco-adventskalender-2014-day-4-repair-something/

4th of Dec: My „eco Adventskalender“ suggestion for today: Repair something you own! I am sure that everybody has at least one broken item at home, some clothes with a missing button, a beloved, but broken toy, … Search for it TODAY and repair it TODAY! If you get stuck and cannot do this on your own, search for a repair event near you (search for „Repair Cafe, Reparaturcafe or similar words) or bring your clothes to a professional place near you („Änderungsschneiderei“). Fixing things helps to save ressources, avoids unnecessary waste, therefore it’s much better for our planet and nature – and apart from that it’s fun and can make you happier! Being able to fix items and to break the circle of buy-throwaway-buy new stuff can be a very nice feeling. Invite friends to do this together. Find people who are also interested to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
BTW: We’ll have a „Reparaturevent“ at my Little Shop of Science tomorrow morning from 10:00 to 12:00, Dec 5th 2014.

3rd of Dec: My „eco Adventskalender“ suggestion for today: Have your address removed from the database of all companies you are not interested in (anymore)!
It’s Christmas time! So, best time of the year for companies, they want your money! How many paper catalogues did your receive already? How many of them do you really want to receive on paper? How much paper was wasted for those catalogues and how much energy was wasted to produce them and to get them delivered to your house?
Have a look at all catalogues you got and check which one you do not want to receive any longer. Then, just send them an email and ask them to please remove your address from their list to help them save money and avoid wasting ressources. I will put a template (in German)  below.
PS: I’ve noticed that you may have to repeat this for some companies after a while. Some companies seem to put their customer’s address back into the mailing lists after each order.

Template:

Template – German: Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
um mein Altpapier und die Umwelt sowie Ihre Finanzen zu entlasten,
möchte ich Sie bitten, folgende Adresse aus Ihrem Adressverteiler
für Kataloge zu streichen:
[here comes your postal address with your name as it’s written by the company]
Kundennummer:[in case you have a number, also put it here]

Vielen Dank im voraus!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
[your name]