EMD, Bldg. 5843-B, 91522 Ansbach—Katterbach, Unit 28736, APO AE 09177, Tel. 09802-83-3422

POLLUTION

PREVENTION

SEMS

Once we start to have nice weather

it’s only natural that we spend as

much time as possible outside, be it

at home or somewhere else. But it is

also the time when many different

insects like bees or wasps start to fly

around. To some of us, they may

seem like annoying pests, but in reali-

ty they are some of the most im-

portant animals in the world because

of their work as pollinators. Here are

a few pointers that can help you

distinguish between bees, wasps,

hornets and bumblebees.

The Bee (Die Biene):

Many cartoons would like us to be-

lieve bees are black and yellow -

however most bees found in Germa-

ny are actually black and brown. Bees

(honeybees and wild bees) are the

most important pollinators. They

have hairy bodies with flat legs that

they use to collect the pollen from

some flowers and pollinate others.

Bees have a length of 9-14 mm and

feed mostly on nectar and pollen.

They normally don’t use their stinger

because they then die, they can sting

in defense if provoked or threatened.

The Wasp (Die Wespe):

Wasps are similar in size to bees but

are more agile when it comes to

flying. They have a narrow, smooth

body with a pronounced indentation

in the middle called wasp-waist. They

can be a variety of noticeable colors

but are most commonly black and

yellow in Germany. Most types of

wasps are considered to be preda-

tors. They only pollinate to a small

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

What’s buzzing in our

garden?

1

Abandoned Pets 2

Green Corner: Sustain-

able Travel - Cruise

Ships

2

US ARMY GARR I SON ANS BACH , DPW ENV IRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT D IV I S ION ( EMD)

Environmental News A U G U S T 2 0 1 7

by Pia Amberger

V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 4

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T S :

Environmental Officer (EO)

Training Link:

http://imcom-e.eo-

training.com

Visit our share portal:

https://army.deps.mil/army/

cmds/imcom_eur-usag/

ansbach/SitePages/

Home.aspx

O U R G O A L S F O R

T H I S Y E A R

Improve communica-

tions and awareness

for reuse/recycle

Conduct building

audits to survey their

sustainability and find

areas for improve-

ments

Promote a plastic bag

-free garrison

Create a bee meadow

at Soldiers Lake

extent and have more of an inactive

role in pollination as they act as a

natural pest control, feeding on

insects like spiders or flies that eat

crops. Wasps will attack and sting

humans if threatened and can do so

more than once.

The Hornet (Die Hornisse):

Hornets are also very noticeably

black and yellow, but are much larger

than wasps (20-35 mm) with a

smooth, long body. Similar to the

wasp, they also pollinate and feed on

other insects. They almost never

attack humans unless provoked as

they are quite peaceful animals. Con-

trary to a German urban legend,

three hornet stings don’t kill a hu-

man! The poison of the hornet is not

as strong as bee poison, but it is

more painful. Hornets are under

nature protection in Germany. Their

nests cannot simply be destroyed or

moved. If it is located unfavorably

near a home, a specialist should be

consulted on its relocation.

The Bumblebee (Die Hummel):

The body of the bumblebee is cov-

ered in fur-like long hair and there-

fore appears quite thick and round.

At 20 mm they are slightly bigger

than wasps and bees. The active

pollinator is multi-colored, striped in

black, brown, white and yellow.

Unlike bees, the bumblebee, wasps

and hornets can fly and pollinate

during cold weather and rain or

wind. Female bumblebees have a

Environmental Tip

stinger, which they very rarely use.

They only sting when they feel

threatened, for example, if you

squeeze their bodies. If they fear an

attack on their nest, they lie down

on their backs and start to buzz

threateningly. The bumblebees are

however the most peaceful sting

carriers.

Did you know that the glass water and soda bottles in the German Kantine are

returnable bottles or in Ger-man, so called

“Mehrwegflaschen”? Once they’re empty, they are re-

turned to the manufacturer, where they are washed,

cleaned and refilled once more. This way, a glass

bottle can be reused up to 50 times before it gets melt-ed down. So be sure to re-

turn your empty glass bottles to the crated in the

German Kantine. Do not dispose of them in the glass

containers on or off post.

1euractiv.de; 2wikipedia.org; 3t-online.de Honeybee1 German Wasp2

Bumblebee3

Hornet2

EMD, Bldg. 5843-B, 91522 Ansbach—Katterbach, Unit 28736, APO AE 09177, Tel. 09802-83-3422

P A G E 2 V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 4

by Pia Amberger

To bring our segment on sustainable travel to an end, there is one

last form of transportation that we have yet to talk about: Cruise

Ships.

