Tips to be sustainable in Poland

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I am approaching the end of my volunteering experience and I wanted to come back to something that is really important to me: how to be sustainable and careful of our carbon footprint while traveling, more specifically here in Poland. 

It goes without saying that we are facing a challenge that is far bigger than any of us, that is touching absolutely everyone and yet not in an equal way. The fight against climate change is an absolute necessity if we want to remain under the 2°C of rise in temperature and therefore limit the effects of it. So here are a few tips for future volunteers interested in sustainability but also for anyone reading this. 


Reduce your meat consumption or how to eat vegetarian/vegan

One of the biggest positive impact you can have is by reducing your meat consumption or even stopping it altogether. Being myself a vegetarian, I was nicely surprised to discover how easy it was to be a vegetarian in Poland. You can find vegetarian options almost everywhere, whether it is in restaurants (so easy to find veggie Pierogi, I was even told they were often better than the meat ones) or in shops. Here are some addresses I tried: 

Restaurants: 
    - Zapiecek: you will find many of them in Warsaw and all with vegetarian options. 
    - Vege Kitchen: great asian food, 100% vegan, highly recommend. 
    - Restauracja Manna 2: really good food, 100% vegan. More expensive though but still reasonable (compared to France anyway)

Shops:
    - Biedronka: they have some veggie meat options, I could manage with that and with their tofu, chickpeas, lentils, etc. 
    - Organic market: in Warsaw in malls (Arkadia and Centralna for instance), they have a lot of great false-meat options. 
    - Auchan: there is one close to Warszawa Gdanska, they have a lot more options than Biedronka + they have cheeses that actually taste like something :)
    - Websites: check out beyond meat or bez mieso (but you can find those brands in some shops too).

And here are some vegetarian Polish food to try: 
    - Pierogi, especially the ones with wild mushrooms, cottage cheese or sauerkraut (fermented cabbage, like in a choucroute for my French conterparts). 
    - Beetroot soup: I wasn't convinced at first but immediately loved it. 
    - Chłodnik: cold beetroot soup with cucumber, radish and lots of herbs. Really good and refreshing
    - Croquettes in Zapiecek: the ones with smoked cheese or mushrooms are really nice. Really fat too. 


Another advice if you want to be careful of what you eat and its impact is to eat seasonal vegetables and fruits. This means no tomatoes or strawberries in the middle of winter. Also check where your food is coming from. The more local, the better, first because it travelled less so the impact is less important but also the legislation on the production of vegetables might be very different in countries outside of Europe for instance. 


Choose second-hand goods instead of new ones

One very important aspect of our habits that greatly contributes to our carbon footprint is the desire to buy new things regularly. Big companies such as Shein or Temu but also every brand of fast-fashion know how to influence us to always consume more via their ad campaigns. One simple way to reduce our impact is: 
    - To use the clothes we already own until they are worn out
    - To buy in second-hand shops or via platforms such as Vinted
    - To give or sell the clothes we do not wear anymore

I would advice to either use Vinted to buy new clothes: you can receive your packages in the Paczkomat of your choosing (and there is a surprisingly large choice for a village like Pomiechówek). 
I would also strongly advice to go toNowy Dwór Mazowiecki and visit their second-hand shops: they have a large choice of clothes for very 
interesting prices (at least compared to what we can find in France). Here are some addresses for you:
    - Mam Ciuszek
    - Komoda 
    - Na wieszaku (my favourite)
    - Szmizierka

Appart from clothes, if you are looking for books, you can borrow them in a library or buy them on web-
sites such as Momox. 


Go towards zero-waste

You might be thinking that with the generalisation of recycling, going towards zero-waste wouldn't be a priority. However, recycling is a a false good solution as it does not address direclty the problem, meaning the production of plastic in itself. Furthermore, the action of recycling doesn't garantee that everything gets recycled and many items are not even recycable at all. Don't get me wrong, recycling is a really good habit to have but it is not enough. Many things we use daily could be replaced by reusable alternatives, therefore reducing the production of plastics and other items but also the costs of their purchase while maintaining and encouraging a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. 

Of course, it is really complicated to stop buying plastics immediately as it is absolutely everywhere. But we can go step by step. By not buying plastic bottles but instead using reusable ones, by using reusable pads or menstrual cup for people menstruating, by avoiding the use of single use plastic bags when buying vegetables and fruit, refusing to use plastics straws, etc. 

Another step you could take is by making your own cleaning products at home, using natural ingredients such as bicarbonate of soda, white vinegar, lemon, salt, etc. The same goes for laundry detergent, soaps and so on. Many tested recipes are available online. 


Stop taking the plane

I know that one is a hard one. A lot of people are not ready to sacrifice their dreams of travel and prefer to continue taking the plane despite how dreadful it is for the environment. But this one is really important and when travelling in Europe, it is quite easy to stop. First, in Poland, you can travel very easily by train or bus for very reasonable prices, especially if you plan ahead. When it comes to travelling outside of Poland, here are some websites that can help you plan your trips: 

    - Rome2Rio: gives you different options for a same journey with a price range and which train                 company to take. Rome2Rio: découvrir comment aller partout dans le monde
    - Trainline: really useful website and app where you can purchase train tickets all over Europe and         add/buy potential discount cards. Trainline : Search, Compare & Buy Cheap Train Tickets
    - Flixbus: great prices, go everywhere through a lot of interesting cities. 
    - Nightjet: if you are looking for night trains, this is the website for you. You can travel Europe easily with this while you sleep. For lower prices, I recommend to buy your tickets in advance, preferrably once they come out. Home - Nightjet

Travelling by train or bus is a different way of travel. You see a lot more things, discovering a country by travelling through it. You can see people, landscapes and architecture just from your seat. And with just this you already learn and discover a lot more than if you were travelling by plane. 

If you want to fully understand the scale of the pollution you are responsible for when you take the plane, compared to other modes of travels, here is a website for you: lowtrip. 
For instance, to travel from Paris to Warsaw, by train I would emit 32kg of CO2. By bus it would be 47, by car 346 and by plane 405. 


CONCLUSION

I hope those advice will be useful to some of you. But if you haven't started to make effort to reduce your carbon footprint, I know this might seem like a lot. So remember, the most important thing is to try. We all have to start somewhere but we cannot do every thing at once. Because it is going to be too hard, too many new habits to implement and therefore, it would be the best way to give up and go back to our old and harmful habits. For me, what worked best was to go one step at a time. First, I reduced my meat consumption. Then I stopped it altogether. Then I stopped taking the plane. I stopped eating fish. I stopped buying brand new clothes. And I learnt along the way what new habits worked for me, how to travel differently, how to budget better, how to cook good vegeterian food with all the right nutriments. It is a process that can seem more or less long but it is worth it. And necessary. 

Adèle



Further resources: 

If you want to learn more about the subject, here are some websites / platforms / influencers / Instagram accounts you can check out. 

Vegeterian and vegan recipes : @melanie_en_veganie (French), @alfiecooks_ (English), @jacobking (English), @benrebuck (English), @fitgreenmind (English)

Travel tips : @greengo.voyage (French), @hourrail (French)

Every day tips : @lespetitsgestes (French), @going.zero.waste (English), @clearfashionapp (French, about fashion)

Articles explaining different phenomenon due to climate change : Bon Pote - Environnement, Écologie, Économie, Société. (in French and English), @gittemary (English), @lejeuneengage (French), @joinbeaker (English), @greenpeace


If you are curious to know what your footprint is, you can use those calculators: 








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