What happened so far...
Jonas is in his 7th semester of studying environmental technology and resource management in Konstanz and already carried out his first #climatechallenge in his first semester. At that time, he informed himself about sustainability topics and prepared them in a presentation to sensitize young people for more climate protection. At the time, he thought of himself as leading a very sustainable lifestyle compared to other people.
Three years later.
"Today I am in the seventh and last semester of my studies and I have learned a lot about various contents regarding sustainability. Today I also know that my lifestyle, which has not changed significantly since ever, is not particularly sustainable. I consume 7.2 tons of CO2 per year, which is significantly less than the average German citizen. For a truly sustainable lifestyle, however, I should be able to achieve just about 1 t of CO2 per year.
Focus on nutrition
My CO2 calculation revealed three Big Points for me to tackle: mobility at 2.61 t/a, food at 1.66 t/a, and housing at 1.5 t/a. I have taken my nutrition to heart. Here I achieve a large savings potential with little effort. So I changed my diet from the occasional flexitarian fainting in catering establishments to a full-time vegan.
In the course of the last years I already tried me often to nourish vegan. In addition, I buy almost exclusively organic and as regional as possible. I have also become very accustomed to vegan substitute products, so it was not difficult for me to start the challenge. However, there have been several situations over the past three weeks that have been challenging for me:
The first situation at a restaurant where I ordered a dish that was not listed as vegan on the menu. I ordered off the bacon and unfortunately it still came with bacon. I found it extremely difficult to complain about the food because I assumed it would go straight to waste. I complained about it anyway and was given a portion without bacon. After all, my original portion was utilized as an employee meal and did not end up in the trash.
Furthermore, there were moments at the weekly market, during a walk through the city or a visit to a restaurant, when the good-smelling cheese or meat dishes turned me on and it was difficult for me to reach for the vegan alternative. Due to the active renunciation of animal products over the Challenge, this was particularly difficult for me, because the situations described above were otherwise exactly the ones in which I treated myself to the cheese or meat dish as an exception.
To avoid further situations, I had to communicate at several invitations in advance that I eat exclusively vegan. This was not at all necessarily the hosts, but rather me unpleasantly, because I confused if necessary their planning and represented thus an additional expenditure. In retrospect, however, this opened up great conversations about different diets and sensitized everyone present to more awareness in everyday consumption.
Looking back on the Footprint Challenge, I am very happy with the decision to start the challenge and have been eating vegan for the second month after the challenge - with one small exception: I had to accept an invitation to a cheese fondue from Swiss friends. I have since informed myself very extensively about the vegan diet, have watched documentaries, read books & articles, borrowed cookbooks and tried many recipes and feel extremely good with it. So good, in fact, that I want to eat exclusively vegan, even in the long term."
We're happy to tell you about Jonas´ successful #climatechallenge and hope that maybe we could inspire you to start your own challenge.
Want to share your story? Then feel free to write us at climatechallenge@htwg-konstanz.de or on Instagram @_climatechallenge. We look forward to hearing from you!