Topics of the day

• Blue, Grey and Green Water
  
• Water Footprint
• Virtual Water
• Sustainable Cooking

Summary by the participants

The yesterday’s rally stories

After another fresh breakfast we gathered together to hear about each team’s experience during the yesterday’s rally.

What were their experiences?

One mighty team had to go to a former harbor and a canal and had to find out what were they used for, and what was their importance in the industry development of Berlin. They asked passerby’s with no success but in the end they found an old man which seemed informed. They found out a piece of history of Berlin, of the canals and the industry of the city. It seemed that they were lucky and they stumbled upon a university professor.

Another team had to investigate a former industrial site on the bank of the river. It held now only one glass factory conserved as a monument, and the rest of the area was transformed in a residential area.

The third team had to investigate the banks of the Spree in the area where the Berlin wall was, and how that space was used then and how it’s used now. One philosophical conclusion was that water can bring people together but it can also separate them.

One team had to go and find the area where the beginning the city of Berlin is. They also had to gather clues about water usage in that area. They also visited a museum where models of the river bed were displayed with fish dying from rubbish that got washed into the water. We concluded this is a good approach to teach them about the garbage that gets underwater: we can’t see it but it’s there and it poisons the aquatic fauna.

The others teams got to investigate the Radial System 5 and the Museum of Technology… but enough it’s enough, as more things happened during this day.

The feedback referring to the field work educational method.

We all felt that the field work experience was valuable, the key ingredient being the fact that we got to spend time outside and experience Berlin for ourselves.

The positive aspects we found were, as follows:

– the fact that we worked in small groups of 4, which gave us the chance to get to know each other better

– most of us not knowing the language was a barrier we used in fruitful ways, thus exploring other ways to express ourselves, other than verbal.

– “we did not feel like tourists” was what Ana (from Portugal) expressed, and she was right. We really felt like we had a specific mission to accomplish.

– the information and instructions that were given to us we made use of the best we could, depending on each of the groups’ assignments.

– as a teaching method we all agreed that it is useful, can be well adapted to any learning group and was a good team building experience at this point in our training.

Water Footprint

We were introduced to the concept of Water Footprint. It seemed in the beginning that we were handled the magic tool for measuring water consumption but, by the end of the day we were wondering it it’s the right tool, the right model and how it can be improved. The complex model introduced us to notions as blue water, green water and grey water. We found out to our surprise 140 liters of waters are needed to produce a cup of coffee. That is something to think about next morning when we’re sipping our coffee! Other interesting factual things we found out was that in Germany only 2.3% of the consumed water is the one consumed directly by a person: that would be 124 liters of water per person per day, that compared with the indirect consumption (the water consumed for all the products bought and consumed by that person) that amounts to 5288 liters per day. Impressing! Don’t you think?

The cooking workshop

After the information about the water footprint of food, we proceeded to our next learning phase. We learnt hands-on how to juggle the ingredients that went into making our lunch for the day, keeping in mind the facts we had just found out. Divided into two groups, we took a good amount of time to judiciously choose each product. We accounted the water footprint values depending on weight, so that in the end we could evaluate what was the final value of our meal.

The opinions on this learning method were mostly positive, especially due to the more relaxed setting for interaction and the feeling that we were not under time pressure. Still, the overall opinion about food choice in connection to the water footprint was that it can get fairly confusing, having to balance out facts like source(local/imported), context of production, carbon emission for transport and packaging, and so on, to see which is the smallest compromise.

The article study group

After enjoying our lunch, we were again split into small groups in order to read, resume and the debate articles that were meant to highlight the importance of the water footprint in food production, and other aspects of sustainability. The articles turned out to have a too focused view on the water footprint aspect, and overlooked essential aspects, the very ones we already mentioned above as a conclusion to our cooking workshop.

It’s not enough to compare water footprint numbers related to the food products we consume in order to lead a sustainable life. You should care for where your food comes from, keep your choices local and seasonal! Don’t use alternatives to fuel as an excuse to drive as much, when the real solution is cutting down on the frequency of car use! And the examples could continue.

To conclude a day full of information acquiring I will quote Mihaela (from Romania) by saying “The concept of water footprint is highly ambiguous, as the elements, such as water, are part of cycles, so we are part of realities more complex, that go beyond these numbers.”

We fully empathize, and at the same time feel this information has further empowered us to living responsibly.