Global Earth…

Katja Wolff. Gott, Germany

No, this is not an article about globalization. Because globalization describes a process of development. The development from a smaller, let’s say regional or local, level up to – yes – the global one. But as much as we like to use this term these days, I find it rather hard to label the issue I am thinking about with it: Our planet. It is as global as it has ever been.
I know this whole thing seems somewhat redundant. But let me tell you, it is not! You can easily test this on yourself: What comes to your mind when you think about Earth? Continents? Countries? Or do you maybe think of some particular regions, cities, landscapes or the seas? Well, that would prove my point – I believe we very much tend to “break the world apart” in our minds, with some sort of “mental map” in our head. This might be practical to organize the world in our heads. But there is one thing we must not forget –Earth itself.
Water and wind don’t know national borders – they don’t even know continents. They just “know” Earth. Unfortunately, they also carry pollution with them all around the globe. Earth is global.
Change of setting. A few weeks ago there was a big fuss in the German media about the European Union’s strategy’s against the climate change. One piece of that discussion is that a general limit of CO2-emission of cars 120 per kilometer was supposed to be accepted as a European standard for cars. However, due to the strong lobbying of the car industry it ended up as a compromise – the standard became 125 per kilometer. At least in Germany, this was being criticized harshly in the media for the EU apparently was too weak to set out a more restricted standard.
I do not want to say that this criticism was wrong – quite the contrary! On the other side, I have to say that we should be proud that the EU even reached that compromise! Isn’t it better to start somewhere than nowhere?
I cannot explain why, but the debate about these two numbers made a few questions and thoughts come up in my mind and I could not help thinking about them for several days.
Imagine this: While Germany is discussing whether the standard of 125 is good enough or 120 was the only good thing to shoot for in order to decrease air pollution within the EU, millions of people in the U.S. drive their SUVs, vans and trucks through the country of unlimited opportunities. Do they care? Do they save gas? Most of them probably only look at gas prices and that’s it. Air pollution? I’d be willing to bet that not a few people would tell you to look at China instead, and how they are much worse.
The United States, as of now, has still not signed the Kyoto Protocol. That is a slap in the face for all those trying to promote the idea of a global Earth. Because what does it help to decrease the CO2 emission in one part of the world by ten percent while another one is increasing its CO2 emission by ten percent? Of course, this does kind of argument shall not be used to justifying not making an effort in decreasing air pollution. Quite the opposite!
The United States is still using resources more or less as they come in handy. And although there is a quite considerable environmental consciousness among the public, in practice it is often ignored as it is somewhat less comfortable or a little more pricy.
For example, it takes a little more effort to recycle the trash – although other countries like Germany have an even more advanced recycling system than the U.S. We separate almost everything: biological trash, glass (divided by color: green, brown or white), plastics, and paper or carton. Only what the rest goes into the real trash can. Not to talk about the deposit system we have for many kinds of bottles through which we get some of the money back if we return the bottles to the stores…
And, of course, it costs more to have solar energy cells built onto your private house’s roof so that you can heat up your water system with that won energy. And it costs more to buy an energy saving lamp in comparison to a normal light bulb. Or to have a better wall isolation in your house in order to make heating, and thus energy usage, more effective.
Not to talk about taking the car. Of course, it is so much easier to go somewhere by car. But look at the Netherlands! There it is absolutely normal to see people in high quality suits riding their bikes to work. So think about next time you just want to bring a letter to the post office or visit a friend only a few blocks away. What does our global Earth mean to you?
To be fair it needs to be mentioned that government taxes and regulations have a lot to do with how advanced environmental protection in a country is. In Germany, for example, you pay very high ecological taxes on gas, which sometimes makes it worth to think about not driving the car everywhere. At the same time, cars with higher emissions are taxed much higher than others with lower emissions. Furthermore, there have been substantial subsidies on solar cells in private houses, and renewable energies in general.