When I signed up for this module, I had a vague idea that society in Early Modern England must have been aware of environmental issues in some way or another. There had to be a reason why we were going to talk for two straight days about it in the block seminar, right? Still, I wasn't expecting the extent of it. Hundreds of years ago, people were discussing and writing texts about problems brought on by pollution, deforestation and disease in a strikingly similar way to us and I was genuinely surprised.
This might just be because I'm young and have a wrong sense of what "a long time ago" means. Maybe it's not that surprising that already 400 years ago London had to fight air pollution – at least once you compare that timespan with the history of humanity as a whole. Still, realising how long we've been harming and at the same time trying to protect our environment was both, in a way, soothing but also unnerving.
Another thought that sat in the back of my mind when I chose this module was how different my generation seems to perceive our world and environment than previous ones. I think with people around my age, a sort-of "end time" feeling is very prevalent. Older people might be just as aware of environmental issues, but I get the impression that they have a less pessimistic outlook on things. Young people telling me they would only want to adopt children because they would rather not put new people into the current world is only one symptom of many.
Being born in the late 90s, I'm somewhat stuck between Gen Z and the Millennials. People my age and younger often feel overwhelmed by the expectations that have been placed on them in the last years to be the ones to "solve" global warming, never mind that most of them are barely adults. Being just a few years too old to have participated in "Fridays for Future" protests in school, I catch myself being on both sides of this dilemma. I feel a rare spark of optimism when I see teenagers younger than me protesting for the environment and think that maybe, just maybe, we'll all be fine if this generation keeps doing what it is doing. But I also witness older politicians and people in power make decisions that negatively affect a world in the future which they will not – but I will – be living in.
During Covid, I've been reminded of environmental issues far less frequently, which is not a privilege everyone has. My brain and the news have been too crowded with updates on the pandemic and the US-American elections. At the same time, I've noticed that many of my friends at university are not feeling a great shift in how we perceive the world waiting for us. We have no idea what the world will look like by the time we are 60 and we don't like thinking about it too hard. Not knowing what our future will look like isn't a new feeling for us.
For our performance, Hannah and I decided to work on the important topic of deforestation, partly because we decidedly did not want to invest more time into thinking about and dealing with disease. Also, we have in common that we come from smaller cities than Bochum that, in our experience, don't seem to care too much about felling trees if they're in the way of new building projects. I think Hannah wrote about this as well.
I talk about this a lot with my mother, who has been reading all her life in her local newspaper about small forests and trees being cut down for vague reasons. Only recently, after some protests, media began to report about these kinds of projects before they are completed.
My parents lived in Bochum for a few years in the 80s. Still, almost every time they come here my mum comments on the amount of green space that you wouldn't expect in larger cities, especially Bochum. I think in rural areas, where my parents live, people don't seem to pay attention to their green environment because they regard it as normal. In a city like Bochum in the Ruhr area, however, residents are very aware that they're living in an area that is characterized by industry and concrete.
Additionally, the problem in the small city where my parents live is that almost every young couple wants to build a new house for their family, meaning that the city has to build more and more residential areas. The reason for this is, as I understand it, that one tends to emulate the life of one's parents. For our grandparents (and their children) building new houses after the destruction of the war was the reasonable thing to do.
A few weeks ago, my parents' local newspaper reported on a building project that required to fell 37 willow trees to build new residential houses, which is currently still being debated. A comment by one of the reporters was printed right underneath. He mentioned that it's a problem how young people insist on owning their own big houses. He also wrote that although the living situation was a problem, if the demand was there, he thought the city had to create new plots of land. (He included the basic parameters of the kind of house his wife and him were currently searching for – just in case someone was looking to sell, I suppose.) Furthermore, since the willows in question have a lifespan of 'only' roughly 100 years, they wouldn't be a great loss, anyway. He didn't mention how old they were already.
I'm still angry writing about it now, months after first reading this comment. It included a few more paragraphs on how the city shouldn't define itself by trees but by clubs and associations like the Schützen- and Karnevalsvereine. I can't really argue against this part – especially if most residents feel that way. As my family doesn't come from that area and since I haven't lived there for almost five years now, I might not be entitled to an opinion. However, a small city which defines itself more by its gun clubs than by its trees and nature, is a bit sad for my taste.
Of course, trees having to make way for building projects isn't a problem only in my hometown. Just a few weeks ago, on my way to get groceries here in Bochum, I passed 14 tree stumps on the sidewalk where big, healthy, old trees had been standing only a week before. Someone had put candles and flowers on each stump as if each one was a grave. Laminated signs on lampposts nearby gave information about the benefits trees provide for air, other plants and animals – "The older a tree is, the greater are its ecological benefits!!!"
I searched online and found the reason the trees had to go: A roundabout is being built to help the flow of traffic. I don't know enough about urban planning to tell if it was absolutely necessary to fell all those trees for this project, but it's sad no matter how you look at it. I wish I could thank whomever took time out of their day to buy flowers, light candles and put up signs. That person reminded me and others that sustainability and environmental activism can start right there in front of one's supermarket.
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