Hi, my name is Mareen and I come from Germany. I live in the old hanseatic town of Greifswald at the Baltic Sea. I’m studying Landscape Ecology & Nature Protection there. If that sounds as if I want to make a profession of protecting nature – yeah, that’s right (laughing). It’s my main interest, but I have hobbies little to do with nature too: sports like Capoeira and cycling, making music with all kinds of instruments I can get my hands on, or reading.

How did you get interested in protecting nature?

First, I saw pictures of the destruction of the Rain Forests, and I was just shocked and angry. Not much later, I heard of the cruel treatment of farm animals and the abominable mass production of meat and became a vegetarian. But only years on, when I took part in an international youth exchange, I learned how young people get active for our environment and got involved myself. The international exchange was organised by the environmental youth organisation NAJU and this is the movement I have been active in since.

What kind of activities does NAJU implement?

Quite a few. They range from local activities such as caring for a valuable biotope to international projects like youth camps and border-crossing campaigns. NAJU has about 80.000 members who work voluntarily in many local groups, on a regional and on a nation-wide level. Beside the practical side of nature protection, our most important mission is environmental education. So we do a lot of public work by giving advice for environmentally friendly behaviour, publishing information materials on different environmental issues and organising work camps and holidays for children and youths. Everyone who is interested in a certain project or theme can join a group working on that or found a group him- or herself. That way, for instance, working groups dealing with politics, energies or international issues were founded. I’m engaged in the international group. Last year I’ve been organising an ecological-cultural work camp with Polish, Belarussian and German youths. For most participants – me too – it was the first stay in Belarus and a great time as well as a valuable experience.

The German government seemingly likes to refer to itself as an environmentally progressive state. What kind of environmental problems, do you think, people face in Germany? Can you describe your country?

Germany is a fairly big country, bordering the North and Baltic Sea as well as the Alp Mountains, and thus has quite different regions. The north is mostly flat and in most parts dominated by agriculture. On the numerous islands in North and Baltic Sea, nature tourism is an important economical branch. In the western and middle parts of the country, mountains and vast woodlands form the landscape, but there are also big urban settlements and heavy industries. The south, finally, is characterized by the rising ground towards the Alps. There, natural rivers, forests and both agriculture and industries can be found. I have always been living in the North-East of Germany, the least industrialized and urbanized region of the whole country. There, you can see vast woodlands, many lakes and valleys from the last ice age as well as arable land and meadows for agriculture. But there are also huge areas devastated by brown coal mining or contaminated by military exercises. In parts of these unfragmented, human-free regions big nature reserves are now being established. Speaking of environmental problems, one has to recognise that some things have improved over the last decades. Rivers and the air have become cleaner, there is a relatively efficient waste recycling system and energy supply from renewable energies is increasing. However, big environmental threats are still unsolved and some new problems come up as well. I see the sealing of open areas as one of the real big dangers. More than 100 hectares (1 ha = 10.000 square metres) of open ground are sealed up with concrete and Tarmac every day! If we continue destroying good, fertile soil in that speed, we will have real problems with sufficient agricultural land and groundwater renewal before long. Also, of course, flora and fauna suffer from that destruction of open land and fragmentation of natural habitats. Another thing is intensive agriculture which causes several serious problems. High levels of nitrates in soil and waters (the whole of Germany counts as “nitrate-endangered area” in EU reports!), degradation of soil due to erosion and compression, methane emissions and pesticides in soil and water as well as sometimes on the food are some of these problems. Then, there is the old, nowadays renewed discussion on nuclear power plants, a discussion I find almost unbearable, because it is well known that nuclear energy will solve none of our problems of climate change, let alone the problem of storing the nuclear waste somewhere and the terrible danger of an accident. And lastly, I would mention the increasing use of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in agriculture which is a great threat for biodiversity.

Sealing up open land, GMO’s, problems associated with intensive farming ... that doesn’t sound as if people like you and me could do much against it. Or am I wrong? What would you say, can young people do to protect the environment?

Oh yes, I think there is a lot everyone can do. One thing is the way of daily life. Obviously it makes a big difference if you buy regional food from organic farming, save energy at home and consume in a way that produces little waste, or not. Another thing is the opportunity to become active in an environmental group. If there is a project you would like to set up, you can ask organisations like NAJU for support. But the most important thing is to start thinking, and getting creative for the protection of the environment. There will always be some kind of nature on this planet, but maybe not in a condition suitable for human life. It depends on us and especially the young generation.

Thanks for the interview.