India will not sign any treaty that legally binds it to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh reiterated here Tuesday, attacking a proposed US legislation that seeks to financially punish countries that refuse to take on such targets.
At a time when climate change - along with terrorism and the economic downturn - is dominating the international agenda, Ramesh told the media that India 'must stop looking at climate change purely as an international issue'.
'It is most fundamentally a domestic and local issue, as it impacts water security, land productivity, agricultural yields and energy consumption.'
All countries are now negotiating an agreement to tackle climate change. They are scheduled to do so by this December, when the next climate summit will be held in Copenhagen.
Industrialised countries, which are already committed to reducing their GHG emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012, are putting immense pressure on India, China and other emerging economies to commit to GHG emissions reductions or at least caps.
These emissions - 75 percent of them of carbon dioxide - are warming the atmosphere and leading to climate change.
In this fractious atmosphere, Ramesh reiterated India's 'eight non-negotiable basic principles':
* India's per capita emission levels will never exceed the per capita emission levels of developed countries.
* India cannot and will not take on emission reduction targets because poverty eradication and social and economic development are the first and over-riding priorities; each human being has equal right to global atmospheric resources; 'common but differentiated responsibility' is the basis for all climate change actions.
* India will continue to be a low-carbon economy.
* India's primary focus is on adaptation (to climate change), with specific niches for mitigation (of GHG emissions).
* India has already unveiled a comprehensive National Action Plan on Climate Change, whose activities are in the public domain. Work on the action plan has been initiated.
* Only those 'nationally appropriate mitigation actions' can be subject to international monitoring, reporting and verification that are enabled and supported by international finance and technology transfer.
* India wants a comprehensive approach to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and advocates REDD+ that includes conservation, afforestation and sustainable management of forests.
* India advocates collaborative research and future low-carbon technology and access to intellectual property rights as global public goods.
Ramesh said industrialised countries that were responsible for almost all GHG in the atmosphere today should be far more proactive in reducing emissions. He described the bill passed by the US House of Representatives Monday as 'anaemic. The targets are very unambitious. And the most pernicious part of it is the climate tax.'
He welcomed US President Barack Obama's call to the US Senate to reject this part of the bill and said: 'India rejects the use of climate as a non-tariff barrier and will oppose the introduction of climate change talks in World Trade Organisation negotiations. We want barriers to trade environmental goods and services to be removed.'
At Bonn earlier this month, during the most recent preparatory talks for the Copenhagen summit, India, China and 36 other countries had submitted a proposal that industrialised countries be legally obliged to reduce their GHG emissions by at least 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
Referring to this proposal, Ramesh told IANS: 'We don't want the developed countries to push back their commitments to 2050, when none of us here will be around. We want them to reduce their emissions by 2020, and to do it from 1990 levels, instead of pushing the baseline to 2005 as some of them are trying to do.'
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Nano to rule cities as green norms push M800 off road
THE world’s cheapest car, Nano, is likely to wrest the leadership position in the small car segment within a year as the ruling market leaders — Maruti 800 and Omni — will no longer be sold in 11 of India’s biggest cities from January 2010 because of failure to meet current emission norms. These cities account for one out of two cars sold in the country. “This (absence of Maruti 800 and Omni) would mean no direct competition to Nano. The important question is whether Tata Motors would be able to manufacture enough units of Nano that would meet the demand.” said Kapil Arora, Partner (Automobile), Ernst & Young. Although Nano could become the highest selling car in its segment, it would take some time to contribute to Tata Motors’ sagging bottomline. Mr Arora said Tata Motors, which suffered a Rs 2,500-crore loss last year largely due the tribulations of its UK subsidiary Jaguar and Land Rover, needs to sell at least 2.5 lakh units of the Nano to make money from the world’s cheapest car. The company may be in a position to produce the Nano in these numbers only by the end of 2010 once its plant at Sanand, Gujarat becomes operational. The entry-level Maruti 800, the flagship product of Maruti Suzuki India, is priced at Rs 2.15 lakh. The basic version of the Nano is pegged at Rs 1.35 lakh though other version with more more features cost more. “The pricing strategy of the product is not decided yet. The price of the Nano could go up. The margin at the moment is wafer thin, “ he added. The company spokesperson said: “The first one lakh allotments (of the Nano) are price-protected as prices were declared at the launch. For others, should circumstances require any pricing decision, it will be intimated to them (customers who have booked the car) at the time of delivery.” The company is also planning to launch the diesel version of the Nano. There has been speculation that the diesel Nano could cost around Rs 2 lakh, making it the cheapest car in the category.
