Hello everyone! I am Christoph, Environmental Scientist, passionate Authorand sports enthusiast Animal and nature conservationists.
I have been living for many years vegan, waste-avoiding and minimalist wherever possible.
I would like to take this opportunity to to welcome you to CareElite and you my personal story to tell.
About CareElite
With this blog, I would like to raise our awareness of the uniqueness of nature and the ecological problems of our time and show how each of us live more sustainably and consciously can. You'll also find everyday tips, helpful tools and products - and clear answers to all sustainability questions.
Since I am here Absolutely transparent holistic solution approach, the Variety of topics from zero waste, plant-based nutrition, animal welfare, gardening, mobility, travel, fashion, finance, do-it-yourself, work, technology and minimalism to personal development.
Good to know: The word part "Care" is derived from the English word for care & mindfulness and fits perfectly with what we want to achieve. And the term "elite" stands for a group of great people and therefore for our sustainable community.
My story: How it all began
Since 2015, I have been actively committed to protecting our planet and all the creatures that roam it. But that wasn't always the case, of course.
After training as a banker and studying online marketing, I was initially quite surprised to realize that I lacked a real, long-term goal in life. What do I want to achieve, what do I want to stand up for and what could be my mission in life? I didn't have an answer yet - but I wanted to find one.
The decisive moment in Sri Lanka
With a Backpack trip in Sri Lanka, I gave myself 3 weeks to think about the answer. And on my first casual walk along the beach in Arugam Bay, a wave of individual flip flops, crumpled straws, cups, juice packs and lots of disposable plastic bottles came crashing down on me. On one of these plastic bottles - still easy to read - was an expiration date of 1986. The contents had of course been enjoyed long ago - but the bottle itself still looked as if it had only been thrown into the water a few days ago.
While questions such as "How is it that the bottle still looks so brand new?" and "What is the cause of this? Waste wave?" were running through my head, I first got myself a few garbage bags and started to tidy up. And not just the one wave, but also all the other disposable garbage I could find on the beach.
Just twenty minutes later, there were already four of us, as a local resident and two tourists lent a hand. Only 2 hours, six more participants and twelve bulging garbage bags later, the beach then looked again as one knew it from the typical vacation catalogs. A truly satisfying moment.
Question marks become exclamation marks
Incidentally, the garbage then disappeared at a local recycling company, which I had contacted after our action. However, the questions kept piling up in my head"Why hasn't anyone done anything, even though the garbage has obviously been sloshing around here for decades?" and "To what extent am I actually part of this problem?".
After a well-earned after-work beer with the helpers, I started researching on my laptop: Plastic is eternalbecause it is not biodegradable. I wasn't aware of that until then. I also found out that a plastic bottle takes about 450 years to decompose through sun, wind and waves into smaller plastic bottles. Microplastics has decomposed - and that no one was doing anything about it because waste was omnipresent and single-use plastic had become a permanent, convenient part of everyday life. Waste that I also produce in large quantities at home - and which at the time was also exported from Germany, mainly to Asian countries without functioning recycling systems.
So I had found all the answers to my questions. Also to the really big one regarding my mission in life. I had understood that it is not enough to hope and wait for someone else to save our planet. Instead, I have to become part of the solution myself if I want to see positive change.
What has happened since the trip
Back in Germany, I then got my analyzed personal waste from one week and specifically looked for waste-free alternatives to bottles, straws and other disposable plastic products. I also founded my Blog and the global CleanUp community on Facebookwhich now involves over 5,000 people from all over the world actively collecting waste from nature.
CareElite has been growing steadily ever since. The Store with plastic-free, sustainable products was added. In addition, the "mvg Verlag" me - so that together we could some books published and the odd appearance on TV and other media followed.
I then also went to Indonesia and India to More CleanUps and to raise even more awareness of the human waste problem. I am now traveling the world less often, but I am still too 100 percent focused on my mission and my work as a blogger.
I am also no longer as dogmatic as I was at the beginning, as I have realized that nobody has to do everything perfectly in their life. Striving for positive change is much more important.
Driven by my work for environmental protection and my love of animals I have also been vegan since 2019. A step that has made me much happier, as I can now in line with my personal values (including respect and compassion) - and no more animals are killed for my lifestyle.
Accordingly, it is hardly surprising that the plastic-free blog will inevitably become a sustainability blog over time developed with a more holistic approach 😉
And now have fun at CareElite!
