the fight against food waste

Last week saw the launch of Enough Food #IF.
One of the aspects that there is not enough food in this world (or let's say fairly distributed, there is more than enough food in this world!) is food waste.
Tristram Stuart does an amazing job in breaking it down and explaining it in this video. Some of these numbers will shock and surprise you, be warned it's a sad reality we live in!

It is way too easy to throw out food, to use everything means you need to plan and get creative. I get a box of organic veggies every single week and as the produce is seasonal I had to come up with seven different ways to cook cabbage recently :)
As with everything in our world, if we all play our parts we can make a change.
You can still sign up and be part of the Enough Food for everyone IF campaign here.
Happy weekend x

American Apparel textile repurposing

I've always loved American Apparel and their philosophy.
This is taking it one step further and I couldn't be more excited about it as it brings together fashion and sustainability!

It is just as exciting as when Nudie made this video explaining their recycled pair of jeans :)
World changers!

Enough Food IF

For the first time since the Make Poverty History campaign have more than 100 charities across the UK joined forces! Watch and sign up to help here.
World changers in the making :) We can end hunger, there is more than enough food for everyone out there. It just needs to be distributed equally.

Let's all play our part in this x

current obsession

such a sweet song... reasons to like Giantree listed here :)

Injustice
Hate it more than anything. Too much of it happening in the world all the time.
Working for the Salzburg festival is like falling into a big black hole - you have no idea what's going on with the rest of the world. So self-absorbed! Anyway I was so disappointed when I read the news yesterday about the Pussy Riot verdict.
Say what you want, but we need a lot more people standing up to fight for freedom, justice and a better world. You can read their closing statements here, I highly recommend it. 

A21 @ EuroCup 2012

image via their webpage

It's been all over the news for the last couple of weeks, that there will be increased sex trafficking over the next couple of weeks during EuroCup 2012.
The A21 campaign launched this campaign in Poland and Ukraine to raise awareness and fight the tragedy about to hit these two countries. Let's not forget that every life is precious, worth far more than rubies and pearls and that 4 out of 5 girls are forced into this business!
Read their post on why A21 do what they do and keep them in your hearts and prayers. The things they deal with is nothing most of us have ever or will ever experience. Let's get behind them and spread the word.
Thanks, you guys are world changers x

teeny tiny steps to change the world

change noun

def. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of(something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone


I first got into this whole environmental/green business during primary school. No kidding, it's true! It's where we learned to recycle and creating less waste and most of all we had a very exciting project about composting when I was in 4th grade :) For a while, even parents set out to create as little rubbish as possible, taking containers to the grocery store instead of using wrappers, etc. 
Anyway, going green in Austria is honestly not that big of a deal as most people are quite conscious about recycling, low energy use, bringing your bags to the shops and all of that. It's just a normal part of life. 
In 2007 Rob Bell and his church started a series called "God is green" and for the first time ever I heard about these things in a church environment. How did the church miss out on such a massive topic until recently??? Later that year, while on tour in Stockholm, I bought a book called "Green Is The New Black" and for the first time I read about how messed up the fashion industry is, when it comes to sustainability and waste. A bit ironic since I went to fashion school and I can't remember a single lecture even mentioning the environmental impact this industry has! Ever since, I've been reading more and more about it and been overly critical of where my clothes come from or what they are made of, if I buy at all haha A lot of my wardrobe has been swapped or passed on from someone by now.
A year later I read "Serve God, Safe The Planet" by Matthew Sleeth and it brought on another layer of how I view the world and why it is so important to steward this earth well.
Probably the biggest impact so far was reading Colin Beavan's book "No Impact Man" in 2010, it changed how I live my life. 
Things like using less water (I still suck at taking shorter showers), turning off lights, lowering the thermostat on my heating by a few degrees, riding my bike, walking up the stairs instead of taking lifts, etc. I even tried my luck at growing my own veg, which worked in London for some reason but not in Salzburg - it's all trial and error haha. Anyway looking back, quite a bit changed since then.
There are still a lot of days when I forget to bring a bag to the shops and I end up carrying groceries in my bag, praying that nothing will leak over my camera and books or phone haha At least I'm trying, right.
The most recent thing I've dabbled into is to create less plastic waste. After watching Plastic Planet, I was disgusted with how much plastic we use and how no-one actually knows what is in it or how unhealthy it really is. As a direct result of watching this film, I bought a water bottle and it's travelled with me for 8 months now, yay!
One of the areas that creates too much plastic waste is the bathroom. One by one I let pretty much all products run out and substituted them with alternatives. My toothpaste comes in recyclable packaging now, I went back to bar soaps and the biggest difference probably is that I went shampoo free almost 4 weeks ago.  I switched to a baking soda/water mix to wash my hair and I rinse it with a vinegar/water mix which I keep in two glass bottles. So random!!
A strange move if you ask me and after reading up on it I was sceptical at first, but my hair feels cleaner and softer than ever before. Also travelling has become very light these days which is always a bonus if you ask me!