Pollution control board officials collect samples from Sewree mudflats to check toxicity
Following the case of a flamingo’s collapse in the swamps of the highly polluted suburb of Sewri last week “due to toxicity in the water”, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has collected water samples from the mudflats for thorough chemical analysis.
BD Wadde, MPCB regional officer in Mumbai, said that on May 19, immediately after the incident, his officials visited the spot where the migratory bird was found, and collected about two-and-a half litre of water to carry out detailed tests. The samples have now been forwarded to the MPCB labs and results will be out in a month.
“We have to ensure that dissolved oxygen (DO) has not fallen below 5 mg per litre. If that happens, the aquatic animals may die due to suffocation,” Wadde said.
The pH level, DO levels, turbidity, total dissolved solid, ammonical nitrogen content, nitrate, phosphate, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) as well as the total and faecal coliform contents in the water will also be checked.
A separate micro pollutant test will also be carried out to rule out pesticide content in the water. This test will check for DDT, endosulphan, aldrin, diedrin, methyl parathion, chloropyriphos etc in the water. Existence of toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, zinc, chromium, lead, nickel and iron will also be checked.
However, pollution control board officials suspected that high effluent contents in the water may not have caused the bird’s collapse. “There are very few industries within the city and there is a stringent check on waste disposal. It is not possible that the mudflats are so polluted. This seems like a one off case and it is possible that the bird could have had a bad health condition,” he explained.
Flamingo still not wellThe flamingo found at the mudflats two weeks ago is still battling to recover at the SPCA Hospital. The bird, which had diarrhea and was vomiting blood, when it was hospitalised, is now finding it difficult to walk or fly. “The flamingo has been put on a treatment of vitamin tonics and supplements. The toxins seem to have damaged its nerves. It is lying prostrate and not standing up, said Dr Y Kaginkar of the SPCA Hospital. The toxins in the bird’s system cannot be checked as the veins of the bird are delicate now. “When the bird becomes strong, I shall conduct further tests,” adds Kaginkar
BD Wadde, MPCB regional officer in Mumbai, said that on May 19, immediately after the incident, his officials visited the spot where the migratory bird was found, and collected about two-and-a half litre of water to carry out detailed tests. The samples have now been forwarded to the MPCB labs and results will be out in a month.
“We have to ensure that dissolved oxygen (DO) has not fallen below 5 mg per litre. If that happens, the aquatic animals may die due to suffocation,” Wadde said.
The pH level, DO levels, turbidity, total dissolved solid, ammonical nitrogen content, nitrate, phosphate, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) as well as the total and faecal coliform contents in the water will also be checked.
A separate micro pollutant test will also be carried out to rule out pesticide content in the water. This test will check for DDT, endosulphan, aldrin, diedrin, methyl parathion, chloropyriphos etc in the water. Existence of toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, zinc, chromium, lead, nickel and iron will also be checked.
However, pollution control board officials suspected that high effluent contents in the water may not have caused the bird’s collapse. “There are very few industries within the city and there is a stringent check on waste disposal. It is not possible that the mudflats are so polluted. This seems like a one off case and it is possible that the bird could have had a bad health condition,” he explained.
Flamingo still not wellThe flamingo found at the mudflats two weeks ago is still battling to recover at the SPCA Hospital. The bird, which had diarrhea and was vomiting blood, when it was hospitalised, is now finding it difficult to walk or fly. “The flamingo has been put on a treatment of vitamin tonics and supplements. The toxins seem to have damaged its nerves. It is lying prostrate and not standing up, said Dr Y Kaginkar of the SPCA Hospital. The toxins in the bird’s system cannot be checked as the veins of the bird are delicate now. “When the bird becomes strong, I shall conduct further tests,” adds Kaginkar
Green lobby split on climate plan
ENVIRONMENTALISTS can't agree on whether the proposed emissions trading scheme is green enough to get the go-ahead.