I hope that with these lines inspire and motivate to do something for our planet ourselves and simply live more naturally and consciously.
Simply use CareElite as a constant contact point and devote yourself next to these, for example Core topics of the blog:
Thank you for your support and I look forward to fighting with you to protect our planet - and all the creatures that live on it.
Hast du Fragen?
Dann nutze gern die Kommentarfunktion hier unten – oder melde dich persönlich bei mir über das Contact form bei mir. Ich freue mich auf deine Nachricht und versuche dir schnellstmöglich zu antworten.
hej Christoph,
have just received your bamboo toothbrushes. Without having tried them, I say now
already: they are super!!!
I hate plastic and any kind of waste and am very glad that you are so committed as a young person. The other day I saw a report about Rwanda, where plastic has been banned for 12 years; the affluent countries should take this as an example. With every Nespresso capsule
or "to go caffee" cup, I can only shake my head in bewilderment as a human being (though sometimes I feel like an alien......).
People seem to have forgotten that they originated from nature and can only exist with it; at present they are sawing the branch on which they are sitting.
As Albert Einstein said, "Once the bee disappears from the earth, man has only four years to live." We are not too far away from that.
You are a beacon of hope for me, continue to shake and shake people awake gaaaay vigorously.
Kind regards B.
Hi Brit! Thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment and support! Yes, you are right about that. In our affluence, the connection to nature has been lost. But I also have the feeling that so slowly a movement is developing that stands for sustainable consumption.
You too! Thanks for your message. Glad to hear from you again.
Love greetings
Christoph
Namaste Christoph!
Great action! Respect! Keep going, I and others are helping. And we become more and more!
Our earth is so beautiful and it is enough what has happened so far .
I wish you all the love, strength and health!
Greetings from Giessen 🙂
Hello Christoph,
thank you for your feedback! That motivates!
Yes, it's great that the trend is developing into a basically environmentally conscious cool lifestyle. At least that's my current feeling.
Best regards,
Christoph
Hello Christoph,
Your commitment is great! But when you have collected the plastic bags - like in the picture in Sri Lanka - what happens with them? The garbage has to go somewhere. I don't think there is any way to properly dispose of plastic in Sri Lanka. (Do we actually recycle the plastic waste in Germany to 100 %?) I once saw in such an emigration program that in Canada in the very rural area, simply pits were dug, into which all inhabitants poured their garbage and when the pit was full, the next one was dug... That was Canada after all!!!! What does Sri Lanka do with your plastic bags full of garbage?
Many greetings
Vivian
Hi Vivian! Thank you for your feedback, I am very pleased. We took the bags to an area where a tractor comes by every day to collect them. The next day we checked, the bags were still there. The next day they were finally collected. As you say, the recycling systems in many countries do not work yet. That's why Asian countries have about 80% of plastic waste in the sea. On Sri Lanka the recycling system is also really bad. According to this conversation with environmentalist Ravindra Kariyawasam it became all the more clear to me. Since 1972, the mountains of garbage are piled up there, recycled is little and only since a short time. So it came a few weeks ago to a garbage avalanche (yes, there is such a thing there, mountains of garbage washed down by rain), by which really 100 people died. In his opinion, this "avalanche" had a real hello-wake-up effect on Sri Lanka. The situation is not hopeless, it doesn't help anyone to just let it happen. Ravindra and I want to increase the pressure on politics and society together. With his school, he wants to make the people of Sri Lanka aware of the plastic waste in the environment, especially at a young age. That's a really good approach, but politicians and companies have to join in.
Best regards and thanks for your interaction with the problem. That always makes me very happy 🙂
Christoph
Hello Christoph, I am currently watching the series "planB" on ZDH with your project or your extraordinary commitment, as far as plastic is concerned. I myself teach geography at an ISS in Berlin and am always talking about sustainability, the protection of our earth and, above all, the elimination of plastic. We ourselves go shopping in the same way as you showed and described in the program. At some point we came to the conclusion that the plastic waste that we "produce" alone in a 2-man household should not be so. And when I look at organic food stores ... But also vegetarians, who want to protect the animals by their way of eating, drag their vegetables, fruit, ... in disposable plastic bags home and thus harm the animals and nature again. Go on and if you want to do something with students, just get in touch. Many greetings
Hello Dirk! Thank you for your feedback and I can only confirm your comments as well. I am glad that Plastic waste in the environment is a visible problem - this will allow us to move even faster. Gladly, have you then on the screen.
Many greetings
Christoph