Have you ever wondered how you can be more creative and happy in your daily life? Author, designer and artist Masaaki does not only give you the tools for that, but also shows why sustainability can empower everything we do.

The circular economy is a fascinating concept: it is a way to reorganise our economy in a way that creates endless loops of material flows and sees waste as resource for new products, creating a win-win-win situation for people, profits and the planet!

Learn from the life of an adventurer that travels to promote great causes! From crossing the Arctic ice to sailing the oceans or cycling on the river, Dhruv has many stories to tell that teach valuable lessons about raising awareness the creative way!Adventures for a purpose

Dhurv Boruah is an adventurer and entrepreneur who loves challenges out of the ordinary. He steps out of his comfort zone and embarks on journeys with a purpose, such as driving an ambulance from Madrid to Mongolia, sailing the Atlantic ocean against plastic pollution or crossing ice to raise awareness for climate change.

One special thing about most of his adventures is the fact that Dhruv never shies back before anything if he lacks a skill. He leaned how to swim while sailing on the ocean and skied the first time when crossing the ice in the High Arctic. He really lives what it means that nothing is impossible!

Cycling against plastic

For his most recent campaign, The Thames Project, Dhruv built a floating bike to cycle on the river and collect plastic in the meantime. This way, he was able to talk to citizens, members of parliament, news broadcasters and corporate actors and inspire action against plastic pollution.

However, Dhruv believes that cleaning up the plastic is not a solution: We need to start at the source and rethink the way we design, produce and consume. We need to transition to more sustainable economic models.

  

Traveling for peace

Besides the Thames Project, Dhruv is currently also planning a bike trip from North to South Korea in order to promote international peace. He wants to showcase that no matter which side of the border, humans are unique, special and united by their desire for a peaceful and safe future free of nuclear threats.

Advice for your campaign

To finish the interview, I asked Dhruv about his three core tips for anyone that wants to start their own for-purpose campaign and raise awareness. Here they are:

Be passionate about your cause and know your facts

Make it different

Find the right team to do it

You want to hear more from Dhruv?

Visit his websites www.boruah.com and http://forpurposeadventures.org/ as well as the Thames Project https://www.thethamesproject.org/ or check out his twitter @dhruvboruah and instagram page @AdventureAccelerator.

It's time to talk about money. Money matters so more than we recognise in our daily life, and it really is the of the main ways of expressing our preferences in how we want the world to look like.Mikel Garcia Prieto Arrabal is an expert on the matter, he works as Spanish CEO of Triodos, that commits to only use and invest customers' money for programs of sustainability or social impact.The real price of thingsMikel explains why the market prices of products often fail to represent the true costs inflicted in their production, transportation and usage. Externalities on the environment, as well as social costs are not counted toward the prices we pay, and yet they have to be covered by the whole of society. Think of organic vegetables: Even though you pay more at the supermarket cashier, their cost for your personal health and the one of farm workers is smaller and they do not contribute to the erosion of soil, the pollution of air and groundwater and the reduction in biodiversity. Consumers need to see the whole story behind the product.From ideas to practiceMikel has hope: he speaks about the variety of great ideas that already exist to transform our wold into a fairer and more sustainable place: Taking the example of the circular economy, he shows how businesses, governments and academia alike are already working to promote the same progress in our society. His criticism? We need to start moving faster from theory to reality, from talking to doing.Real commitments to sustainabilityAlthough there is a growing trend of greener and more socially responsible programs in business, Mikel reminds us to look at the whole picture and distinguish between those corporations investing some money in charity programs and those putting the social / environmental good at the heart of their operation, something that Harvard economist Michael Porter calls "shared value". Triodos core promise is to only invest in businesses, startups and programs that make the world better on the environmental or social side, and gives full transparency about their investments to their customers. Their long-term vision has allowed them to support many great initiatives, and also survive the global financial crisis in a much smoother way than most of the risk-taking commercial banks of the world have.Our money, our responsibilityAll of us use money, and we should manage our budget in a way that reflects our own values in life. Mikel reminds us of the three functions of money that we should consider as individual bankers: Consumption, savings and giving. Just as we look at companies progress in becoming more sustainable, we should ask ourselves how much of our consumption/saving/donation money goes towards sustainable and social causes, and try to improve that number year by year. 

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With 8.3 billion tons of plastic produced up to today, I decided it's time to make a difference and lived completely without plastic for 30 days. Let me tell you a bit about how that went, and which easy alternatives you can adopt in your life, too!