High-profile climate scientist Tim Flannery says it is, and has called on the Greens to pass it in the Senate.
"A first step is better than nothing,'' Prof Flannery, a former Australian of the year, told ABC Television last night.
But Greens leader Bob Brown has rejected what he described as "the Tim Flannery compromise''. "I think from politics, from much greater political experience than Tim Flannery, that you don't allow a process which is of itself going to fail,'' Senator Brown said.
He says the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as little as 5 per cent by 2020 is not good enough, and the ETS gives too much support to big polluters.
Senator Brown pointed out that even with the Greens' support, Labor can't pass the ETS because Family First's Steve Fielding will vote against it.
The Greens are not optimistic that an adequate ETS will proceed in Australia.
"I think the Rudd Government is about to fail on that score,'' Senator Brown said.
There has already been a falling out between green groups over whether the ETS should be passed.
The Australian Conservation Foundation supports it passing, while Greenpeace says the scheme is not good enough.
High-profile climate scientist Tim Flannery says it is, and has called on the Greens to pass it in the Senate.
"A first step is better than nothing,'' Prof Flannery, a former Australian of the year, told ABC Television last night.
But Greens leader Bob Brown has rejected what he described as "the Tim Flannery compromise''. "I think from politics, from much greater political experience than Tim Flannery, that you don't allow a process which is of itself going to fail,'' Senator Brown said.
He says the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as little as 5 per cent by 2020 is not good enough, and the ETS gives too much support to big polluters.
Senator Brown pointed out that even with the Greens' support, Labor can't pass the ETS because Family First's Steve Fielding will vote against it.
The Greens are not optimistic that an adequate ETS will proceed in Australia.
"I think the Rudd Government is about to fail on that score,'' Senator Brown said.
There has already been a falling out between green groups over whether the ETS should be passed.
The Australian Conservation Foundation supports it passing, while Greenpeace says the scheme is not good enough.
Global ban on commercial chemicals
Experts and officials from some 150 countries started talks on Monday on banning production of nine chemicals considered potentially dangerous but still used in farming and for other commercial purposes.
If agreement is reached at the week-long meeting, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the nine will join a list of 12 other so-called persistent organic pollutants, or POPS, long targeted for elimination.
"The risks posed by such chemicals are profound, and these toxic substances leave chemical footprints around the globe," said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, who will be watching over the Geneva gathering.
The newly-targeted chemicals include products - known normally under their scientific names - that are widely used for pesticides and are also used in the manufacture of flame retardants and similar items.
The original 12 POPS - dubbed the "dirty dozen" and widely blamed for damaging human nervous systems, causing cancer and disrupting the development of young children - were listed under a 2001 international pact called the Stockholm Convention.
But as these have been removed from production lines, focus has switched to extending the banned list to other highly toxic chemicals that take many years, often decades, to degrade into less dangerous forms.
SPECIAL RISKS
Among the new ones to be considered this week are Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, Hexabromidyphenyl ether, Chlordecone, Hexabromobiphenyl, Lindane, Pentachlorobenzene and Perfluorooctane, according to UNEP.
UNEP says these, like the "dirty dozen", pose special risks to young people, farmers, pregnant women and the unborn, and to remote communities like those in the Arctic where Inuit women and polar bears have been found to have large POP doses in their own bodies.
The pollutant chemicals can evaporate and travel long distances through air and water to regions far from their original source and accumulate in the fatty tissues of both humans and animals.
A thaw in the Arctic linked to global warming may allow some of the chemicals, long-trapped under sea ice, to evaporate into the atmosphere and spread further around the polar region, an expert said on Monday.
Agreement at the Geneva meeting, which ends on May 8, could mark a major step toward creating a healthier and more sustainable green economy for the world, said Steiner, while lifting a health threat to millions of people.
If agreement is reached at the week-long meeting, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the nine will join a list of 12 other so-called persistent organic pollutants, or POPS, long targeted for elimination.
