Wiki for Sustainability (Part 4)

20.09.2022 - It's the buzzword of our time. "Sustainability" encompasses a wide range of topics that can hardly be captured in their entirety. Steinbeis Papier nevertheless attempts to describe the most important terms and creates a wiki for real sustainability.

Environmental ethics

Environmental ethics - also known as ecological ethics - is concerned with moral issues relating to human interaction with the animate and inanimate environment. More specifically, it deals with human or economic behaviour with regard to morality, responsibility and the protection of natural resources. In environmental ethics, a distinction is made between different models of justification:

• Anthropocentric environmental ethics: Anthropocentric environmental ethics (Greek: anthropos - human) places humans at the centre and gives them a special position. This means that all non-human living beings or natural phenomena have less value than humans. Environmental protection therefore only makes sense if it is beneficial to humans.

• Pathocentric environmental eth ics: Pathocentric environmental ethics (Greek: pathos - suffering) refers to a living being's ability to feel or suffer. This model of reasoning assumes that animals are just as capable of suffering as humans. As a result, the special status of humans is cancelled and animals are granted rights for the first time.

• Biocentric environmental eth ics: Biocentric environmental ethics (Greek: bios - life) describes all living beings as having an intrinsic value. This includes humans as well as animals, plants, algae, fungi and bacteria. All of these life forms have an end in themselves, so they are not there to benefit humans.

• Ecocentric (or holistic) environmental ethics: Ecocentric environmental ethics (Greek: oikos - house, household) encompasses all living beings and all components of nature, whether animate or inanimate, and ascribes them an intrinsic value. According to this view, animal and plant species as well as rivers or mountains and entire ecosystems can be carriers of an intrinsic value. Ecocentric environmental ethics sees humans as part of nature. Humans do not have a separate special position. What is important is what benefits nature as a whole.

Good to know: Steinbeis Papier protects natural resources such as wood, as it is made from 100 per cent recycled paper. If you want to know more about this, click here for the Steinbeis Papier sustainability calculator.

Environmental protection

Environmental protection encompasses all measures to preserve and protect the natural environment and the health of humans and animals. We define the natural environment as soil, water, air, plants and climate. Environmental protection should also:

• Prevent pollution (prevention)
• To reduce damage (repression)
• restore natural resources (reparation)

A lack of environmental protection can, for example, have a negative impact on the biodiversity of animals and plants. If they are unable to adapt to the changed environmental conditions, they may even become extinct in the worst case.

Good to know: Since 1994, environmental protection has been enshrined as a national objective in the German Basic Law.

Unpackaged shop

An unpackaged shop is a retail shop that, as the name suggests, offers goods without disposable packaging. The shop provides almost all products loose for filling or in reusable (deposit) containers. Customers can also fill or pack the required quantity themselves in containers they have brought with them. The weight of the containers brought into the unpackaged shops is noted before filling and deducted at the checkout. If you don't have your own containers with you, you can buy or borrow some in the shop. Many unpackaged shops also only sell organic goods and place particular emphasis on organic, regional and seasonal products. This type of plastic-free shopping not only reduces unnecessary packaging waste, but also food waste, as the amount of produce can be adjusted exactly to your own needs. This conserves natural resources and protects the environment.

Good to know: The first packaging-free shop in Germany was "Unverpackt - lose, sustainable, good" in Kiel in 2014.

Urban gardening

Urban gardening describes the private or communal horticultural use of urban areas. These areas can be in residential areas, in the immediate neighbourhood, on your own balcony or even on a small scale in the middle of the city. The aim is to cultivate these urban gardens sustainably in order to protect the environment and raise awareness of the origin of food. This form of self-sufficiency not only conserves resources, but also saves transport costs - and reduces greenhouse gases. Another aim of such activities can be to preserve and expand the diversity of plants, i.e. biodiversity. Apart from the fact that urban gardening looks beautiful, it can also be beneficial for the microclimate and air quality as well as providing habitats for animals such as pollinating insects.

Good to know: Urban gardening is not a newfangled phenomenon. Food with a short shelf life was already being planted in the second half of the 19th century.

Vegetarianism and veganism

Vegetarianism describes a way of eating and living that avoids meat and fish. Vegetarians eat a predominantly plant-based diet. Depending on the type of vegetarian lifestyle, milk, eggs and honey are still permitted. Products such as gelatine and animal rennet come from dead animals and are therefore not considered vegetarian. Veganism goes one step further: animal products of all kinds are avoided - from meat, milk, eggs and honey to leather goods, down, fur and wool. Both vegetarians and vegans want to stop the killing of animals and reject industrialised factory farming.

Good to know: While meat consumers produce an average of 7.3 kilograms of CO₂ equivalents per day, vegetarians produce 3.9 kilograms and vegans only 2.9 kilograms.

Consumer protection

Consumer protection encompasses all legal provisions aimed at safeguarding and protecting the interests of consumers. This protection forms a legal basis for being able to act economically without being unfairly disadvantaged. There are also laws and regulations, such as the Food Labelling Ordinance or the Price Indication Ordinance, which provide support when making purchasing decisions. However, consumer protection is not just about service. Other laws and regulations serve the safety and health of consumers, such as food law, pharmaceutical law, product liability and the Product Safety Act.

Good to know: In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) is the supreme consumer protection authority. At federal state level, consumer interests in Germany are represented by privately organised consumer associations.

Bird protection

Bird protection is a collective term for all activities concerned with the conservation, promotion or colonisation of birds. Bird conservation is a sub-unit of nature conservation. There are various bird conservation initiatives to preserve the diversity of birds in Germany. Unfortunately, the habitat of birds is being increasingly restricted by the progressive development of brownfield sites and the intensification of agriculture.

Good to know: One of the most important pioneers of early bird conservation movements in Germany was the Thuringian career officer Hans Freiherr von Berlepsch.

Water power

Hydropower utilises the kinetic or potential energy of water to generate electrical energy. This is done in hydroelectric power stations. A built-in turbine rotates through the flowing water and this kinetic energy is used to drive a generator via a gearbox. This is where the energy conversion from mechanical to electrical energy takes place. Hydropower is a renewable energy source because it is relatively unlimited.

Good to know: The history of hydropower goes back a long way. Historians believe that it was already being used in China 5000 years ago.