Ecology

Ecology - “To be or not to be an environmentally friendly city dweller?” is a rhetorical question. As much as we need wild nature, the natural environment needs our sensible policies.

Have you ever wondered about the origin of the clean water flowing from the tap, or the air entering your flat when you open the window? These are priceless goods which we receive from nature: water comes out of the sky, clean air comes from the forest. But they are not everlasting. That is why protection of the natural environment is in the best interest of European city dwellers.

However, this discussion is not concerned with human interests only. The Earth also provides a habitat for animals and plants, and whilst our species is not threatened with extinction, the survival of 42 percent of other mammals and 52 percent of fresh water fish on our continent is threatened as a result of human activity. According to the estimates of the Wuppertal Institute in Germany, every European – 80% of who live in cities – uses on average 50 tonnes of the environment annually, creating, using and finally throwing away thousands of products as waste. This is far too much for the Earth and nature to sustain. And because animals and plants have no voice, it is green politicians who must speak on their behalf.

The implementation of a strategy for biodiversity protection can be achieved in many ways. It may involve taking action to protect the natural areas surrounding cities from being turned into intensive farms or factories. It may also involve activities aimed at reducing traffic, as traffic has a very negative effect on nature. Finally, it involves the implementation of watersaving schemes, which minimise the volume of sewage entering rivers and lakes. In Germany, partly as a result of the activities of Green politicians, programmes of renaturalisation of rivers damaged by regulation are currently underway. At the same time the opposite is being done by consecutive governments in Poland – wild rivers are being destroyed through regulation.

These are just a few examples which show that as much as we need wild nature, the natural environment needs our sensible policies. Hence the question, “To be or not to be an environmentally friendly city dweller” is equally rhetorical as “to be or not to be at all”.

Ecological Footprint
Do you know the exact size of your city? Is it 50 square kilometres? 100? If cities were defined in terms of the amount of natural resources consumed within them, they would appear far bigger than they are. Berlin’s ecological footprint is the size of the Eastern part of Germany, while London’s footprint is twice the size of the UK mainland.

The ecological footprint, the rate of consumption of natural resources, is increasingly being used as an environmental index. Every person leaves a footprint: when drinking water, eating food, driving a car, heating the house, producing waste etc. If the world’s land surface was divided equally among its human inhabitants, each person would be assigned 1,8 hectares of land with its natural resources. In reality the average person consumes the resources from 2,2 hectares. In a global perspective, this means that we already consume 22 percent more resources than our planet is capable of producing. The remainder is “borrowed” from future generations.

In the European Union we each consume on average 4,7 hectares, thus producing an ecological debt of approximately 3 hectares. Berlin, with a population of 3800 people per square kilometre, would cover an area equal to the Eastern part of Germany, whilst the area of London (over 4700 inhabitants per km2) would be twice the size of the UK mainland.

In order to make the world’s citizens aware of the problems of the excessive consumption of natural resources, pollution and destruction of natural areas, we have for some years been celebrating Ecological Debt Day. From that day until the end of the year, we are living on an “environmental overdraft” borrowed from the rest of the planet and from future generations. That day falls on: in Slovakia – on the 11th of November, the Earth – 9 October, Austria – 1 October, Poland – 5 August, Germany – 29 May, United Kingdom – 16 April, Netherlands – already on the 2nd of March.

How to reduce it?

 * Insulate your house and windows
 * Whenever possible, walk, cycle and use public transport (especially avoid using the car if you are the only passenger)
 * Whenever possible, use the internet and the phone instead of driving into town to run errands
 * Use energy saving electronic equipment and lighting
 * Save water
 * Reduce your meat consumption. The production of meat (intensively produced meat in particular) is harmful to You and the environment, not to mention the animals
 * avoid buying things you don’t need
 * think globally and think about what else can be done to improve the state of our planet.

Did You Konw?

 * the Baltic is one of the most polluted and radioactive seas in the world!
 * Between 1990 – 2000 urban areas in the EU increased by 6 percent!