Sustainable Solutions

De duurzame oplossingen in het Nederlands staan hier.

Today’s news is often about crises: the climate crisis, economic crisis, refugee crises, increasing inequality and the degradation of nature. At the same time sustainable initiatives are blossoming, such as renewable energy and storage thereof, recycling, the sharing economy, and community supported agriculture. We are sailing around the world to look for and report about these sustainable solutions.

By sharing our stories we aim to raise awareness about the urgency for sustainable change and inspire our followers and those we meet on our trip to use the tools we encounter and describe. Using mostly wind and solar power to travel and charge our batteries, we also aim to travel as sustainably as possible.

Sustainable solutions we have described so far are listed below by theme. Click on the theme to read some background info on the topic and click on the picture to learn more about each sustainable solution.

Buildings

Insulation to Reduce Energy Use – the Danish Way: What makes insulation a sustainable solution and how have government policies in Denmark contributed to more energy efficiency.

Casa Tambor: Where the Beerens and Molenaar families are demonstrating how to use local and recycled building materials on Cape Verde.

Climate

Copenhagen’s Climate Actions: What the Danish capital is doing to adapt to climate change and become carbon neutral by 2025, thereby setting an example for other cities to follow.

Community

Ecovillage Findhorn has one of the lowest ecological footprints of all industrialized societies. Intriguing. What can the world learn from the community in this ecovillage?

Totnes is where the “Transition Town” movement started. We learn how a focus on local food, renewable energy, energy neutral living and the local economy makes a town more resilient and sustainable.

Economy

Living without Waste: How Germany’s first packaging-free grocery store, Unverpackt Kiel, is helping consumer to reduce waste.

Amsterdam Shares: Sharing is the new owning – how Amsterdammers are sharing tools, bikes, games to save money and natural resources.

Social Sustainability at Mondragon: The wind takes us across the Bay of Biscay to visit the Mondragon Group. We learn how democracy at the Basque workplace increases social sustainability.

Sardex – a Local Currency for a Circular Economy?: We sail to Sardinia to visit the local currency Sardex. Could this be a more sustainable monetary alternative suitable to support a circular economy?

People-to-People Clothing: In Albania, we meet Pitupi that makes clothing “people-to-people” and where environmental and social values are as least as important as financial profit.

Ecosystems

Solving the Plastic Soup: What the Netherlands is doing and what you can do to reduce plastic waste.

Protecting Nature through Access and Education: How Sweden’s right to roam (allemansrätten) and scientific legacy led to its pioneering role in nature conservation.

Creative with Cork: In Portugal we learn all about the environmental and social sustainability aspects of cork. Time to get more creative with this remarkable natural material!

Reforestation on Steroids: Reforestation helps to fight climate change, drought and fires. Innovations like the COCOON support young trees and accelerate the creation of new forests.

Rewilding Kalamos: On the Greek island of Kalamos, we learn about rewilding. And are inspired by the way this form of ecosystem regeneration balances natural and human needs.

Saving Sea Turtles on Sal: On the Cape Verdean island of Sal, we meet an organisation that saves sea turtles. And learn how biodiversity can be increased and damaged ecosystems restored.

Artificial Reefs: In Cape Verde and Brazil we learn how man-made structures can help to restore the underwater ecosystems.

Energy

Getting Energy on Samsø: How an island became independent with renewable energy.

Marine Energy in Orkney: Orkney is leading the way when it comes to developing marine energy. Harsh conditions for sailors, great for renewable energy from tides and waves!

Spanish Solar Energy at Night: In one hour enough solar energy reaches the Earth to provide energy for everyone for a year. But how will we harvest and store it? Spain has the solution.

Energy on El Hierro: On the small and remote Spanish island El Hierro, we visit a world-leading renewable energy storage solution that combines wind- and hydropower!

Nutrition

Community Supported Agriculture: How the Kattendorfer Hof is connecting its customers to the organic farm.

Permaculture: How a family on a Swedish island applies permaculture principles on their organic farm.

In Search of Sustainable Wine: Join us on our trip in search for sustainable wine to nuns, a family-run traditional vineyard, a château and the Italian Permaculture Institute.

Slow Food: Local, Artisanal and More Sustainable Food. We visit the Slow Food movement which promotes food that is good for the consumer, good for the producer and good for the planet.

Greek Gold. In Greece we take a closer look at olive oil, which is an integral part of Greek history and culture. And discover ways of growing olives sustainably.

Banana Logic. On the Canary Island of La Palma in Spain, we discover that the logical way to grow bananas is with butterflies instead of poison. Fran GarLaz explains why and how.

Food Forests. In Brazil, Ernst Götsch explains to us how to grow healthy food in cooperation with the forest, an inspiring solution for the widespread deforestation.

Spirituality

Eradicating Ecocide: How can the legal system help to protect the earth? We meet “Earth Lawyer” Polly Higgins and learn why and how ecocide should be eradicated.

Hooked on Hiking: We travel to Santiago de Compostela, the end point of the St. James Way. And learn how hiking can be both a spiritual and a physical sustainable solution.

Ibiza’s Green Heart: Sustainability on a party island? We sail to Ibiza and discover its Green Heart at Casita Verde, where Chris Dews leads many inspiring initiatives.

Transportation

Cycling in Amsterdam: A sustainable transport solution that could work in your city as well.

Electrified Norway: How hydropower generates electricity for electric driving and the world’s first fully electric car ferry.

Emission-Free Shipping over Sea: In Porto we moor next to Fair Transport’s sailing cargo vessel Tres Hombres. Their mission: to promote emission-free transport and to minimize transport.