Besides being a Global City in the Center of Europe, Berlin is also a very green city. During the second session of classes, we all got to choose classes to take at Humboldt University and mine was about Green in the City.
No lie. 9 hours of a class a week can get tiring, but instead of being in a stuffy classroom, we took excursions to explore different green parts of the city. We visited roof gardens, urban farms, and even an aquaponics farm (fish + gardening where the nutrient-rich water from the fish is used to water the vegetables, herbs, etc.).
My class was a great way to learn more about Berlin and all the examples and effects of incorporating sustainable concepts into the fabric of the city. It was also incredible to meet the other students who hailed from the all over the US as well as Germany, Austria, Italy, Brazil, Bogata, Singapore, and China.
The NU group got to experience Berlin’s sustainable methods through the deposit or “Pfand” system on many glass/plastic bottles. Deposits of 10-50 cents added onto prices encourage customers to return their used bottles back to supermarkets at automated machines. People also leave them by trash cans and homeless people collect them to make money off of other people’s laziness.
Running in the nearby Tiergarten (Berlin’s Central Park) is an easy and beautiful way to experience green in the city
One thing I love about Berlin is its many community gardens. These bring locals and often refugees together to grow fresh produce on anywhere from an empty lot to an abandoned airport. They sometimes have cafes where they sell food from the garden or honey from city bees.
This garden is set up on the former airport Tempelhof (which was also the location of the famous Berlin Airlift)
Prinzessinnengarten or ‘Princess Garden’ is one of the most popular garden cafes and is also located in the eclectic Kreuzberg neighborhood.