"The risks posed by such chemicals are profound, and these toxic substances leave chemical footprints around the globe," said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, who will be watching over the Geneva gathering.
The newly-targeted chemicals include products - known normally under their scientific names - that are widely used for pesticides and are also used in the manufacture of flame retardants and similar items.
The original 12 POPS - dubbed the "dirty dozen" and widely blamed for damaging human nervous systems, causing cancer and disrupting the development of young children - were listed under a 2001 international pact called the Stockholm Convention.
But as these have been removed from production lines, focus has switched to extending the banned list to other highly toxic chemicals that take many years, often decades, to degrade into less dangerous forms.
SPECIAL RISKS
Among the new ones to be considered this week are Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, Hexabromidyphenyl ether, Chlordecone, Hexabromobiphenyl, Lindane, Pentachlorobenzene and Perfluorooctane, according to UNEP.
UNEP says these, like the "dirty dozen", pose special risks to young people, farmers, pregnant women and the unborn, and to remote communities like those in the Arctic where Inuit women and polar bears have been found to have large POP doses in their own bodies.
The pollutant chemicals can evaporate and travel long distances through air and water to regions far from their original source and accumulate in the fatty tissues of both humans and animals.
A thaw in the Arctic linked to global warming may allow some of the chemicals, long-trapped under sea ice, to evaporate into the atmosphere and spread further around the polar region, an expert said on Monday.
Agreement at the Geneva meeting, which ends on May 8, could mark a major step toward creating a healthier and more sustainable green economy for the world, said Steiner, while lifting a health threat to millions of people.
FLIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE WITH DIET CHANGE
Global warming has been called humankind's "greatest challenge" and the world's most grave environmental threat, and science shows that one of the most effective ways to fight global warming is to go vegetarian.1
Stars such as Sir Paul McCartney and Chrissie Hynde are lending their voices to share what science has already proven—that the meat industry is one of the leading sources of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.
When asked what personal change people could make to help the environment, McCartney replied, "I think the biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian." To read the complete interview with Sir Paul McCartney, visit PETA's blog The PETA Files.
A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined.2 Greenhouse gases cause global warming, which studies show will increasingly lead to catastrophic disasters—like droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, and disease outbreaks—unless we drastically reduce the amounts emitted into the atmosphere.
Many conscientious people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but they could do more simply by going vegetarian.
The official handbook for the Live Earth concerts says that "refusing meat" is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint."3
According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.
The University of Chicago reports that going vegan is 50% more effective than switching to a hybrid car in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Raising animals for their flesh, eggs, and milk is one of the world’s leading emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2). But global warming is caused by more than just CO2. Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which—combined with carbon dioxide—causes the vast majority of global warming.
Methane: The billions of farmed animals crammed into factory farms produce enormous amounts of methane, both during digestion and from the acres of cesspools filled with feces that they excrete. Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere.5 Statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency show that animal agriculture is the number one source of methane emissions in the U.S.6
Nitrous Oxide: Nitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. According to the U.N., the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for a staggering 65 percent of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions.7
You Can Help Stop Global Warming Today
The most effective way to fight the global warming crisis is to stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy products. Start today by taking the Pledge To Be Veg for 30 Days. Please also take a few moments to encourage Al Gore, the most prominent voice in the fight against global warming, to add going vegetarian to his list of solutions to our climate
Stars such as Sir Paul McCartney and Chrissie Hynde are lending their voices to share what science has already proven—that the meat industry is one of the leading sources of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.
When asked what personal change people could make to help the environment, McCartney replied, "I think the biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian." To read the complete interview with Sir Paul McCartney, visit PETA's blog The PETA Files.
A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined.2 Greenhouse gases cause global warming, which studies show will increasingly lead to catastrophic disasters—like droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, and disease outbreaks—unless we drastically reduce the amounts emitted into the atmosphere.
Many conscientious people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but they could do more simply by going vegetarian.
The official handbook for the Live Earth concerts says that "refusing meat" is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint."3
According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.
