In Germany, villages and cities are leading the way in the fight against climate change. A mayor wants to shop with a village and regional products, the emissions of the municipality, lower – but this is not so easy.
The village shop in Grafenaschau looks like most of the houses in the small Bavarian village.
It has a large sloping roof with wide eaves and is built half of wood, half of stone. The style is so typical, such as Lederhosen, white beer and white sausage in this particular part of Germany.
“This is Alpine, but not a ‘Yodel’. We didn’t want to, that it is exaggerated Bavarian,” jokes Hubert chard, as he greeted people on the way to the Store warmly. He is trying to use diplomatic language, but houses with brightly painted window shutters, which is a little too much.
But it’s not just the buildings, the traditions and the strong ties with the regional identity of the South German Federal state of Bavaria. Most of the offered Bio-products from the vicinity and are manufactured in the traditional way.
The mayor of chard, casually dressed in a short jeans pants and a plaid shirt, pointed to the offer: milk, schnapps and liquor from a nearby distillery, seasonal fruit and vegetables from the Region and the sought-after, traditionally milled flour.
“We need to buy every week, of flour, because it flies out from the shelves,” explains Mangold lively with a strong dialect.
Most of the products in the village shop in Grafenaschau are from the Region.
There is a reason for the enthusiasm:.
The small supermarket is only open for a few months and, since the last village a few years ago, it was closed shop, in the building. Many villagers are happy that they no longer need to travel the 10 kilometers to the nearest town of Murnau.
“It is great that there are regional products,” says a woman who has just met a friend of mine, “also for the village community. You meet always somebody, and that’s just great.”
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It is also better for the environment – an issue the Swiss chard.
“This is all closely related to the climate change. Earlier people had to travel at least once per week to Murnau for shopping. Now, people can leave the car. Every trip to Murnau means of CO2-emissions,” says the mayor.
Local Actions
The climate and the environment is at the heart of many projects in the picturesque village with 600 inhabitants.
The city Council wants to make grafenaschau with solar power energy independent. She has created flower meadows, as a habitat for insects and bees, and bee hives placed for locally produced honey that you can buy in the village shop.
Florian Diepold (in the picture), the climate protection officer for Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a district in Bavaria, Germany.
There are many similar stories in this part of Bavaria where citizens try to make their villages and cities more sustainable.
A number of local authorities working together on environmental projects, for example, in the conversion to a local, green energy to 2035, fossil fuels regardless.
“Especially the small communities want to play a leading role here”, says Florian Diepold, the climate protection officer from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a district near the German Alps. “There are many small projects, such as the load in grafenaschau with his village and trying to produce their own energy.”
Unexpected Challenges
But a project such as the village shop on the legs, brings some challenges. Who runs a small business, it is necessary to create a more even Hand than the management of a large supermarket chain in the all products have Barcodes and the information is digitized.
“Of course, is just the beginning of more, because there are no fixed structures. Instead, we have to organize ourselves,” says Diepold.
The prices for each product have to negotiate the store owner with farmers and suppliers in the Region and in the checkout enter. The products you order manually. There is no Standard, no uniform System for all the different organic suppliers.
Hubert chard (in the picture) declared that Grafenaschau created a flower meadow and beehives, so that they can produce local honey.
“You have to make sure you get your repeat orders, you need to things pick up. It is a lot of work,” confirms Swiss chard. But a few people in the village always jump and ensures that everything is “climate neutral”.
“The fruit we take, for example, from a nursery in Munich”, says the mayor. “We have someone who needs to anyway go there and he brings the fruit. We do not cause additional CO2 emissions, which is the idea.”
But then there’s the financial risk. The business belongs to the villagers, some of the affected shareholder, and personally, it should fail the project. Mangold believes that the Federal government and the States could do more to support municipalities to improve in the fight against climate change and to the environmental balance.
“Without a doubt, the great policy has been sleeping on the job. What we really need is better financing, and that the Bavarian state supports us,” says Mangold.
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Plastic enjoy free and with a clear Conscience
Also, the climate protection officer Diepold says that Most of what municipalities do for climate protection, is done completely voluntary, and the lack of support from the Federal government and the länder, laws and Finance to lead, that they remained in their options limited.
He has contracts in his function, for example, is always only temporary. On its extension, the municipal Council must vote to do so, he is obliged to.
“It would be really good for our work, if there were a kind of legal basis for climate protection and nature conservation, would be included in the basic law,” says Diepold.
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Receipt of village life
Back in the Store chard buys a Cup of coffee and a plum crumble for the typical specialty – and kids with the young woman who receives his order. He has here spent almost his whole life, like most of the people in the village.
Some move away for a while to Study or Work, but many come back to raise their children in grafenaschau: “people come again and again. Where should you also want to live otherwise? The area here is gorgeous,” says Mangold.
And he wants to keep it that way. In the last few years, he says, they have always had to do more and more with weather extremes, including heavy rains and landslides.
“The Best thing we can do is tackle the causes of climate change and encourage people, when it comes to climate protection, to set a good example,” says Mangold.