The energy transition begins on a small scale.
With people who do their part to leave a world worth living in for their children and grandchildren.
For example Erika Brendl from Baiern.
A visit to the wilderness.
Baiern
- The frog green painted toenails match the fleece jacket.
Erika Brendl sits cross-legged on a curved wooden bench in front of the house in which she lives in a room in a shared apartment.
On the rustic wooden table in front of her is a pot with yellow flowers.
Red and pink geraniums sprout on the balcony above the bench.
A rose bush grows up on the wall of the house.
"Why do I live in a shared apartment?", Brendl asks in a low voice, as if not to disturb the idyllic farmhouse, and gives the answer himself: "Because 14 square meters is more than enough for a person."
Erika Brendl has lived in the shared apartment for three and a half years
The 51-year-old has been living on the Einödhof in Bairer Winkl for three and a half years.
She doesn't need more than 14 square meters, after all, she hardly stays at home - and it's the perfect size for keeping things clean.
She laughs an infectious laugh.
Since she moved into the shared apartment, says Brendl, she has not bought anything new, “except food, drink and shoes”.
At least “rarely”, she puts into perspective immediately afterwards.
If you really need something new, buy it at flea markets or flea market apps.
She fetches books from the public bookcases.
Then give them back there.
The fitness trainer tries to make her life as sustainable as possible.
Resource-saving life begins with living space
It starts with life on the farm. The Franconian cannot understand why other people need tens of square meters for themselves. For them, living in a resource-saving manner begins with the living space that you claim for yourself. And in return for giving up a lot of space, she seems to have got a little piece of paradise with her room in a shared apartment. In front of the house, as far as the eye can see: meadows and woods. A fenced-in fruit and vegetable patch that is tended by your roommates. A few steps along the narrow gravel path that leads past the house, and there is a spectacular view of the mountains.
“Most of all, I just enjoy the peace and quiet out here,” says the 51-year-old as she walks barefoot along this path.
The next moment she starts laughing out loud when a plane flies over the courtyard and destroys the silence for several minutes.
"I've now miscounted some junk, right?"
In summer Erika Brendl sleeps in the tent
Behind a hill, right next to the gravel road, there is a one-man tent in the meadow:
“That's where I sleep,” says Brendl with a short nod in the direction of the tent.
In summer she sleeps outside, but in winter she spends the nights inside again.
“That is so awesome.
I wake up at night or when I can't sleep I see all the blades of grass in front of me and the starry sky.
And you're lying in the middle of the meadow, ”she enthuses.
"So there's nothing nicer!"
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“There is nothing more beautiful”: In summer Erika Brendl sleeps in a tent on a meadow in front of the house.
© Stefan Rossmann
However, the tent is not particularly tight.
"Sometimes I've had to draw water," admits Brendl.
But that is by no means a reason to buy a new, airtight tent.
"Put a can of waterproofing spray on it, that's enough," she says.
"Easy!"
She does have a car, which she shares with one of her three sons, but whenever possible she covers the longer distances (including to Munich) by bike and everything else on foot.
For example, she usually rides the seven kilometers to work, summer and winter.
Occasionally she has already walked the route in winter.
And then of course back again in the evening.
“I can't do my kilometers without being served,” says the fitness trainer, who also worked as a fair and beer garden operator before Corona, and lets her infectious laugh be heard again.
When Erika Brendl wants to go into the mountains, she goes by bike
The 51-year-old likes to go hiking. But she no longer sees the need to drive into the mountains by car every time. “That's a lot of money for fuel every time. And then you go over there for two hours of hiking. ”She shakes her head. “What's the point?” If she's really drawn to the mountains, she goes by bike. Otherwise, there are plenty of opportunities to move around on her own doorstep.
And in other areas, too, she strives for sustainability: back, cross-legged on the wooden bench, the 51-year-old explains that on her walks she has made up her mind to always collect three pieces of rubbish.
“You can always find three parts,” she says.
Even when she walked to work, she had bags for the rubbish with her, within a week she had already collected bottles for a total of ten euros deposit.
Upcycling is important to Erika Brendl
In addition, she deals with upcycling, i.e. the conversion of waste or useless into new products. She points to two colorful stools with red cushions that she set up in front of the house between the door and the bench. She built it herself. She also sold them for a while, but the shop where the seating was sold has moved to Munich. “They wanted to know if I wanted to continue, but those would have been custom-made,” says Brendl. “But I'm not being told what to do.” She laughs. Then she takes a bag from one of the two self-made stools. She got the material from the toy store in Glonn, which was advertising banners from the store. Brendl made a large shoulder bag out of it.
She explains that for years she has mainly been giving away homemade items - like this bag.
She sewed a whole batch of them as Christmas presents during the lockdown.
Now and then a piece of meat
The subject of sustainable living also includes nutrition.
And the Brendl pattern runs through it: Don't do without, but limit yourself to what you really need.
So she eats mostly vegan / vegetarian.
But she treats herself to the luxury piece of meat every now and then if she really feels like it.
That's exactly how she thinks it is on vacation.
Shaping life as sustainably as possible, “but for that I also afford a flight every now and then.” You don't have to do without it completely.
“I can save so much in everyday life,” explains Erika Brendl.
Save electricity, don't buy plastic, don't use aluminum foil.
“I've sold everything I don't need, from clothes to skis and inline skis,” the 51-year-old looks back.
"If I moved, all my stuff would fit in ... in a station wagon," she smiles.
What she might need again, she can simply borrow.
“Minimalism,” says Brendl finally.
“That's how you can sum it up.” And that describes her lifestyle perfectly.
From Helena Grillenberger
You can find another article on the subject of the energy transition in miniature here.
Or: Lukas Höger runs a microfarm in Ingelsberg.
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