German Greens want to burn more trees

DUSSELDORF, Germany – The great thing about my two-week visit to Germany is how I saw the country turn green within the space of a few days during my first week here. The trees were bare and dry from a lingering winter when I arrived here two Saturdays ago. Then almost as if it happened all of a sudden, there were leaves on the trees and the cherry blossoms brightened up the scenery. Through our many train and bus rides, the green scenery of the countryside was simply refreshing to the eyes and the spirit.

Germans today seem to be one ecologically conscious nation. You have to give them credit for the miracle they have managed to happen in, for example, the cleaning of the Rhine River. In the 1970s, the quality of the water flowing in the Rhine was simply terrible. Factory wastes mixed with domestic effluents to make the Rhine a large open sewer, pretty much what the Pasig River is today.

One scientist we talked to said there were just two hardy species of fish in the river then. Today, there are 140 different kinds of fishes. Oxygen level in the river used to be nearly zero then, and now it is back to accepted maximum level. The Rhine is longer and wider than the Pasig River, which makes me think our dear ol’ Pasig River isn’t exactly hopeless. Maybe we should talk to the Germans and see how we can apply the Rhine solution.

The success the Germans have had in cleaning up the Rhine is likely due to the seriousness by which they have approached the problem of balancing environmental concerns with the daily task of living. The Germans have approached their ecological programs with enough passion that would make it possible to effect lifestyle changes.

I bought a large bottle of drinking water from a grocery and I noticed that there was a surcharge to the tag price. The surcharge was because the water was in a plastic bottle and I guess they would return the deposit if I went out of my way to return it for recycling. Households are also being constantly bombarded with messages to conserve energy and also to shift to more nature friendly energy sources.

Subsidies are also being given to those who would start using solar, wind or biomass energy to displace conventional oil and natural gas for such things as heating and electricity requirements. On the other hand, punitive taxation is being levied on such things as gasoline and diesel to encourage greater efficiency in use.

We were given a briefing by a Green party operative at the state parliament building here and as expected, much hope is being given on the future contribution of renewable energy sources to the German’s energy mix. The Green Party operative also gave us an overview of a program of incentives for people to shift to these cleaner energy sources.

One renewable energy source they are looking at for substantial displacement of conventional energy is biomass. By biomass, they mean trees. They actually want to burn more trees, palletized and fed to specially designed home heating systems. It was explained to us that Germany, unlike the Philippines, has trees to spare.

In fact, their forest area increases by at least one percent a year. They are looking at biomass accounting for some 10 percent of their energy requirements in the future. I guess, unlike us, they can afford to burn some of their trees.

That reminded me of a comment a Japanese participant in a recent conference of philanthropists held in Manila. The Japanese commented that Japan, unlike us, has this problem of too many trees and not enough labor to cut them. He suggested, half in jest, that we export our log cutters to Japan and help them control their forest growth.

Incentives are also given to German homeowners who would put up a system called a "green roof." This is simply collecting rain water and using it to water the garden or flush the toilets or such things we do in the house that does not require drinkable treated water. Such a system indeed, makes sense.

A recent German law called An Act on Renewable Energies provides for subsidies that they hope, will jumpstart the commercialization of renewable energy sources. It is the law that has caused the solar industry to blossom. Even as they admit that Japan may be ahead in solar technology, they are not far behind now. They point out that Germany is now reporting the strongest growth in solar energy use worldwide.

Even as I remain skeptical that renewable energy sources can replace the 20,000 megawatts of power from the nuclear plants they are phasing out, I hope and pray that the Germans will succeed in their quest for clean renewable energy. I like the gung ho attitude of the Germans, particularly the Greens, on this point. In the end however, it is a question of economics and technology. Creating jobs, for instance, is upper most in the minds of Germans today. And that’s how the politics of it all will end up as well.

German Pope

bout the possibility of having a German Pope. None of them sounded enthusiastic. It is clear that the young German Catholics are simply not going to be happy with a known conservative as head of the Church. But then again, the Catholic Church is not a democracy but a religion and a tough Pope may be what the Church needs today.

My first impression of German Catholicism was not so good. That probably because my first Sunday in Germany was spent in Berlin and Northern Germany is largely Protestant. I managed to find a Catholic Church to hear Sunday mass in and I was dismayed to see poor attendance and a physical environment that obviously saw better days.

The St. Hedwig Cathedral, not far from the famous Brandenburger Gate, near the more famous part of the infamous Berlin Wall, is not LIKE one of the grand Cathedrals in the southern part of the country. In short, the physical structure is not well taken care of. The pews are old and probably what we would find in poorer and more remote parts of our country. There were also no more than 50 people who attended mass with me, most of them middle aged to old.

Yet, I am sure the German Catholics, even if the numbers of active churchgoers are declining, can well afford to finance a better upkeep of that Berlin cathedral. After all, Misereor, a charitable foundation of German Catholics, is actively financing NGOs overseas, even a so-called economic think tank in the Philippines that is openly sympathetic to the communist National Democratic Front.

The Churches in Southern Germany are better maintained but the young people I talked to seem alienated from it. As in the Philippines, the Catholic Church here is struggling to remain relevant to its flock. It is probably just as well that the new pope is German.

Beyond his reputation as a conservative, he must now be able to revitalize the Church somehow.

Family Ties

Atty. Sonny Pulgar e-mailed this one.

Teacher: We are descendants of Adam and Eve!

Student: That’s not true! My dad sez we are

descendants of an Ape!

Teacher: We are not talking about your FAMILY!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]