The University of Chicago reports that going vegan is 50% more effective than switching to a hybrid car in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Raising animals for their flesh, eggs, and milk is one of the world’s leading emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2). But global warming is caused by more than just CO2. Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which—combined with carbon dioxide—causes the vast majority of global warming.
Methane: The billions of farmed animals crammed into factory farms produce enormous amounts of methane, both during digestion and from the acres of cesspools filled with feces that they excrete. Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere.5 Statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency show that animal agriculture is the number one source of methane emissions in the U.S.6
Nitrous Oxide: Nitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. According to the U.N., the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for a staggering 65 percent of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions.7
You Can Help Stop Global Warming Today
The most effective way to fight the global warming crisis is to stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy products. Start today by taking the Pledge To Be Veg for 30 Days. Please also take a few moments to encourage Al Gore, the most prominent voice in the fight against global warming, to add going vegetarian to his list of solutions to our climate
Auto-ban: German town goes car-free
The Germans may have given the world the Audi and the autobahn, but they have banished everything with four wheels and an engine from the streets of Vauban – a model brave new world of a community in the country's south-west, next to the borders with Switzerland and France.
In Vauban, a suburb of the university town of Freiburg, luxuriant beds of brilliant flowers replace what would normally be parking outside its neat, middle- class homes. Instead of the roar of traffic, the residents listen to birdsong, children playing and the occasional jingle of a bicycle bell.
"If you want to have a car here, you have to pay about €20,000 for a space in one of our garages on the outskirts of the district," says Andreas Delleske one of the founders and now a promoter of the Vauban project, "but about 57 per cent of the residents sold a car to enjoy the privilege of living here." As a result, most residents travel by bike or use the ultra-efficient tram service that connects the suburb with the centre of Freiburg, 15 minutes away. If they want a car to go on holiday or to shift things, they hire one or join one of the town's car-sharing schemes.
Because it has no cars, Vauban's planners have almost completely dispensed with the idea of metalled roads. Its streets and pathways are cobbled or gritted and vehicles are allowed in only for a matter of minutes to unload essential goods. Being virtually car-free is only the start of what has been hailed as one of Europe's most successful experiments in green living and one which is viewed increasingly as a blueprint for a future and perhaps essential way of living in an age of climate change.
Vauban is a southern suburb of Freiburg and home to 5,300 people. Its elegant, weather-boarded, four-storey homes are painted in subtle tones of blue, yellow and red or left as natural wood. They have wide balconies and large French windows that look out on to quiet, park-like gardens. The overall impression is of being stuck in a never-ending IKEA advertisement.
But if the district's surface texture is eminently middle class, an eco-revolution is bubbling beneath the surface. The windows of all the homes are triple-glazed. An intricate ventilation system fitted with heat exchangers ensures that apartments are kept constantly topped-up with fresh air at room temperature, even when the windows are shut. Most homes are powered by solar panels and smart co-generator engines that run on wood chips which provide domestic heating and electricity for lighting and appliances. One of the consequences is that most of Vauban's homes generate a surplus of electricity and sell what they don't need to the power companies that run the national and regional electricity grids.
With their 35cm thick walls, the homes are so well insulated that the temperature inside is directly affected by the number of people in each apartment. "If it gets too cold in the winter, you have the choice of turning up the heating or inviting a couple of friends round to dinner," Delleske says. He is immensely proud of the fact that his 90sqm, four-roomed "Passive house," which is almost environmentally perfect, costs a mere €114 a year to heat. "Most people pay that kind of money for heating each month," he says. The "Passive house" has even managed to dispense with drains for the toilets and showers. The waste is reduced to compost in special biological toilets and shower and washing-up water is filtered and used to water the garden.
Word about the Vauban experiment is spreading. Each day, six or seven busloads of visitors roll up – parking on the outskirts, needless to say – to witness the suburb's environmentally friendly living. At the entrance, they are greeted by slogan in big letters that reads: "We are creating the world we want."
Yet the suburb's origins were very remote from such idealistic themes. It started life in 1937 as the Leo Schlageter army barracks, a collection of three-storey stone buildings to house Adolf Hitler's expanding Wehrmacht army. It was named after a German hero from the First World War who was executed by the French in 1923. At the end of the Second World War, the barracks were requisitioned by the French army and renamed Quartier Vauban, after a noted 17th century military architect. After Germany's re-unification, the French withdrew and the district was handed over to the city of Freiburg in 1994, to be promptly occupied by squatters.
