Biography – my roots

Fascinated by all things big: This is probably true for most toddlers. But towards the locomotives at Munich Central Station, for example I always kept my distance…

Sensitive soil

… while I intuitively trusted large trees and liked to get close to them. Hidden behind its thick trunk, protected from the sun under its magnificent crown, I felt comfortable. A bath in the autumnal pile of leaves with its earthy smell was a real treat for me. The view from below into a wind-swept canopy of leaves is one of my most intense childhood memories – in our large garden, two strong maple trees grew into the sky.

Resistance germinates

However, if the men with the saw arrived somewhere in my area, my mother could not calm me down: I cried in the first moments when I only heard the sound of the engine and screamed when the giant fell. The fact that the mighty tree cannot defend itself against the saw and that it has grown for so many years to then die in such a short time touched me very much. For me, trees have always been sentient beings and not a dead piece of wood. I first suspected that dealing with trees says a lot about our society and that radical measures are not necessarily based on factual arguments, when I published the following article in the school newspaper at Neubiberg (close to Munich).

„Green“ journalist

Environmental issues became the focus of my journalism training. Through my work at a local newspaper in Munich and at the magazine „Wohnidee“ in Hamburg, I became aware of municipal practice and global contexts. So it happened that I paid the surcharge for recycled paper as a student, refurbished solid wood furniture in my spare time and to this day consistently label every sheet from both sides: Trees are simply valuable to me.

Looking for our own soil – … found!

During my two decades as a self-employed communications consultant, I have repeatedly dedicated myself to „green“ topics in my online newsletter. Otherwise, I was traveling across Germany for professional reasons (many moves and business trips). An interesting time, but I increasingly felt like a leaf in the wind. When I moved to Geisenfeld in 2013 to my first own house, I got ground under my feet again. I was very interested in our garden and shortly afterwards all the living greenery in my wider environment.

I was outside in every free minute and began to document and track major felling or endangerment of trees with my camera, wrote letters to the editor and contacted the city administration or the Lower Nature Conservation Authority.

Panoramic view and insight: Tree inspection

In summer of 2019 I started an apprenticeship as a tree inspector with FLL certificate, which I completed in the summer of 2020. I no longer want to stand by when the fate of trees is decided, but I want to know more myself and have a competent say. I also like to get really close to the trees and examine them carefully with my hands and instruments. The more precise the view, the more the individuality of each tree is revealed.

Fruits: honorary commitment

Unfortunately, the more local projects I saw as a tree activist, the less trust I had in the neutrality of experts and in the commitment and expertise of authorities – exceptions proved the rule for both groups. I admire and appreciate these exceptions very much, because they have a hard time internally and often shoulder an enormous workload. But because they are so few, little progress is being made overall. In addition, I have so far lacked constructive municipal reactions to global warming. In 2018, 76% of all Germans were dissatisfied with municipal climate protection. I want to improve this situation.

To the study “Preserve Green Climate Protector Power Plants”

Hobbies

Yoga
Photos & Movies
Cycling
Drawing
Free Mosaic Works

Club memberships

Forum Baukultur Pfaffenhofen
Bund Naturschutz, Tree Network/ Tree Protection Hotline
BundesBürgerInitiative Waldschutz (Federal Citizens‘ Initiative for Forest Protection)