Pardon my French but why does Berlin still insist on being so bl…y anti-environment?
On 27 December, i .e. a month ago, Berlin woke up to black ice everywhere, and that came as a surprise to everyone. Therefore, nobody was surprised that what we all thought was initially, nothing was done about it.
Since then, icy pavements have become the norm. Nature has a way of freshening up the layer of ice from time time, either with freezing rain or with a dusting of snow which then starts to melt before it freezes again at night.
Sporadically, someone makes half-hearted attempts to scatter some gravel, but in most places, it is slippery as soap, and has cost hundreds and hundreds of broken limbs, and emergency wards overburdened beyond capacity. Which the Berlin authorities apparently find perfectly acceptable.
On paper, it is the responsibility of the property owner to make sure that their bit of pavement is walkable, but this being Berlin, most of them ignore that, and this also being Berlin – they ignore it with total impunity. Just like so many other rules and regulations, especially in traffic, that exist on paper but are de facto accepted in practise – cars parking on bike paths, people cycling on the pavements, etc. etc. This is a side of Berlin which I find pathetic.
The icy surfaces got so bad that I am now on day five in a self-inflicted “lockdown”. I actually quite enjoyed the first Covid19 lockdown, largely because we were able to get out and walk. This one – not so much, not least because there is no end in sight for a couple of weeks. All that has been happening is that the authorities have spent all these weeks debating for or against the use of salt, and today it was decided to allow it.
Now, take a look at this photo. It took someone with one of those little machines about two minutes to clear those paths. Recently, our janitor did the same on the pavement in front of our building (so I can go to the café downstairs for one of Melek’s great cappucinos without risking falling and breaking something :-)). It is not rocket science.
So is it going to be quicker to clear the pavements with salt than with those machines? I very much doubt it. Is it cheaper? I have no idea. But I do know that it is extremely detrimental to the environment in so many ways – just look at what google tells us:
- Water Contamination: When snow melts, the salt washes into storm drains, contaminating nearby streams, lakes, rivers, and groundwater. This raises salinity levels, which are toxic to fish, amphibians, and other aquatic life.
- Soil Damage: Salt negatively influences soil chemistry by increasing pH, causing soil compaction, and decreasing permeability, which inhibits plant growth.
- Vegetation Harm: Salt burns and kills trees, shrubs, and grass, often causing visible damage to foliage along roadsides.
- Infrastructure Degradation: Beyond the environment, salt accelerates the corrosion of vehicles, bridges, and infrastructure, causing roughly $5 billion in damage annually in the US alone.
After four weeks with slippery pavements, so easily fixed with the help of those “motorised brooms”, and Berlin finally comes up with ……. SALT?????