Granny Trude is saying goodbye – with a tear in her eye. But before she goes, she takes a look back over the last four years. You can read everything she's written about sustainability and environmental protection on goethe.de.
My Dears,Today I'm writing to you for the last time. I still enjoy telling you all about brilliant sustainable ideas and products, but I just can't keep it up any more alongside all my other activities. By now, you know about all the topics that preoccupy me. What's more, at the age of 76, I'm aware there's not much more I can tell you younger ones anyway. I could tell you about the past – yes. Since everything always seems to come around again, I hope that in the last four years I've been able to give you occasional food for thought. Things weren't always better in the past, but some things were good.
Forest favourite
The topic of deceleration was one very close to my heart. Society today is very fast-paced – lots of people find it hard to keep up. For instance, how do you find the time to tend to your worm box – where earthworms produce the finest humus in an urban home? When can you immerse yourself in a forest bath? Even if time is short, I still recommend you try out one of my many featured projects. Take another look at my article on the forest – I bet you'll want to get stuck right in.Inspiration for the future
Looking back, I find the things I've written about are really relevant even to me. I inspire myself – it sounds good, I think. And if I've managed to occasionally inspire you too, that makes me really happy. Say you've "heard something before" because you read about it in one of my articles. Then you hear about it again and you're already more familiar with the subject. And then maybe you want to find out even more and carry out research on your own. So your knowledge about sustainability grows and grows. If you want to read all my features again, click here.Wonderful wild herbs ...
The other day, my friend Micha was raving about her wild herbs. Actually, we'd been chatting about how bitter substances have been bred out of our food – and are now being reintroduced into our diets in the form of expensive supplements. We know today that these bitter substances, formerly found in larger amounts in radicchio and chicory, are very healthy and – wait for it – can even help us lose weight. Because bitter substances curb our appetites and can reduce our craving for sweet foods. I've written about wild herbs before. Do you remember? Since then, I no longer think of dandelions or nettles as weeds – I add both to my salads. But what other herbs on my doorstep are also beneficial?... and a useful app
Ten minutes with my friend Micha in her garden was all it took. In that short time, she introduced me to about 20 edible herbs and flowers. I was astonished! And the best thing? I immediately downloaded an app called Seek that helps you identify unknown plants. Because, of course, I couldn't remember what the individual plants look like. You take a photo and the app immediately tells you what the plant is – it's fantastic! Seek was developed by iNaturalist, an initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, supported by kind partners from the business world. I make a point of mentioning this because I'm so happy the app exists! The first three plants I identified were wild carrot, groundsel and meadow ragwort. You have to do more research if you want to find out whether the herbs are edible.Keep at it
I expect you've noticed by now that I could go on forever! I could tell you how to stock up on food the way we did in the old days, how to be self-sufficient, how to make use of what's freely available in nature – I could always find something new to tell you about. So as a parting shot, I'd like to recommend you try out Too Good To Go – an app that helps you rescue unsold food and buy it at a cheaper price. My friend Billy told me all about it. She'd gone to her local bakery to buy bread rolls but had returned home with a bag of cakes and a whole lot of extra calories – but who cares! They were delicious, cheap and, in a sense, Billie had done a good deed.Fortunately, man's inventive spirit is still very much alive. We'll always find interesting new ways to make our lives more sustainable. And this is what we must do too. With the voices of climate activists becoming increasingly loud, it should be clear to us all by now that far more is at stake here than alternative modes of transport, shared mobility, hemp-based products, vegan food or plastic-free shopping.
Climate protection on a large and small scale
Do words like "climate emergency" and "climate catastrophe" roll off your tongue more easily now that you say or hear them so often? I'm one of those people who thinks something big has to happen on a global scale if we are going to prevent such a climate catastrophe from happening. The whole world must finally understand that it's no longer the eleventh hour, it's much later. But until the big wheels start turning, let's help in small ways wherever we can! Every little helps, so please keep going!Rather than say goodbye, I'll just say farewell. That little phrase seems rather apt today. Take care – and who knows, as they say, maybe we'll meet again one sunny day ...
So with one last wave, I send you my warmest greetings.
Yours, Trude and Family