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Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

bbc.com

81–90 of 214 posts

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#81
post #27

I found it interesting that an article on a city is chock full of photos but only one has an easily discernible person, and they are a bike rider in the distance with their face blurred. In the photography architecture is preeminent over people.

That may be due to privacy laws in Germany, a lot of houses are blurred out on google maps for example.

Privacy laws are the same nowaday all over EU more or less (the are some national differences). The difference is that the awareness for privacy in Germany has been much higher at least since the early 1990s when a census was declared unconstitutional in supreme court. A long time becfore surveillance capitalism was thing. Germany probably has the biggest share of people opposing Google in all markets they operate in. And still one of the bigger Firefox market shares.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now they found they're dependent on Russian gas. They always were, maybe you don't recall the shortage in 2009 when Gazprom shut off the gas to Ukraine, which happened 2 years before 3/11 [0]. I jokingly asked if that's why they still kept their wood burning furnaces in the building I lived and why they made it a priority we knew how to keep the backofen going throughout the Winter months and while I got slight a c…

wondering if it got worse - if they did manage to build more nuclear plants like French did (75% from nuclear) instead of closing them all down, maybe Germany will be able to heat their homes without CO2 emissions in winter.

France didn't really build new plants either, the existing plants are just as old as Germany's. The one big new project under construction, Flamanville, is already way over budget, more expensive than renewables - even before taking decommissioning into account

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#83
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the Amish use real nappies rather than messing around with reusables. Real nappies are better for baby and toddler bums, easier for already stressed parents and more hygienic. Reusables result in massive energy and water waste, they are a health hazard if not washed properly (many manufacturers washing instructions are very inadequate. They must be washed at a minimum of 60°C whatever your manufacturer said), re…

Are you Procter and Gamble?? The argument for and against reusable is pretty much undecided. There also services which do the washing for you. And they are probably way more efficient than people washing at home in terms of energy used. Anyhow, real eco-parents go diaper-less as most parents in the world. Google split-pants, elimination communication! Compared to this letting children sitting in their own feces in re…

There is a lot of problems with split-pants e.g. children now dribble.

It’s not all that big a leap either, there are plenty of gifs of Chinese parents utilizing split-pants to great effect.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience with Germany / Switzerland as well. Very punishment-based

Don't know which part of Suisse you talk about, but for me, living in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva I never experienced even a glimpse of what OP mentions. Yes, you can't behave like an arrogant a-hole, people will complain and call services/cops on you. But if you follow few simple rules which can be summed up as 'be respectful of others and laws in the country', you can have a great time since respect goes both ways.

I understand what parent is saying and this Freiburg example is a good one: there are going to be situations and times (such as the birth of a newborn) where following strictly to the rules (you have a limited amount of trash to dispose) just isn't viable or even possible. Anything that deviates from the norm and established rules, even slightly, is at least frowned upon and at most results in a fine or some other material punishment in Switzerland (I can't speak to Germany).

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wondering if it got worse - if they did manage to build more nuclear plants like French did (75% from nuclear) instead of closing them all down, maybe Germany will be able to heat their homes without CO2 emissions in winter.

> wondering if it got worse - if they did manage to build more nuclear plants like French did (75% from nuclear) instead of closing them all down, maybe Germany will be able to heat their homes without CO2 emissions in winter. They don't need to build anymore, they just import it. I lived 30km away from Alsace, and despite us having a significant amount of solar on all of our buildings, as did most of the local commu…

> We lived on the bottom floor and mainly relied on wood heat from the backofen in the center of the home to heat the rest, and when we didn't/forget to keep it goin I could literately see my breath while I laid in bed as I lived the furthest away from the source, and as someone born and raised in SoCal it was incredibly terrifying at first.

That is highly unusual for Germany - and most probably you'd be eligible for major reductions in rent paid until the landlord fixes this (depends on the actual temperatures attainable with the heat source).

Anyway, nuclear wouldn't help here: Only a tiny fraction of housing in Germany heats with electricity. It's mostly gas, central heating from power plants (with hot water pipes laid into the neighborhoods), or geothermal.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#86
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no one can afford to build new nuclear power plants Except for China and India that is. China has 12 under construction, India has seven under construction.

Yes, how much larger is China than France? The 12 in China don't even compare to the single plant built in France right now, if you do the math. And of course, just France would need over 50 new plants, if they wanted to continue to use nuclear energy.

> The 12 in China don't even compare to the single plant built in France right now, if you do the math.

I have no idea what you're talking about. The 12 reactors under construction in China are equal to 19% of France's entire nuclear base. And those are just what China has under construction over the next four to five years.

In the 20 years it will take France to expand Flamanville, China will have deployed new nuclear capacity greater than the total installed nuclear base in France.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#87
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the Amish use real nappies rather than messing around with reusables. Real nappies are better for baby and toddler bums, easier for already stressed parents and more hygienic. Reusables result in massive energy and water waste, they are a health hazard if not washed properly (many manufacturers washing instructions are very inadequate. They must be washed at a minimum of 60°C whatever your manufacturer said), re…

Are you Procter and Gamble?? The argument for and against reusable is pretty much undecided. There also services which do the washing for you. And they are probably way more efficient than people washing at home in terms of energy used. Anyhow, real eco-parents go diaper-less as most parents in the world. Google split-pants, elimination communication! Compared to this letting children sitting in their own feces in re…

Have you actually tried that, while living in a urban environment and not in the bush?

Because shit on the floor is also not really hygienic.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#88
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you Procter and Gamble?? The argument for and against reusable is pretty much undecided. There also services which do the washing for you. And they are probably way more efficient than people washing at home in terms of energy used. Anyhow, real eco-parents go diaper-less as most parents in the world. Google split-pants, elimination communication! Compared to this letting children sitting in their own feces in re…

There is a lot of problems with split-pants e.g. children now dribble . It’s not all that big a leap either, there are plenty of gifs of Chinese parents utilizing split-pants to great effect.

Yes children dribble. Elimination communication helps you to not let that happen inside.

So why is this not a problem to the Chinese but you make sound like one?

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#89

I lost interest in the city as soon as the article pointed out that the city's "environmentalism" was rooted in opposition to a nuclear power plant. This kind of thinking is backwards and self-destructive.

Whereas "let's judge an entire city for what some inhabitants thought 45 years ago" is super constructive forward-thinking.

Re: Freiburg: Germany's futuristic city set in a forest

#90
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you Procter and Gamble?? The argument for and against reusable is pretty much undecided. There also services which do the washing for you. And they are probably way more efficient than people washing at home in terms of energy used. Anyhow, real eco-parents go diaper-less as most parents in the world. Google split-pants, elimination communication! Compared to this letting children sitting in their own feces in re…

Have you actually tried that, while living in a urban environment and not in the bush? Because shit on the floor is also not really hygienic.

Lol, your baby tells you that it must go and you hold it over toilet. And yes I raised two child like that.
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