It takes 40 days to create a habit. Some things you have to think through and ponder for a while before you do it, others you change in a day. It's all about teeny tiny steps to change the world. Don't underestimate how much you can accomplish by starting to change one tiny aspect.

Kony 2012

Anybody remember watching the documentary "Invisible Children"? It tore my heart out learning about the kids in northern Uganda and child soldiers and the evil that came in the form of the LRA. Thanks to the Colour Sisterhood and their partnering with Watoto I've been a tiny tiny part in supporting the rescuing of child soldiers. World changers everywhere and God's mighty hand in all of it! You should hear the stories these peoples have to tell, the miracles they see in the midst of all this horror. Unbelievable is an understatement...
Anyway, Invisible Children made another film, to support the arrest of Joseph Kony!
It's a very important topic and honestly it's been way too long (26 years!!!) that Kony has abducted children and turned them into child soldiers. So please watch it, share it and let's get this man arrested and all the kids freed and most importantly taken care of - it's a long way of recovery for those kids.

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

fighting for justice

Watched this TED talk and had to share it. If you have 20 minutes to spare today, please watch his talk on  injustice.
Thank you ever so. Astrid x

what's been on my mind the last couple weeks

27 million people
It's not a random number, it's a real number, a massive number and every single one of these people is in slavery.
It breaks my heart again and again.
If you think, I don't have any connection to any of them, sadly you are mistaken. Check out Slavery Footprint and you can work out how many slaves are working for you.
Crazy to think that slavery should be a thing of the past as it's been abolished a while ago, yet there are more slaves on this planet than at any time in history before. Horrible and completely unacceptable!
I decided to give up my birthday and have everyone contribute towards funding the A21 campaign. Yay! Can't wait to see how much money we will be able to send to them.

itunes Germany Newcomer of the Year - Rock

So raise your glass... Hip hip hooray!!
Did I ever tell you how proud I am of these boys??? :) This tops off a very busy year for them and I couldn't be happier... They're playing two acoustic gigs in Vienna just before Christmas. One has already sold out but there are four tickets left for the one on the 20th of December. Tickets available here.
By the way, for every new person "liking" them on facebook, 1Euro goes towards SOS Children's Villages. If you haven't please do and help us change the world of a couple kids this Christmas x

water for water Christmas cards

Dani and Kelly, two of my Aussie friends, run non-profit organisation Water For Water. With the holidays coming up, they've released a card set designed by some of Australia's finest visual artists and creatives. 100% of the profits will go to providing communities with clean water.
Find out more about the artists and buy cards on their website or on their facebook page.

(image via their webpage)

Movember

In honour of Movember :)

Supporting all you moustache growing people out there. If you've never heard of it, go educate yourself here.

Today's Global Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Did you know about this? It seemed to completely pass by me but thanks to my water for water girls, I read about it! Hooray for world changers and amazing people.

Let's check out three ways how we can help with that...
1. prayer makes the world go round
I do believe this with all my heart. If I had to recount all the tales of God's goodness and answered prayers not just in my life but in my community, we would all be sobbing by the end and singing adorations, marvelling at how great He really is.
2. get behind a great project
they've done all the ground work and offer multiple ways to jump on board.
check out what I heart has going on and ways to join.
3. start some kind of community action
nothing major, just like one of these coffee to help ideas. Just get friends around and everyone can put some money towards a good cause.

Living in absolute splendour and luxury, we don't understand how a really simple action could make the world of a difference in someone else's life. Just think about the implications if all of us started to adopt sponsor children. We would play a big part in raising and equipping the next generation of leaders in really poor communities. Wouldn't that be amazing?!
What do you guys do? Any ideas you want to share?

coffee to help - a glorious evening

Earlier this week I mentioned how I love the coffee to help project and that I was going to host an evening at my mum and dad's place. And what a night it's been!
I must have spent the entire day in the kitchen baking 3 different cakes and later preparing 5 different salads haha Don't know why exactly I can't just make two or three?! Forgot to take pics of the food when it was all up on our grand piano, buffet style.

It was a fun night. After stuffing our faces we had a bit of a jam session with everyone participating as my parents have all kinds of instruments. Out came kazoo, triangle, recorder, guitars in all shapes and sizes, banjo, mandolins, shakers, tambourine. etc Weirdest of combinations but so much fun.

My Glorious treated us to an hour of music (old and new stuff) and funny stories. Sami broke his record of starting All I Ever Do about four times haha

Bottom line: a very relaxed night with great people and music and best thing about it we raised quite a bit of money that will go a long way! Easy as pie to make a difference. Horray
I'll leave you with one of their new songs for two reasons: number one woah oh oh oh ooooooh and number two best video ever :D

tonight. c2h

During the famous Finnish Line Tour with Jupiter Jones in spring, we(as in team my glorious) started doing Coffee To Help.
Simple concept of getting people together over coffee (lunch, brunch, dinner, whatever you fancy) and put some money towards a good cause. We always send the money to Caritas and their long term help for Japan! Every little helps :)
Today I have the honour of hosting a couple of my friends in Vienna for some coffee & cake fun. The smell of cinnamon is wafting around the house as I type this and I'm about to make a third cake - everyone needs options, right.
Can't wait for tonight, here's to changing the world with what's in our hands! Cheers x

(image via coffeetohelp.at)

road trip - Italy

As I spontaneously took two weeks off before the madness at Salzburg Festival starts, nobody had time on their hands to come on an adventure with me.
Leave it to my poor brother to come and save the day. Oh the perks of student life - infinite amounts of holidays!!
He came over to Salzburg and we started our road trip with a stop in Innsbruck as Ulrich had never been there. It's a pretty city with the river Inn running through it, right in the heart of the mountains.

