My eco-balance so far has been very “lavish”. No wonder: I traveled a lot and bought a lot. I was, so to speak, a role model in a consumer economy—and eager to buy.
In comparison, I consumed a lot of energy and emitted more than twice as much CO2 as the average German citizen.
To determine the necessary values for my personal eco-balance, I had to painstakingly provide meticulous details about my previous consumer behavior and my current living conditions. In addition, I took a complete inventory of my material possessions (i.e. every single thing in our household).
There were a number of questions to answer:
– What cars and motorcycles had I driven in my life? How many kilometers? How often had I flown, and where?
– What clothes had I worn? From which materials, for how long and how quickly did I replace them?
– What had I eaten and drunk over the years? Organic or conventional? Coffee, tea, wine? How much meat did I eat, how many dairy products and exotic foods?
– Which detergents and cleaning agents had I used, which shampoos and toothpastes?
– What electrical appliances had I bought, how often had I used them and with what kind of electricity?
– How big had my apartments been, how well insulated, and how heavily heated?