Sustainable Berlin

A street in Schoeneberg district of Berlin. No SUVs in sight.

In 2006 America finally started to think green, but so far it has been superficial, much like the American steroid pumped or silicon filled models of brawn or beauty. For affluent Americans, Green is some new game that they will adopt because it is trendy, soon to be cast aside for the next. But there will be no next. This is no game. Going green is not only for the affluent. It is a wake up call for Americans about how greedy we have incrementally become. No wonder our image in the rest of the world is so tarnished.

In April 2007 I flew over to Berlin, Germany to visit my brother as I do most years. Aside from the fact that flying creates one of the largest carbon and ecological footprints a person can have, I have been separated from friends and family in order to pursue my chosen career, and my career and my need for family camaraderie allows this indulgence. I am a geographer, and part of my job is to observe the world and the interactions of humans with their environment. I live as lightly as I can (and always improving) to obviate this luxury.

Once in Germany, and this was one of the first times I have been there in nice weather (it is cheaper to fly in winter), it was a warm spring, with temperatures in the upper 70s. I came home with a tan from Germany!?! The talk of Berlin was of global warming, and how it was affecting the local area. No rain, high heat, and the possibility of another hot summer such as France and England saw in 2003, when 35,000 died because of the heat wave. No air-conditioning, the prediction of losing thousands of elderly and sick because of the intense heat were in the news while I visited. But in April the land was green, and the bikes were out. Everyone from grade schooler to elderly were on their bicycles doing their daily chores, living their life. The ease of traveling in a compact city on bikes was so refreshing, especially in relation to my home, where those (both of us) who ride bikes are aimed at by the motorists as if we were pariahs, or perhaps drunk drivers who had lost their license.

The other very visible artifact of my Berlin trip was the absence of SUVs, or large cars. I would look at a line of cars parked on the street and none would be a fuel hog SUV, but every one would get at least 30 miles per gallon, and very few of the models were available in the states. Even Ford, the most evident of the big three had several models on the German streets, most not available in the US. Two things struck me about the observation,
1. Ford had just declared that their North American division had lost lots of money the previous year, while Ford of Europe was profitable ,
2. The US automakers were still declaring that 50 percent of Americans wanted their SUVs, but the companies were all losing money, big time, and the foreign car makers were doing fine with smaller cars, and better fuel efficiency .

While US automakers steadfastly refuse to up their average gas mileage, the average CO2 output from US cars is 54,600 pounds annually, while German averages (for those who drive cars) is 27,700 or half. I calculated my carbon footprint http://www.carbonfootprint.com/USA/results.php, by the way, and though my air travel for my work puts me way out of my own league, I (16,000 kg) am still below the average US consumption of CO2 emissions (19,800 kg), probably because I drive less and bike more, and never have my heat above 65 degrees (too expensive).

CO2 Emissions (2003) from human originated emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2006 http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/202.html
Country Per capita metric tons
United States 19.8
Canada 17.9
Germany 9.8
Mexico 4.0