Birds, Bees, and Global Warming
Trip Start
May 07, 2005
1
26
117
Trip End
Ongoing
Arbon,
Switzerland
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
June 29, 2005
Arbon on Lake Konstance (Bodensee) was our last stop before crossing into Germany. We'd managed to make it through much of the country over the past 10 days without going into the mountains. The heat was enough to make you think you were back in Texas with 95 degree days. This last stop would take us into mountains.
This place was different. Arbon is situated on a beautiful lake which serves as the border between Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Our host was about a mile hike into the neighboring suburb of Stachen. We hiked with our packs and all the way up to his street without an exact address. Dave was a little worried we would have trouble finding the place but somehow I just knew it would all be okay
Apprentice Bee Keepers
. Sure enough as we strolled down one of the streets a man called out to us. He was working with another man fixing a wheel of some sort. Our host goes by the name Didi. His first name is actually Dieter. He was out in front of his workshop working with his father that day we walked up. Didi is a pretty amazing individual. He has spent 6 years traveling and some of that on his bicycle with a tent. He builds furniture for a living and he is continuing the family tradition as an apiarist or beekeeper. So many people travel to see places. This club is giving us the most wonderful opportunity to meet interesting people and in this case to try out a very different experiences. Didi and his father invited us to help them with a day of beekeeping in the Alps. We went to Davos, a mountain 2 hours away. The area is very posh and plays host to the World Economic Summit each year. Also, it is the ski place of choice for Prince Charles.
We suited up in the beekeeper outfits spent some time harvesting about 150 kilos of honey. I kept my distance at first but got closer as the day progressed. The buzzing still made me a bit nervous even with the protection. At one point I found myself doing the bee dance to shoo them away. I found out later that Didi and his dad got stung a couple of times through the clothes. Later in the afternoon we had some lunch and then hiked up to a beautiful waterfall. On the way home they took a detour through Lichtenstein, that tiny little country nestled between the Swiss and the Austrians. They are up there with the Swiss when it comes to banking.
When I say our hosts traveled for 6 years that means various blocks of time in his life that when added up come to 6 years of his life on the road
Bee House
. He's pretty much seen most of what the world has to offer including 45 of our states. He is very involved in environmental issues and spent one year cycling all the way to Asia from Europe where he had a sponsor. At one point he was turned away from the border of Tibet and had to make a 2000 mile detour by bike! We spent some time discussing the various issues he is involved with. He has given lectures on the topic of Global Warming and how CO2 contributes to the heating up of our planet. He had a chart that broke down a Swiss citizen's usage when related to travel. The average Swiss will produce 10.5 metric tons of C02 per year using automobiles, trains, and airplanes. To keep the planet in balance we are only suppose to be producing 1.8 metric tons of C02 per year. His bicycle journey calculated his approximate C02 production (4 grams per kilometer) and compared it to other modes of travel like airplane (125 grams per kilometer). He tried to include in the calculation the cost of the actual production of these devices and things like extra meals needed to keep a body going.
Since leaving Switzerland we've talked to others about Global Warming. It is a divisive topic for sure. I don't know all the ins/outs of the various arguments (yet). One person pointed out that volcanoes produce an extraordinary amount of C02 and are major contributors. I'd read in "Scientific American" that human activity over the past 8000 years probably kept the planet warm enough to hold off a possible ice age. The article presented Global Warming as a pro rather than a con. I am hopeful that we will do the right thing for sustainable life on the planet. 20 years ago you didn't see people dividing their trash up for recycling. Now it is common place.