Soon after, a group of ecologically minded and mostly middle-class people became interested in the quarter. Many had taken part in the anti-nuclear movement as students in the 1970s and 1980s. They set up the Forum Vauban, which began negotiating with the city government.
Vauban's founders explain that much of the eco-friendly technology that has gone into the complex was conceived and developed around Freiburg as an alternative to nuclear power. The upshot was the formation of a series of loosely structured housing associations which commissioned architects to design new and ecologically sustainable homes on the site. Most of the old Nazi-era barrack buildings were torn down and more than 60 architects were engaged to reconstruct Vauban. Its three- to five-storey buildings contain apartments of varying sizes and 80 per cent are privately owned. A four-bedroom unit costs about €250,000.
The project is a reminder of the strength of Germany's green movement. Freiburg's city government is run by a coalition of conservatives and Green Party councillors and the Greens hold the most seats. During the European elections, the Green Party won up to 60 per cent of the poll in Vauban's constituencies.
The district also bucks Germany's reputation for having one of the world's lowest birth rates: nearly 30 per cent of its inhabitants are aged under 18. Ute and Frank Lits moved to Vauban five years ago. Their children, aged six and 10, can walk out the front door of their four-bedroom apartment into a communal garden equipped with a playground and a wood-fired pizza oven. "We wanted to buy our own home and we liked the eco-friendly principles of the place," Mrs Lits said. "But the main reason is that Vauban is prefect for children. They enjoy the kind of freedom that it would be difficult to find in a normal town apartment." The couple owns a car, but neither mind having to park it in a communal garage eight minutes' walk from their home.
If Vauban's brave new world suffers from anything, it is its own peculiar brand of middle-class monoculturalism. Sitting outside a former Nazi barrack building that now functions as an organic restaurant selling ricotta-filled ravioli and ostrich meat, its is difficult to spot anyone who is non-European, old or poor.
Wolfgang Konradi, a youth worker who spent years working in less sophisticated urban areas before coming to Vauban, says the district's teenagers behave like normal people of their age. "The problem is mainly the parents, they go around expecting their offspring to be perfect citizens, but that's just not realistic," he laments. Ina, his wife, said that since having their son, she had learned to appreciate the advantages that Vauban offered for children. But she added: "It's very nice here, but a bit like living under a bell jar. I certainly wouldn't want to live here forever."
In Vauban, a suburb of the university town of Freiburg, luxuriant beds of brilliant flowers replace what would normally be parking outside its neat, middle- class homes. Instead of the roar of traffic, the residents listen to birdsong, children playing and the occasional jingle of a bicycle bell.
"If you want to have a car here, you have to pay about €20,000 for a space in one of our garages on the outskirts of the district," says Andreas Delleske one of the founders and now a promoter of the Vauban project, "but about 57 per cent of the residents sold a car to enjoy the privilege of living here." As a result, most residents travel by bike or use the ultra-efficient tram service that connects the suburb with the centre of Freiburg, 15 minutes away. If they want a car to go on holiday or to shift things, they hire one or join one of the town's car-sharing schemes.
Because it has no cars, Vauban's planners have almost completely dispensed with the idea of metalled roads. Its streets and pathways are cobbled or gritted and vehicles are allowed in only for a matter of minutes to unload essential goods. Being virtually car-free is only the start of what has been hailed as one of Europe's most successful experiments in green living and one which is viewed increasingly as a blueprint for a future and perhaps essential way of living in an age of climate change.
Vauban is a southern suburb of Freiburg and home to 5,300 people. Its elegant, weather-boarded, four-storey homes are painted in subtle tones of blue, yellow and red or left as natural wood. They have wide balconies and large French windows that look out on to quiet, park-like gardens. The overall impression is of being stuck in a never-ending IKEA advertisement.