Around 24 million passengers took a cruise in the world’s oceans

last year (up from 19 million in 2010). While they are an exciting

and relaxing way of travel to some of the most exotic and beautiful

places on earth, to the areas they travel through cruise ships rep-

resent an enormous environmental strain.

The majority of cruise ships are powered by one of the cheapest

types of fuel: Heavy oil, which is a highly toxic waste product of

the petrochemical industry and has a sulfur content of up to 3.5 %.

Depending on the size of the ship and the duration of the cruise,

each trip burns between 150 and 400 tons of heavy oil. One cruise

emits as many pollutants as five million cars for the same route.

Only a few ships use particulate filters like the ones built into cars

as there are no legal obligations for that on open sea.

Cruise ships consume the energy of a small town. Around 40 per-

cent of a trip is spent docked in various ports. Even then, the en-

gines are kept running to continue regular operations like catering,

lighting and air-conditioning. Only a handful of cruise ships are

capable of using shore power and most often they decline to do so

as its more expensive. Studies show that ports used by cruise ships

have a 50 to 80 percent higher fine dust pollution than in heavy

traffic areas.

Cruise ships are also responsible for a number of waste streams

E N V I R O N M E N T A L N E W S

that are discharged into the marine environment. That includes

sewage, graywater, some hazardous wastes, oily bilge water (a

mixture of fresh water, sea water, oil, sludge, chemicals and various

other fluids), ballast water, and solid wastes. Most often these get

dumped straight into the ocean. When these wastes are not

properly treated and disposed of, they present a significant source

of pathogens, nutrients, and toxic substances that have the poten-

tial to threaten human health and damage aquatic life.

Cruise ships especially have a large impact on the environment

because they tend to use the same routes in specific coastal areas

and dock in the same ports repeatedly (e.g. Florida, California,

New York, the Caribbean or the waters of Alaska). Therefore they

also have a significantly large cumulative impact on a local scale.

If you don’t want to forego a cruise, there are three things you can

do before booking a trip. There a several websites like atmosfair,

where you can compensate the CO2 emission that your cruise trip

has and donate money to various climate protection projects all

over the world. You can also look at the annual NABU (German

Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union) cruise ship ranking

for European cruises to find out which ship has the smallest envi-

ronmental impact. A similar list that ranks non-European cruises is

available at foe.com. And lastly don’t fly to the port where the ship

is docked. Get there by public transportation like a train or bus. As

shown in the June edition of this newsletter, they emit much less

CO2 than the plane.

When the big summer holidays

start in Germany, around 70,000

animals will be abandoned by

their owners. Among them are

not just dogs and cats, but also

exotic animals like spiders or

reptiles.

Most often owners can’t or

don’t want to bring their pets

with them on vacation. Putting

them in a kennel is too expen-

sive or takes too much time.

Therefore, a lot of owners

choose to either leave their

animals at home, where they

could starve or die of thirst, or

they abandon them on the

streets, at a rest stop on the

autobahn or tied to street signs

or garbage containers.

What most people don’t realize

is that pets can’t survive on their

own outside. Anyone who

abandons an animal in Germany

is committing an offense that can

be punished with a fine of up to

25,000 €.

As such, if you find an aban-

doned pet you have to help. Be

careful when approaching the

animal as it could hurt both you

and itself. It is recommended to

contact the police or the local

animal protection organization if

you need help.

If you are a pet owner yourself

and you are unable to continue

to care for your pet, don’t aban-

don it somewhere. Contact the

local animal shelter called Tier-

heim in German, and ask for

advice. All animals are accepted

no matter why their owner can

no longer care for them. There

are also plenty of web sites that

can help you find a suitable, low

cost place for your pet to stay if

you are unable to temporarily

care for it.

Another important issue during

the hot summers time is people

leaving their pets inside their

cars while they go off to do

something quickly. No matter

how quick you think you will be,

with the hot summer tempera-

tures, your pet could suffer from

oxygen deficiency, nausea, circu-

latory problems and circulatory

failure in mere minutes as the

temperature inside the car rises

quickly (see chart on the left).

By the time the signs of heat

stroke are visible, it is often

already too late.

by Pia Amberger

Coming up this

September!

Every on-post household

equipped with a bio contain-

er can pick up paper bio

bags for food waste at the

Recycling Center Katter-

bach (Bldg. 9024) starting in

September. One paper bag

per day is available for each

household.

For more details, a flyer will

be passed out in August.

Abandoned Dog4

Vehicle Temperature5

Cruise Ship emitting air pollutants6

4tiersos.de; 5iheartdogs.com; 6youtube.com