Bea Johnson is the founder of the zerowaste movement and has a lot of lessons to share on how to reduce your personal trash consumption. She will tell you how living with less can make your life better, happier, cheaper and more free in terms of time and mobility.

Rob Greenfield, the dude making a difference and one of my favourite environmental activists tells his stories, adventures and campaigns. What are the easiest changes you can implement for a more sustainable lifestyle? Listen and find out!

Impact Revolution, your podcast on sustainability and social impact is now finally completely in English! To celebrate, I have prepared a kick-ass relaunch week with amazing activists, artists, entrepreneurs and business people to share one common message

In meiner Heimatstadt München habe ich die wunderbare Hannah Sartin getroffen, die vor fast zwei Jahren zusammen mir Carlo Krauß und Christine Traub Münchens ersten ZeroWaste Laden "Ohne" eröffnet. Ein super schöner, heller und freundlicher Laden, in dem man komplett ohne Stress & Abfall einkaufen kann, und so einen 'zerowaste Lifestyle' in die Realität umzusetzen.

Doch was steckt eigentlich hinter der zerowaste ("null Müll") Philosophie, und wie kann das im Alltag von Stadtmenschen funktionieren? Hannah erzählt ihren eigenen Weg zu einem nachhaltigeren Alltag, was ihre Kinder damit zu tun haben, und wieso Cornflakes sie zum Eröffnen eines eigenen Unverpackt-Ladens inspiriert haben. Es ist ein sehr persönliches Interview geworden, vollgepackt mit Anfänger-Tipps zur Abfall-Reduktion und Alltags-Tricks.

Hannah hat mich selbst so mitgerissen von ihrer Begeisterung, dass ich mich kurzerhand entschieden habe, selbst eine 30-Tage-Plastikfrei Challenge zu machen. Um zu schauen, wie das so klappt, schaut doch gerne mal bei meiner Instagram Seite @impact_revolution vorbei :)

Eine wichtige Info habe ich noch für euch alle: Ab der nächsten Folge werde ich Impact Revolution auf Englisch weitermachen. So muss ich euch spannende social Entrepreneurs, Experten und Ecopreneurs nicht weiter wegen Sprachbarrieren vorenthalten, und kann meine Folgen mit mehr Menschen auf der Welt teilen. Ich hoffe, ihr versteht das, und freut euch trotzdem auf die nächsten Folgen! :)

Hier paar Tricks für einen müllfreieren Alltag:

Reduziere Stück für Stück. Es muss nicht gleich das abschreckende "NULL Müll" sein, wie bei vielem anderen auch geht es um einen Prozess, in dem du Schritt für Schritt deinen Lebensstil etwas verbessern kannst.

Werde kreativ: Nutze z.B. statt Küchenrolle und Wegwerf-Lappen: nimm doch einfach ein altes Laken oder sonstiges Textilstück, schneide es in Stücke, stelle ein großes Glas bereit, verwende sie nach Lust und Laune - und danach ab in die Waschmaschine.

Probiere "Bulkstores" aus und fülle trockene Lebensmittel selbst in mitgebrachten Behältern ab

Ersetze Shampoo und Duschgel durch (Haar-)Seifen in Stücken, oder probiere alternative Rezepte wie z.B. Roggenmehl, Heilerde oder Essig aus - mehr dazu bald in einer DIY Kosmetik Folge. :)

Verzichte auf Plastiktüten beim Einkaufen: Bringe deine eigenen Tragetaschen mit und lass die durchsichtigen Obst- und Gemüsetüten einfach weg.

Hannah's Tipps für mehr Info im Netz:

Smarticular Rezepte für den Alltag www.smarticular.net/

Bea Johnson's Zero Waste Home www.zerowastehome.com/

Wastelandrebel Blog www.wastelandrebel.com

ZeroWaste Blogger's Network www.zerowastebloggersnetwork.com/

Ohne Laden in München http://www.ohne-laden.de/

Bepackt verzeichnis von verpackungsfreien Supermärkten http://bepakt.com/packaging-free-supermarkets/list/

Palmöl: es wird benutzt in 50% der Haushalts-Produkte und Lebensmittel, und hat doch radikale Auswrikungen auf Mensch, Tier und Natur. Was hat Palmöl mit Abholzung, Treibhausgasen, Artenvielfalt, Kinderarbeit und Menschenrechtsverletzung am Hut, und wieso ist es so verpönt? Das & praktische Alltagsipps gibt's in dieser neuen Folge!