Germany: Quentin Schultz (Sustainability in Freiburg)

Hello again! Welcome back to the blog that I write about my experiences in Freiburg while participating in the Academic Year in Freiburg program. I’m a little late to the draw on this one, but this time we’re talking about sustainability in Freiburg — how Freiburg, and to some extent Germany, remains Umweltfreundlich.

As for why I say to some extent Germany, it’s because Freiburg is more green than the average German city. Cities in German often send a Green party candidate to the Bundestag, and Freiburg is no exception. The neighborhood I live in, Vauban, was originally settled by a bunch of hippies, and was built on sustainable practices. It’s pretty cool.

Other neat practices in Germany include the extra sorting of trash. In the States, it’s often just “recycling” and “trash”, and occasionally we sort between paper and everything else for recycling. In Germany, there are minimum four containers: regular trash, of course, but also glass, packaging, and paper. Which I suppose isn’t too much more, but it more sorting than we often do in the States. There’s also a neat system called “Pfand” in Germany, where some bottles and cans can be turned in for reuse, and you get a small cash bonus in return. A great way to keep already-made bottles in circulation.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention public transportation. The train networks in Europe are significantly better than in the US; if I wanted to, I could get a ticket and go all the way to the north of Norway if I wanted to, and that would probably create far fewer greenhouse emissions, whereas in the States, my choice is “car”.

Quentin Schultz

Hometown: Mukwonago, Wisconsin

Major: Physics, Computer Science

Program: Academic Year in Freiburg (AYF)

My primary goal during AYF is to improve my fluency in German as much as possible. I’m most looking forward to the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) to be completely honest, but I’m very exited to be there and will find plenty of things to enjoy.