earth day week: spazieren

Spazieren is a German word that means "to take a walk". And not like you're walking across the hall or walking to the neighbor's or even a walk around the block...but to go for a walk, to get outside and take a stroll. But it also means more then even that...it means that you're going to get outside and enjoy your surroundings, enjoy being out in nature.

Often you'll hear Germans talk about how they went spazieren over the weekend or are making plans with friends to go spazieren. It's not just a spontaneous thing on a nice day. More than once I've been invited out with some German friends just to go spazieren: we'd get together just to take a walk through some woods or nearby fields for an hour or so in all seasons.

To me, the German culture's love and respect for nature is wonderfully expressed in that word: spazieren. Because while many Germans love to go camping (which isn't so rough as many Americans prefer it to be), to grill in nice weather (and only nice weather and only your basic wursts or steak, nothing fancy), and to exercise outside, they all love to go spazieren, to be in nature and enjoy nature.

And I think that's really what Earth Day is meant to be: not to make us feel guilty about what we're not doing to save the earth but to help you remember that the Earth is our home and it's our only home and it's a beautiful home. And when we get outside and enjoy it, even to simply take a stroll once in a while, we'll naturally want to show it more respect and care.



(Some friends with my husband strolling through the forest back in December.)

earth day week: bicycles

Bicycles are a common sight in Germany. And the culture here makes them practical, safe, and enjoyable for several reasons.

Gasoline is very expensive here so it makes financial sense to go by bike instead. The old towns are very compact so you really don't have to pedal very far to get to stores and banks and such. And stores will commonly have lots of bikes racks for locking up your bike.



And since bikes are so common, the roads are designed with them in mind: you'll find special bikes lanes all over and even when there are no bikes lanes, cars are used to seeing bikes about so they are very aware and respectful of bicyclists.



Street bikes are also designed, and are required to be, safe and practical with lights and bells and baskets. Here is my bike:



It's cheap, but has all the necessities including a front and back basket that are handy when I take it out shopping (in fact, that back basket is detachable and has a handle).

Plus, it just feels so good to be out and about on my bike! And good for my body, too!



My bike bell: Auf zwei Rädern bleibt man jung, "On two wheels, you'll stay young."

earth day week: garbage

Germany is doing a lot to try to recycle as much of their garbage as they can. And this is no voluntary recycling program: everyone is involved. Germany has laws that requires manufacturers, suppliers and retailers to take back and recycle most of their product packaging. The consumer's job (that's me!) is to clean and separate the different kinds of packaging. Yes, you heard me right: clean. And the separating is no easy task, either.

How to throw something away in Germany:

Clean the garbage: The recyclable garbage has to be rinsed out and free of any leftover food. So, yes, I have to clean my garbage.

Sort the garbage:



Here's all the outside garbage bins for our different garbage types (the bins are all color-coded). We have 8 bins in our apartment for our garbage separating our 6 types of garbage including plastic bottles we take back to the store for a deposit.

Put the right bin out on the right day:



This is our garbage calender. I think our landlord explained it to us three times when we first moved in...not because we didn't understand it but because he kept emphasizing to us how important it is to get the garbage out on the right day. 'Cause even though the garbage gets picked up most days of the week, if you miss a bin's day that type of garbage is really starts to pile up!

And don't make the garbage man mad: Or he won't take your garbage. Back when we first moved here and all of out stuff arrived from America, we had a lot of empty cardboard moving boxes. Our landlord assured us that if we put them out on the curb on Paper day, the garbage man would pick them up. But at the end of the day, the paper bin was empty but all the flat boxes were still laying there. Our landlord only huffed an said, "Sometimes you have to bribe them with a bottle of wine." So don't make the garbage man's job any more difficult than it already is...or you'll either be left with your garbage on the curb or out 20 Euros spent on a bottle of wine!

Yes, it can be more than a little confusing at first (whenever we have guests from America we have to give them what we call "The Garbage Tutorial") but you certainly get used to it and it starts to become second nature. When I visit my family in the States my mind starts needlessly sorting the piece of garbage in my hand as I walk to the one lonely kitchen garbage bin. And yes, it takes a little more work to throw something away. But at least when I throw it away I know it's not going "away"...it's getting recycled!

earth day week: shopping bags

One of the things I really love and admire about Germany is that Germany really loves and admires nature. When I realized that Earth Day was this week, I decided to devote the week on my blog to featuring this country's love for its environment and the little things Germany has integrated into its culture to preserve it and enjoy it.

And I do want to emphasis that these things I'll be posting about in the next few days really are a part of the culture. One thing that kinda annoys me about my native land is the way the United States tends to treat pro-environmental actions as "trendy" or only for "hippies." In Germany, the care for the environment is a given, and it a part of the common outlook and culture of its people. Germany has a deep respect for the environment that they are especially known for...even in Europe where most countries are much more environmental conscience than the United States tends to be. And it's that love of nature in this culture that I'd like to share with you this week.

So, let me introduce to you...the shopping bag!

In Germany, when you go grocery shopping, you are not only expected to bag your groceries yourself, but you are also expected to provide your own bags. So when you're at the store you'll see customers putting their groceries in tote bags, in wicker baskets, in plastic bins...or carrying all their food out to their car in the cart and loading up their groceries in the bags and baskets and bins waiting in the trunk.

If you don't bring your own bags, then the store will have some big plastic or fabric bags that you can buy. But buying bag after bag after a while will really start getting you into the habit of bringing your own. And here are mine:



I went shopping this afternoon and here's my load! These tall pretty bag and pink basket are our standard grocery bags. We keep them in the trunk of our car. And after I bring up the groceries and put them away, I put the bag and basket on a stool next to our front door and the next time one of us heads out we stick them back in the trunk of the car. Easy peasy!

I have other bags, too!



This is my pretty green bag I got in Paris. I like to carry this one when I'm just doing a little shopping in town...out to browse through the bookstore, pick out some treats at the bakery, or check out this week's newest at Tchibo and then I can slip whatever I buy in the one pretty bag and not carry a million plastic bags around. I also like to bring this bag with me when I'm going to Karlsruhe for the afternoon and I want to carry a water bottle and a book to read on the train with me.



This is my other pretty bag. This one holds lots and I usually use it to carry packages to the post office or if I need more bag space when I'm doing my shopping.



And this is my little compact pocket bag. I carry this one in my purse so that when I need a bag and I don't have one of my big pretty ones with me, I can pull out this one, unfold it out of it's little case (which then clips to a loop on the bag) and viola! A handy bag anytime I need it!



I really really like being able to carry my purchases in such pretty reuseable bags. And not having countless plastic store bags floating around the house. And bags like these are very much the norm here in Germany. When you walk through the city center you see Omas carry their wicker baskets filled with bakery goodies and moms with their totes of groceries and men with their plastic baskets filled with beer bottles. It's a good thing.