Funnel 40/2, Inhalt - Fulbright-Kommission

FROM OUR FULBRIGHTERS 33
Sorting Trash to Save the World
A look at the effect of personal responsibility and government
legislation on environmentalism in Germany
by Nicole Harkin
Though many Americans, when polled, express concern
with preserving the environment, the average American
complicitly promotes the environment’s further degradation.
I consider myself an average American. I once drove a
Chevrolet Suburban daily, and to be perfectly honest, I would
enjoy another one even though I know that SUVs guzzle gas and
pollute the air with hydrocarbons.
The inner struggle between the desire to save the environment
and the appeal of over consumption brought me to Germany,
because even though I study environmental law, I still lack an
understanding of how to behave in a way that is more conscious
of my environmental impact. Germans, on the other hand, separate
their trash into five different categories and one out of every
eight belongs to an environmental organization or nature group.
I hoped Germany would be a type of environmental haven after
having been disillusioned while studying environmental law.
I attend arguably the best environmental law school in the
United States, Pace University School of Law in New York. One
would expect that a school committed to churning out environmental
lawyers charged with saving the world would set an example
of environmental friendliness for its students. This is not the
case. For example, when I first visited Pace the number of recycling
bins on campus greatly impressed me. After starting school
we learned that the school recycles nothing. The bins are there
merely for show. However, I can hardly find fault with the Pace
administration for their lack of environmental friendliness because
our culture and economy are not conducive to making environmentally
responsible choices.
In Germany I research how Germany as a nation actively
improves the environment. I look at recycling and urban sprawl
control techniques, two areas in which Germany has played a pioneering
role. In 1991 Germany passed the Packaging Ordnance
(Verpackungsverordnung) requiring manufacturers to dispose of
containers, bottles, and similar products at the end of the useful
life of the packaging. Rather than stipulating how the law would
be implemented, the German government allowed the packaging
industry to regulate itself, leading to a system in which producers
purchase a percentage of the recycled waste from the recycling
companies. This percentage should theoretically correspond to the
amount of packaging
waste produced thus
encouraging manufacturers
to generate
less waste. Not only
has the amount of
waste packaging produced
been reduced by
18% but Germany also
goes a step further and recycles
70% of all paper, 75% of
all glass, and 60% of all aluminum.
In existence for a much longer time
than the recycling laws, Germany’s land use system hails from the
turn of the 20th century. In fact, Germany founded modern urban
planning and continues as a vanguard through the federally organized
land use law (Bundesraumordnungsgesetz). The German Constitution
stipulates that each state or Bundesland formulates a
state-wide land use plan. Within each state different land areas are
designated for growth or preservation.
Each municipality must then formulate a growth plan with
these designations in mind. The preservation of undeveloped land
on the edge of cities (Außenbereich) is of the utmost importance
and explicitly supports the public policy of preserving as much
undeveloped land in Germany as possible. Germany’s dense population
(82 million people in a country slightly smaller than the
state of Montana) may partially explain the strong public policy
position in favor of non-development even at the expense of the
economy.
Empirical studies in the U.S. show convenience and cost as the
main indicators as to whether a person will participate in environmentally
aware activities. I would argue that these factors provide
the key to German environmental friendliness. Germans may
or may not be more disposed to protecting the environment than
Americans, but being environmentally friendly is easier and substantially
more cost-effective in Germany.
For example, in Germany owning a car creates many more
inconveniences than in the U.S. The smaller German cities contain
comparably fewer parking spaces. The cost of gasoline is high-
THE FUNNEL • VOLUME 40 • NUMBER 2 • SUMMER 2004