November 30th_Lecture: Speaker Hubertus Abraham (Höxter district) on waste management; plus workshop reduce waste

Earth First - in German: the earth first - has been the slogan since Earth Charter Day 2022, which presides over the content focus of the Warburg Earth Charter Ideas Workshop, and which can remain standing: We all act only within the framework of mother Earth. She is the main actor.

The lecture by Hubertus Abraham (environmental protection and waste management, Höxter district) highlighted interesting aspects of how we can all become active.

Speaker Hubertus Abraham presented the “Zero Waste Region District Höxter” project, which will start in March 2023. What can municipalities, companies and private individuals do to achieve zero waste status with the Höxter district? For example, researching alternatives and switching to alternatives. This is necessary in the private sector without much research, because there are already effective alternatives - soap has been around since the 7th century and as an industrial product for at least 150 years - # bar soaps.

Because, to go into one detail, Germans use an average of 24.7 # hygiene bottles per capita and year. With 140,000 inhabitants in the district of Höxter, that's 3.5 million plastic bottles just for personal hygiene. With a switch to the classic bar of soap for skin and hair, savings could be made immediately. – In the area of #household detergents, the situation is very similar.

On display were options for unpackaged shopping, reusable containers and homemade cleaning products filled in glass bottles. – The simplest means of avoiding packaging and plastic bottles tomorrow. From spring 2023 we will be able to use the offer of a packaging-free shop in Warburg. The Papperlapack team was there at our evening and reported on the preparations for the opening of the shop.

In the second part of the evening, the workshop, conducted by Valeria Geritzen, the participants presented a whole catalog of ideas on how the amount of waste can be reduced - and how the topic can be worked on with an education offensive in all age groups. The evening was in the sense of the Earth Charter principles (1-9, 12-13, 16) and the SDGs ((...) - it was also discussed that a profound change in consciousness is needed for sustainable action. How can this be achieved?

In this context, let's look at the Inner Development Goals, they are an absolute pillar. Knowing them and meeting the individual processes with the willingness of the individual, described with the IDGs, is where the change in consciousness begins. Picking up the other, where he is, has to do with being very responsive to the person and recognizing the respective individual situation.

Share this post from the Warburg Earth Charter Ideas Workshop