For its fight against light pollution, the city of Fulda in eastern Hesse has been honored as Germany's first dark sky municipality by the International Dark Sky Association in the USA. Fulda Mayor Heiko Wingenfeld (CDU) said: "A large part of light pollution is avoidable, and we want to set an example for other municipalities with intelligent solutions." Light pollution refers to the brightening of the night sky by artificial light sources whose light radiates into the atmosphere.
Daniel Schreiner (independent), the city's planning officer, explained that too much light, and above all the wrong kind of light in cold light colours, has been proven to affect the lives of many nocturnal species, disturb plants and damage people's health. It is easy to use artificial light according to location and need, he said. "In this way, you can avoid light pollution, reduce costs and contribute to climate protection by saving energy."
Following Fulda's application, the International Dark Sky Association awarded the city the title in January. According to the information, Fulda is the fifth municipality in Europe. Worldwide, Fulda is even the second largest city to receive this status.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate is launching a solar offensive with a 5-million-euro funding programme for private and municipal solar storage systems.
Today, 9 October 2019, Energy Minister Ulrike Höfken and the Rhineland-Palatinate Energy Agency officially launched the Solar Offensive, which is to take effect at various levels. The Minister presented the solar storage programme as a central component of the offensive. "With the programme, we support private households and municipalities in installing new photovoltaic systems combined with battery storage. In this way, we want to promote the self-supply of municipalities with their properties such as climate schools and private individuals with self-generated PV electricity and its storage," said Höfken.
How can Bonn become climate neutral by 2035? This is the question that the participatory project "Bonn4Future - We for the Climate!" would like to discuss together with Bonn citizens over the next two years. Since mid-2019, the climate emergency has been in effect in Bonn; in November 2019, the Council decided that Bonn should become climate neutral by 2035. The city and the non-profit association Bonn im Wandel have now signed a cooperation agreement and thus launched "Bonn4Future".
Very important in "Bonn4Future" is a new culture of mutual listening and good cooperation. All those involved are looking for solutions on how climate neutrality can succeed for our city. Everyone takes responsibility and makes their contribution.
"In order to achieve climate neutrality in Bonn by 2035, it is not only a question of setting the right course at international and national level, but also of all of us here on site," says Mayor Katia Dörner. "On politics, administration, companies and the people of Bonn with their ideas and decisions. We want to enter into dialogue with them in the participatory process 'Bonn4Future', because only in this way can this great transformation process for Bonn succeed. I am very much looking forward to working with Bonn in transition and our committed urban society!"
Project modules: Developing and implementing measures
At Climate Day - which will be scheduled and planned depending on the pandemic situation - citizens are invited to develop a joint climate vision and action plan for a climate-neutral Bonn. The ideas and findings from this Climate Day will flow into a total of four planned Climate Forums - The first is to take place in the first half of 2021. There, 100 randomly selected citizens will work together with experts from business, science, associations, culture, administration and politics to develop strategies and concrete proposals for the path to climate neutrality in 2035.
Results and ideas from the forums are reflected in the administration and in politics. They serve as orientation and support for the further development of the already existing catalogues of climate protection measures.
An Project Advisory Board and an accompanying scientific evaluation ensure a high quality of the participation process.
"Climate change is on people's minds in Bonn, we notice that every day in our work," says Dr. Gesa Maschkowski, board member of the Bonn in Transition association. "Many people want to do something and want effective measures. Now we bring them together. The citizens, people from business, science, culture and the social sector as well as politicians from all parties. Because we have to plan and act now if Bonn is to be climate neutral by 2035 at the latest."
The broadest possible participation should produce constructive ideas and results over the next two years. To kick off the process, citizens can already express their views today at the urban portalwww.bonn-macht-mit.de inform about the process and contribute their ideas on how to make the process work well.
Reaching the goal together
"Bonn4Future - Wir fürs Klima!" already received a lot of support from more than 50 Bonn initiatives before the official start of the project. However, it is important to the creators to bring people from all areas of the citizenry on board. The process is to be supported by all social groups.
An accompanying Communication and education concept is dedicated to building up a communication network. In this way, multipliers are won over and care is taken to ensure that "Bonn4Future" remains a topic of conversation and that many people are motivated to participate.
An important communication tool is also the city-wide, interactive Sustainability platform. It will make visible initiatives, activities and dates on the topic of climate-neutral city, commitment to sustainability and citizen participation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Background
The cooperation agreement that has now been concluded was preceded by a citizens' application for participation in achieving the goal of climate neutrality. Bonn in Transition and the Climate Watch Bonn introduced this at the beginning of the year. In the meantime, the participation concept is supported by about 50 initiatives, companies and organisations. The citizens' committee agreed to it. Bonn im Wandel then developed a concept for the multi-stage procedure with the support of experts for citizen participation and further developed it in cooperation with the city administration.
With a resolution in September 2020, the Council of the City of Bonn finally commissioned the administration to conclude a cooperation agreement with Bonn im Wandel for the coordination and implementation of the two-year process. Funds of up to 719,000 euros will be made available for this until the end of 2022. The project will be implemented in the "Bonn4Future" project office. Here, four experienced experts for communication and participation work on 2.4 positions, supported by the Bonn in Change core team. On the part of the city administration the project is coordinated and accompanied by a half position. There is also a close connection to the citizen participation portal "Bonn macht mit". The participation portal bundles all information on participation offerings of the city of Bonn and provides opportunities for direct participation.
Bonn im Wandel sees itself as an ideas and project laboratory for a sustainable city. The association brings a large network as well as nine years of experience in the initiation and organization of civil society projects and change processes into the process.
Internationally, the German government promises effective climate protection measures. But with the current energy policy, it is impossible to keep these promises. In his lecture at the 3rd Citizens' Energy Convention, Prof. Volker Quaschning explained to the State Secretary for Energy Rainer Baake, who was present at the event, the undesirable developments in German energy policy and the need for change for a functioning energy transition.
The video is worth watching, it is a factual as well as unsparing analysis of the current energy policy of the German government. In the meantime, there is also an interesting discussion on the topic on the YouTube page, especially with regard to the State Secretary Rainer Baake, who was addressed several times by the speaker.
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