Climate protection saves not only natural resources but also a lot of money
The storm of last Friday makes it clear that climate change has arrived in Althengstett. Hail and torrents flooded many gardens, streets and cellars. The sewage was thus, as has lately been the case several times already overtaxed. Especially, it hit the neighboring community Gechingen where the material damage is estimated at "more than four million euros". (Source: Black Forest messenger, sent to millions of storm-damage "of 18.05.2009)
early as 2007, warned the German Weather Service:" Because of climate change, Germany needs to [...] adjust to severe weather. [...] In the summer it will be increasingly strong storms come. "[...]" The change in climate is already concrete, "said Wolfgang Kusch, President of the German Weather Service.
When the annual rainfall also observed an increase. Heavy precipitation, such as last Friday were more than 30 liters per square meter no longer a rarity. If the earth's atmosphere heats up further, to weather extremes such as severe thunderstorms or hail are accumulating. (Source: FAZ.net, "More heat waves and storms in Germany" from 24.04.2007)
What can we do?
should be concerted action by local officials, farmers and property developers are taken to counteract the soil sealing against At the local level.
because "the change of the landscape by humans leads to an increasing Loss of their natural capacities. Very serious consequences and extensions of water surface sealing, but also agriculture and forestry. "
have leads Soil sealing (increasing demand for residential, commercial and traffic areas) to an increased flow of rainfall on the soil surface. Land consolidation in agriculture, wetlands, fens and hedges have been largely eliminated, adversely affecting the natural water storage features of the landscape considerably. "The use of heavy machinery contributes to increased surface runoff. It comes to soil compaction and a resulting loss Infiltration capacity. This effect is particularly affected the rural roads network "(Source: Hanna Schmitt." Floods: causes, protection and concepts in Germany "Seminar management of river-coast systems, Department of Geography, University of Kiel, winter semester 2003/2004, S.5f .)
All this reinforces the high-water formation, but is preventable if climate and environmentally friendly agriculture, and community development approaches are implemented.
At the individual level can protect every citizen and every citizen actively the climate and the environment and save money strong. The following ten tips give you a hint, because prevention is the best medicine - even against high water. (Sources: www.klimawandel-global.de, www.greenpeace.de, www.eco-world.de)
first Room temperature reactors
with a reduction in room temperature by 1 degree saves you and your family up to 75 liters of heating oil and about 40 EUR per heating season!
second (Shift up early, for example) saving driving style with auto
With efficient driving you can relieve the climate, save up to 120 liters of gasoline and about 160 EUR per year.
third Equipment off
The standby mode consumes unnecessary power electronic devices. Therefore, better when not in use Sockets off!
4th Car sharing Car sharing form
spare the wallet and the environment, when colleagues live nearby to offer this possibility.
5th Public transport use
public transportation or bicycle use, as opposed to directly drive small distances by car. The greater the utilization of public transportation, the lower the fare.
6th Eat less meat
meat consumption = high power consumption due to costly production. Eat once a week season vegetables instead of meat and save 20 kg of CO2!
7th Buy organically grown food from your region . When organic farming, only about half of energy is required. For long transport distances also caused unnecessary emissions: A meal of 100 grams of asparagus from Chile caused solely by the transport of 1.7 kg of CO2 emissions. From their own region the asparagus season is only 60 grams
8th Replace old light bulbs with modern energy-saving lamps. Pro 60-watt light bulb that is replaced by an equally bright 11-watt bulb, you save in 20.5 kg of CO2. What sounds a little can make a big impact. An estimate from the UK says: If only a standard light bulb per household against an energy-saving lamp replacement can ensure a (coal) power plant be shut down.
9th Switch to a green electricity provider independent. This very easy to implement action brings enormous for the environment a lot. An average 3-4 person household can result in savings of up to 1.9 tonnes of CO2.
10th Switch to a green electricity - Web host provider. The 24-hour operation of a web server with a power of 350 watts requires a lot of power. In Germany there are about 50,000 data centers, which will need about 8.67 billion kilowatt hours. The annual CO2 emissions of all the German data centers shall be so around 5.6 million tonnes.
Andreas Gröger, Althengstett
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