Back in the car we drove over mountains and crazy bridges, along vineyards, through valleys and finally reached our first stop: Riva del Garda.

Next up was Bergamo - what a stunner!!!. You can actually see the city from far off as the old part is situated on a hill. Totally in love with their stone streets.

After trekking around Bergamo - steep hill!! - we drove to Milan.

There's just too much to see in Milan! We basically walked all over the city with the little time we had, watched a bit of the royal wedding in Monaco and I spent an entire morning in bed feeling under the weather while my brother shopped haha.
On the plus side, while in bed I watched hours of CNN's freedom project and educated myself on human trafficking. Demi Moore's documentary on Nepal's Stolen Children was heartbreaking and I highly recommend it. Love that the fight against modern day slavery gets so much attention at the moment! Please check out The Freedom Projeckt, they've had articles on the A21 campaign, talked to Zach Hunter/IJM, Emmanuel Jael and many more world changers.
There was no time wasted that morning :)

weekend roundup pt 3 - the wedding

bride & groom arrived by ferry from across the Danube river

the happy couple

 massive banquet

friends

people could participate in this artwork

Right I took about 5 photos at Margit & Lothar's wedding on Saturday - very much not like me on normal days, but remember number 1 there were so many friends to catch up with and number 2 I was feeling under the weather for most of the day! Stupid idea, going to open air gigs in zero degree weather(not really haha).
It was such a fun day. Even the 90 min drive their was hilarious as I hadn't seen the boys in years.
Let me explain, I spent my entire youth with these people. We went to youth together, have been to countless camps and retreats and especially during summer we saw each other pretty much every day. Had tons of bbqs and just hung out. For the first time ever I was the youngest one in a group, which had it's perks: you always got rides home ha!! Cheers to my parents who were the most relaxed people ever.
There are so many memories that include this group of people and it's always fun to see them again.

Back to the wedding.
For a city girl like me, this was new ground haha Lothar picked up Margit by ferry from across the river and the entire wedding party waited for them at the dock. Brass band in full on uniforms included. The streets had been blocked so the entire party could march up to the church. Felt like a parade, people on the side of the streets were cheering :)
It was a nice service, incredibly long, followed by refreshments, before we drove to the reception. It must have been the biggest wedding reception I've ever been to. Close to 250 people all fit into one room.
We ate delicious food, listened to speeches, watched skits and games, heard a funny/random band and in general spent the entire day talking with people.
Great to see everyone and meeting kids and a brand new baby boy.
Favourite moment: when the couple entered the church and walked up to the altar they went to greet one of the priests. He was an old guy and tripped over a step and went down for a second. 400+ people stopped breathing for a moment haha. That's kinda mean, but you should have been there :)
Congratulations to the happy couple. They literally change this world, one person at a time. He heads up a centre for people with mental and physical disabilities and she runs a refugee housing project.  Thanks for leading by example, you guys are awesome x

A21 campaign - new video

The other day I was driving around Salzburg and got completely overwhelmed with the thought of all the women and girls caught in sex slavery. It breaks my heart again and again as I always come back to the question "what if it were my sister or friend?"
Chris is right, statistics seem so anonymous and dehumanizing, but every single one of the 27 million slaves has a face, a name and a family.
The A21 campaign does a phenomenal job and the stories coming out of their work in Greece and Ukraine are nothing short of miraculous. Every life counts and together we can do this!
Help spread the word and let's all start to do something(for ideas click here).

sponsor @ Just Giving

Lots of my London friends are running a 10km run this coming Monday to raise funds for summer camp.
Wildlife summer camp is probably the craziest, funnest, maddest, most glorious week you could ever think of. Hundreds of teenager get together and camp somewhere out in the countryside, have fun, do crazy things, make new friends and above all encounter God.
Honestly the best thing ever! Life changing experience (you can check out highlights from last year over on youtube).

My friends Tanja and Maria still need some sponsors, if you have a couple Pounds/Euros/Dollars, they will make all the difference in someone's life! Visit their Just giving pages here and here.
You guys are world changers. Thank you heaps!!!
For the entire crazy experience please watch these three videos - could not stop laughing!!! Love those guys :)

SOS Children's Villages

Just a quick reminder:
For every new fan on their facebook page, My Glorious will donate 1 Euro to SOS Children's Villages.
Wanna change the world? It's the little things we do and this is really simple!
THANK YOU xx
While you're there check out the JJ tour videologs and enjoy :) So far there are three parts, number four should be on its way.