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Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek by Rachel van de Pol

Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek by Rachel van de Pol

Posted on November 20, 2017July 6, 2023

With this blog I keep telling you over and over: individuals have a massive impact on our planet. And therefore, every single person can have positive impact, every single day. Up until this point the focus of this blog has been about sustainable changes to cross out the negative impact on the planet. But there are other ways to make positive impact. This book gives you the tools to do it: Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek (The Herobook of Today) by Rachel van de Pol.

Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek

Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek is a book in which the author, Rachel van de Pol, does a challenge where she performs one heroic act every single day for an entire year. It is similar to the book Sleeping Naked is Green, but this book from van de Pol is not just about sustainability only. I love such projects! The heroic acts she performs are very different throughout the book. From walks with the elderly to picking up trash. Since there’s a lot of variety we can get a lot of inspiration from this book!

‘Some scientists say that the brain automatically goes into a pleasure mode when people do well, also called ‘the helpers high”

Rachel van de Pol

The Build-up in The Book

In the beginning of the book you mostly find answers to the question: why should I fulfill heroic acts? Then you also find out why this whole project from van de Pol has started in the first place. You read why you shouldn’t want to be someone who complains, but why you should want to be someone who actually does something if you can. After this the heroic acts are described. There are not 365 acts described in the book itself because the book reads like a diary. If you want read all 365 acts, you can read them on van de Pol’s blog here.

Practical Acts

All the heroic acts are very practical. I like this a lot because these are things you can do yourself. If she’d say: ‘give more attention to others’ or something, that would be way too vague for me personally. Of course these practical tips add up to a bigger picture, but I like the concrete steps a lot. Here are some examples of acts I personally really like and had never heard of (these below are really focussed on sustainability because I personally like that part but there are not only sustainable tips in the book).

– The Solar Bell. This is a doorbell on solar energy. This would make you rely less on your energy supplier because it saves you energy. Check out their website here.

– ZonnepanelenDelen. I loved this initiative so much that I wrote a whole separate post about it. I’ve been investing in solar energy ever since!

– A must watch: Virunga. A documentary about a group of ranger who protect the Virunga park. It’s on my list of must-watch now!

something about Unicef

And something really interesting (but also really random) I learned from the book. Michiel Kramer en Rachel Glennester have tested whether new books, better books, teachers and free uniforms would make more children go to school in Kenia. Their research showed that none of these things helped. By a tip from the World Bank they researched another subject, deworming. It seems to be that more than a billion people suffer from it. When they started the deworming programs 25% more children went to school! This really gave me insight in white saviorism. We think we know what’s best for other people, but we really don’t. I keep thinking about the commercials from Unicef who are currently going round. They ask for money to give kids who don’t go to school books and a school bag.

Yours sincerely,
Romee

3 thoughts on “Het Hedendaagse Heldenboek by Rachel van de Pol”

  1. Pingback: Weekoverzicht #18: ik was op vakantie! – When A Teen Goes Green
  2. Pingback: Earning money with solar panels: ZonnepanelenDelen – When A Teen Goes Green
  3. Pingback: Weekly diary #18: I was on a holiday – When A Teen Goes Green

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Hoi! Op dit account deel ik tips om duurzaam/eco-positief te leven. Maar! Het is ook gewoon mijn persoonlijke account waar ik dingen deel over mezelf. En dus leek het me tof om een kleine introductie te schrijven over mij ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ. So, here it goes; Okรฉ, ik weet niet waarom ik dacht dat deze overgangen mooi zouden worden ๐Ÿ˜‚. Ik post het toch maar, want ik vond het te grappig en tja, alle outfits zijn wel echt 100% tweedehands.. De afgelopen jaren heb ik geleerd hoe ik met weinig tot geen olie lekkere gerechten op tafel kan zetten (helemaal plantaardig uiteraard) ๐ŸŒฏ. Weten hoe en waarom ik dat doe? Ik schreef er een artikel over die je nu kan vinden via de link in mijn bio. Dit is al het vegan eten wat ik at in Bratislava, Slowakije ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ. De stad heeft me verbaasd, want er zijn echt veel vegan restaurants. Moet je er 1 kiezen? Ga dan voor Balans Bistro, die is echt het beste. Vandaag maakte in voor het eerst sinds in veganistisch leef (6 jaar) weer eens quiche! Want ik kon nooit echt een simpel receptje vinden voor vegan quiche en dat schrok me af. Tot vandaag, want ik vond een recept van de Albert Heijn, met vegan kookroom en vegan ei van Plant B die ze sinds dit jaar verkopen. Op deze manier is het echt een makkie en quiche is dan ook zeker toegevoegd aan mijn kookportfolio! Ik ga dit vaker maken, en ook verschillende varianten. Het is zรณ makkelijk, maar wel heel lekker. Vandaag zat er eigenlijk alleen broccoli in, maar ik ben benieuwd naar wat nog meer mogelijk is. Vegan spekjes lijken me er bijvoorbeeld heerlijk in! ๐Ÿฅ“ Als je gaat wandelen/hiken, kan je heel makkelijk positieve impact maken! Neem een klein zakje of tasje mee en raap al het afval wat je tegen komt op: easy peasy ๐Ÿšฎ. Vandaag verscheen het laatste artikel op mijn blog over onze interrail avonturen. Je leest over hoe we met de trein van Kopenhagen terug naar Amsterdam reisden met de trein ๐Ÿšƒ. De foto past er niet echt bij haha, hier ben ik namelijk aan het genieten van een vegan milkshake (met herbruikbaar rietje!) in Warschau, maar ach. Ik ben van mening dat je niet ver hoeft te reizen om mooie dingen te zien. Europa is prachtig! Dit is Boheems Zwitserland in Tsjechiรซ ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ. Ik schrijf nog altijd over mijn interrail in september. Vandaag staat een verslag op mijn blog over reisdag 5 van de interrail: de treinreis van Warschau naar Kopenhagen. En als ik zo door de fotoโ€™s heen scrol mis ik de interrail toch wel een beetje! ๐Ÿšƒ

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  • Why I do not participate in lotteries
  • Cooking without oil
  • A list of all animal sanctuaries around the world
  • Copenhagen to Amsterdam by train
  • Warsaw to Copenhagen by train

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