Feature: Environmental education starts early in German childhood

The last week in late October, the tide in Germany's largest port of Hamburg was rising, much higher than last year. Guido Neumann, a company manager from Hamburg, took his 7-year-old son Leander to the port, strolling along the banks to have a look.

"I told my son why the tide became bigger. If it continues, we have to build higher dikes to protect our home," Neumann told Xinhua.

While walking along the dikes, Leander saw the rising tide, and discussed the importance of saving nature with his father.

Neumann has two sons, Joost and Leander, and he started "environment-oriented" education for his sons when they were only 2 years old.

"When my sons were 2 or 3 years old, I started to tell them to sort household garbage," Neumann said.

Now, his younger son, 4-year-old Joost, has already learned to separate paper from food waste, and to put glass bottles into containers for different colors of glass.

Germany boasts a strict but successful garbage separation and sorting system.

The recycling system called "Green Dot" has been one of the most successful recycling initiatives. The crux of the system is that manufacturers and retailers have to pay for a "Green Dot" on products: the more packaging there is, the higher the fee. Although Germany produces 30 million tons of garbage annually, this clever system has led to less paper, thinner glass and less metal being used, thus creating less garbage to be recycled.

Local media predicted that thanks to the "Green Dot" system, there would be a drastic reduction of about one million tons of garbage every year.

Proper sorting of garbage is another major part of the country's success story.

Glass is sorted by color. There are containers with different slots for depositing green, brown and clear glass, and residents can find these containers in every neighborhood.

In Germany, residents usually have five other dustbins at their doorsteps; they are colored green, blue, yellow, brown and gray. Residents should place paper or paper-made packages, biological waste like leftover food, plastic materials and beverage cartons into different bins.

In some municipalities, there are only green, blue and gray bins at the doorsteps. Neumann said his town follows the three-bin system, and he was glad his two sons are experienced in putting different garbage into different bins.

Sorting garbage is merely one aspect of Neumann's environment-oriented education, as he often tells his sons stories about nature.

"When my sons were very young, I often told them quite a lot of stories about the environment, like saving icebergs, saving ice bears," Neumann said.

Over the past three years, the little polar bear Knut at the Berlin Zoo has been a sensation in Germany, arousing the general public's environmental awareness.

Knut was born on Dec. 5, 2006, in captivity at the Berlin Zoo. However, he was rejected by his mother at birth and was subsequently raised by zookeepers.

After a German tabloid newspaper ran a quote from an animal rights activist that seemingly called for the death of the young cub, a worldwide public outrage caused fans to rally in support of his being raised by humans. Children protested outside the zoo, and many e-mails and letters expressing sympathy for the cub's life were sent from around the world.

Knut became the center of a mass media phenomenon dubbed "Knutmania" that spanned the globe. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than thirty years. Now, Knut has attained the status of a rock star.

The story of Knut has sparked the interest of Neumann's sons, and they have gleaned some knowledge about the dangers of global warming from hearing about Knut.

When Neumann's sons entered kindergarten, every week they spent around one hour listening to stories about protecting the environment.

Leander, Neumann's older son, is now in the second grade. He and his classmates usually hold a discussion about saving nature at least "once a week."

"They talk about how to save whales, how to clear water," Neumann said.

Nationwide, Germany has set up a national committee on implementing the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. With the financial assistance of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the committee has created awards to support various projects promoting education on sustainable development. So far, nearly 800 projects and nine municipalities have already received the awards across the country.

"I'm environment-oriented; I'm glad my sons get more knowledge about saving nature," Neumann concluded.

Source: Xinhua