The town of Neu-Anspach in Hesse manages its forest by a Forsteinrichtung, a forest management plan, for the years 2023 to 2032. The plan sets the use and the measures for each part of the forest and proposes a harvest of 45,581 cubic meters for the decade. The town of Herborn also plans its forest for ten years at a time. Its plan works with Umtriebszeiten, rotation periods. These are the average production periods for each species of tree.
Seven Thousand Oaks
At documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982, Joseph Beuys began his work 7000 Eichen – Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung, 7,000 oaks, city forestation instead of city administration. He piled 7,000 basalt columns on the Friedrichsplatz. Each tree was planted together with one of the stones. Beuys died in 1986. At documenta 8 in 1987, the last tree was planted next to the first one. Beuys said that planting trees could not be surpassed for Nachhaltigkeit, lasting effect.
A Fixed Place for the Future
Seit 2004 hat die Zukunft einen festen Platz im Deutschen Bundestag. Since 2004, the future has had a fixed place in the German Bundestag. This is how the Bundestag’s own chronicle introduces its Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development. The council follows the federal sustainability strategy adopted in 2002. Its review of government bills has become part of the normal legislative process. The chronicle states the principle as responsibility for the people living today genauso wie für künftige Generationen, just as much as for future generations.
Words for the Long View
Weitsicht, Weitblick — far sight, far view. Both are praise for a person who decides.
kurzsichtig — short-sighted. It is said of a decision or a policy as often as of eyes.
Strohfeuer — a straw fire. It burns brightly and goes out at once. The word describes a success or an enthusiasm with no lasting effect.
Planungssicherheit — planning certainty. Businesses, schools and public bodies ask for it, and governments promise it.
Nach mir die Sintflut — after me, the flood. It describes a person who acts without regard for what comes later. The French original, après nous le déluge, is usually attributed to Madame de Pompadour, but the attribution is not proven.
The Timetable for 2070
The Deutschlandtakt is a plan for an integrated national rail timetable with half-hourly connections. It was supposed to be largely in place by 2030. In March 2023, the federal government’s rail commissioner, Michael Theurer, said on ZDF television that full implementation could take until 2070. He called it a Jahrhundertprojekt, a project for a century. Opposition critics called it an admission of failure.
Daycare Before Birth
Since 2013, every child in Germany aged one or older has had a legal right to a place in daycare. Stiftung Warentest still advises parents to register their need with the youth welfare office and to visit daycare centers sogar schon vor der Geburt, even before the birth. A pregnancy checklist in the magazine Apotheken Umschau Eltern tells parents to find out how places are allocated in their state. The same list warns that midwives are often booked out long in advance. A partner who wants parental leave from the day of birth must notify the employer at least seven weeks before the due date.
Building Rights for Ninety-Nine Years
In Germany, a house can be built on land that belongs to someone else, under an Erbbaurecht, a hereditary building right. The law on it dates from 1919 and sets no fixed term. In practice, building rights commonly run for 70, 80 or 99 years. Commercial ones often run for 30 years, with options to extend. Building rights without any end exist, but they are very rare. They are granted in special cases, for example by foundations or churches.
The Plan Behind Every Budget
Section 50 of the Budget Principles Act states: Bund und Länder legen ihrer Haushaltswirtschaft je für sich eine fünfjährige Finanzplanung zugrunde. (The federation and the states each base their budget management on a five-year financial plan.) The plan must be presented at the latest together with the draft budget law for the next year. A second law, the Stability and Growth Act, requires the plan to be adjusted and extended every year.
The Federal Transport Plan
The Bundesverkehrswegeplan 2030, the federal transport infrastructure plan, was presented to the Bundestag in August 2016. It plans 269.6 billion euros of federal investment in roads, railways and waterways up to 2030. About 69 percent is for maintaining the existing networks. A new plan is drawn up every 10 to 15 years. A chamber of commerce notes that the previous plan, of 2003, did not succeed in delivering its priority projects.
Costs Without End
German hard coal mining has ended, but some of its costs will never end. German calls them Ewigkeitslasten, eternity burdens. Water must be pumped out of the old mines permanently. Land that has sunk must be kept from flooding, and groundwater at former mine sites must be cleaned. The RAG Foundation was set up in 2007 to pay for these tasks from 2019 onward. A paper on its tasks put the expected spending from 2019 at about 220 million euros. If its assets are not enough, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland guarantee the financing permanently. A paper on the foundation’s tasks carries the title Ewigkeit ist eine Menge Zukunft, eternity is a lot of future.