Low Carbon homemade presents | Beatrice

What things did you enjoy the most about your experience this week?

Spending time with my family and exploring low-carbon activities with my mum. We spent a few days in our house in the countryside and I ended up working with my mum in her herbs garden. This was not only an opportunity to slow down a bit, but also to collect some tasty and nice herbs to bring back to Berlin as a low-carbon present for my friends.

What were the main challenges you faced during the week?

Spending time with my family and friends also meant taking parts to some higher-carbon activities, as for their habits to buy more or eat less sustainably than I do. It was challenging to say no to some of these activities, considering I had only a few days left before getting back to Berlin. I did for some, but in was one case I could not refrain: on Sunday my family organized a goodbye lunch in the garden in our countryside, and what weighed the most on my carbon budget was the food I had with them.

What were your main lessons learned of the week?

I can keep a low-carbon lifestyle if I want to (when it comes to decisions I take and not to system limitations), but when my family and friends have a way different lifestyle and are less conscious about their impact, things get a bit more complicated.

What would have made it easier for you to achieve or surpass your target this week?

The meals I had on Thursday with my friends and on Sunday with my family were the activities this week which impacted my carbon budget the most.