Here on 5/10, we did a little something different today. We said goodbye to Enschede and set out for Rotterdam, but not before taking a day trip to Münster, Germany. In Münster, we took a tour of the city and learned about its history. Münster is a deeply Roman Catholic part of Europe and has been since the middle ages. Before the country of Germany existed as we know it today, Münster was part of a governance body known as the Holy Roman Empire in which distinct regions were ruled by Prince-Bishops. These people were the head of both church and state in the area, which helps explain Münster’s Catholic values today. In fact when we visited, it was Sunday and most businesses were closed and everyone was very quiet because Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest and quiet reflection (pictured is one of Münster’s several historic cathedrals were many of its residents centuries later still attend worship services). This is distinct from the US where businesses are open almost every day to meet the demand for the products, and people tend to be as loud as the reasonably care to be. This likely stems from how the US has very individualistic culture. People are less concerned with what their neighbors may want to do on a certain day, so businesses are open for those who would like to patronize them and for many people, life continues as normal.

The way the city of Münster is physically set up is also very interesting. During WW2, Münster was bombed to the ground. Rather than being rebuilt exactly as it was like how Elburg is maintained historically in the Netherlands, the attitudes of those in charge at the time were to modernize the city while only historically re-constructing the buildings they felt they must. As a result, while Münster was still fairly walkable, it was much more car friendly than the other cities of similar age that we had visited. While the use of cars consumes fossil fuels and emits carbon which in turn accelerates global warming, there are some sustainable aspects to Münster’s layout. For example, there were several areas with trees and other native plant life in the city. These provide natural shade and a habitat for native plant and animal species to live in the city. In addition, it is good for the mental health of residents to be around greenery, which is aligned with UN SDG goal 3.

In addition, modernizing the buildings makes it easier and less culturally taxing to modify them to install more energy efficient lighting and climate control systems as technology improves. While the loss of historic buildings is always a cultural tragedy and war is never okay nor sustainable, a significant amount of carbon is emitted each year in the heating/cooling of buildings and installing more energy efficient systems is a way to reduce that number and ensure our climate control systems can operate well into the future.