But if the district's surface texture is eminently middle class, an eco-revolution is bubbling beneath the surface. The windows of all the homes are triple-glazed. An intricate ventilation system fitted with heat exchangers ensures that apartments are kept constantly topped-up with fresh air at room temperature, even when the windows are shut. Most homes are powered by solar panels and smart co-generator engines that run on wood chips which provide domestic heating and electricity for lighting and appliances. One of the consequences is that most of Vauban's homes generate a surplus of electricity and sell what they don't need to the power companies that run the national and regional electricity grids.
With their 35cm thick walls, the homes are so well insulated that the temperature inside is directly affected by the number of people in each apartment. "If it gets too cold in the winter, you have the choice of turning up the heating or inviting a couple of friends round to dinner," Delleske says. He is immensely proud of the fact that his 90sqm, four-roomed "Passive house," which is almost environmentally perfect, costs a mere €114 a year to heat. "Most people pay that kind of money for heating each month," he says. The "Passive house" has even managed to dispense with drains for the toilets and showers. The waste is reduced to compost in special biological toilets and shower and washing-up water is filtered and used to water the garden.
Word about the Vauban experiment is spreading. Each day, six or seven busloads of visitors roll up – parking on the outskirts, needless to say – to witness the suburb's environmentally friendly living. At the entrance, they are greeted by slogan in big letters that reads: "We are creating the world we want."
Yet the suburb's origins were very remote from such idealistic themes. It started life in 1937 as the Leo Schlageter army barracks, a collection of three-storey stone buildings to house Adolf Hitler's expanding Wehrmacht army. It was named after a German hero from the First World War who was executed by the French in 1923. At the end of the Second World War, the barracks were requisitioned by the French army and renamed Quartier Vauban, after a noted 17th century military architect. After Germany's re-unification, the French withdrew and the district was handed over to the city of Freiburg in 1994, to be promptly occupied by squatters.
Soon after, a group of ecologically minded and mostly middle-class people became interested in the quarter. Many had taken part in the anti-nuclear movement as students in the 1970s and 1980s. They set up the Forum Vauban, which began negotiating with the city government.
Vauban's founders explain that much of the eco-friendly technology that has gone into the complex was conceived and developed around Freiburg as an alternative to nuclear power. The upshot was the formation of a series of loosely structured housing associations which commissioned architects to design new and ecologically sustainable homes on the site. Most of the old Nazi-era barrack buildings were torn down and more than 60 architects were engaged to reconstruct Vauban. Its three- to five-storey buildings contain apartments of varying sizes and 80 per cent are privately owned. A four-bedroom unit costs about €250,000.
The project is a reminder of the strength of Germany's green movement. Freiburg's city government is run by a coalition of conservatives and Green Party councillors and the Greens hold the most seats. During the European elections, the Green Party won up to 60 per cent of the poll in Vauban's constituencies.
The district also bucks Germany's reputation for having one of the world's lowest birth rates: nearly 30 per cent of its inhabitants are aged under 18. Ute and Frank Lits moved to Vauban five years ago. Their children, aged six and 10, can walk out the front door of their four-bedroom apartment into a communal garden equipped with a playground and a wood-fired pizza oven. "We wanted to buy our own home and we liked the eco-friendly principles of the place," Mrs Lits said. "But the main reason is that Vauban is prefect for children. They enjoy the kind of freedom that it would be difficult to find in a normal town apartment." The couple owns a car, but neither mind having to park it in a communal garage eight minutes' walk from their home.
If Vauban's brave new world suffers from anything, it is its own peculiar brand of middle-class monoculturalism. Sitting outside a former Nazi barrack building that now functions as an organic restaurant selling ricotta-filled ravioli and ostrich meat, its is difficult to spot anyone who is non-European, old or poor.
Wolfgang Konradi, a youth worker who spent years working in less sophisticated urban areas before coming to Vauban, says the district's teenagers behave like normal people of their age. "The problem is mainly the parents, they go around expecting their offspring to be perfect citizens, but that's just not realistic," he laments. Ina, his wife, said that since having their son, she had learned to appreciate the advantages that Vauban offered for children. But she added: "It's very nice here, but a bit like living under a bell jar. I certainly wouldn't want to live here forever."
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