Environment – Schoemann

26/09/202624/09/2026

Cultural Identities

The cultural identity of a cross-border region, like Tyrol, is subject to influences from several nation states. Historical developments have led to creation and reshaping of (internal) borders repeatedly. The exhibition in the “Museum of European Cultures” traces the many links the region and culture of Tyrol has to Austria, Italy and Bavaria, Germany. Specific crafts and designs of furniture (see below) or folk fashion have played a considerable role in the making and survival of Tyrol and its cultural identity despite globalization. Tourism has become the major source of revenue. The challenges of climate change, increase in transport across the Alps and over-tourism are hard to reconcile in this hot spot of the confrontation of traditional and modern values. The idyllic panorama of “Der Wilde Kaiser” appears frequently in cinema and photographs about the region. For some, such images may become a kind of second home or escape route. Literature on the region or dealing with the region complements the reflections about cultural identity or identities.

25/09/202624/09/2026

Gone Home

There are at least 2 perspectives on going home. For the person away from home, it could be understood in the sense of returning home. For the community still living at a place associated or idealised as home, it is often interpreted as a home coming. In view of the powerful global social trend of urbanization, many people associate with “going home” as if migrated persons from rural areas would return home to the countryside, maybe just for a short visit. However, a home is to be interpreted much larger than just being a place, a location or a regional idiosyncratic feature, like the sea, the river, the banks or mountains. You might go home to a familiar sounding dialect or language. For some it is the idea of freedom or liberal values which they have moved to, that became their home. For others it might just be the possibility to practice a rather unique sport, which determines where they would feel at home. Home could just be a “state of mind” rather than a location.

21/09/202629/09/2026

70s revival

Brussels celebrates each year the “Car free Sunday” as final part of the mobility week. On 2026-9-20 this event coincides with the very high oil prices again. Just like in the oil crises of the 70s in 1973 and 1979 saving energy for mobility and transport is high on the political agenda in many countries. Just think of the benefits of such events. Less consumption will reduce “greed-flation” and upward pressure on prices. Pollution levels of fine particles and noise are drastically reduced. Children feel safe while riding their bicycles, scooters or skateboards. Parents are no longer on permanent alert due to the risk of accidents. For those who remember or lived during the 70s, they might have a “déjà vu” experience and enjoy a revival of the 70s. The roller skates are up for a revival as well.

19/09/202618/09/2026

Rural urban interrelationship

Cities are no isolated microcosms. They rely on being delivered a huge range of products. Cities have been markets, hubs or platforms for exchange with their surroundings, neighboring communities as well as distant ones. Historically, quite many cities have built walls to limit access and strictly regulated access. In the 21st century with low levels of fertility, the demographic pressure to leave the countryside for jobs is less pressing, but many regions face the shrinkage of the countryside’s population. The interrelationship between the urban centers and the rural surroundings has to be studied and addressed due to the far-reaching consequences for both. Transportation into cities needs public infrastructure which can handle the necessary flows and exchanges of people and products. For too many decades we have focused on an either/or cleavage of an apparent dichotomy of urban versus rural. It is about time to correct this bias and take the rural-urban interdependence more systematically into account.

18/09/202617/09/2026

Stress in the City

Before the stress in the city makes you sick, try new coping strategies. Of course, you cannot avoid the stress of hotspots like busy crossings or noisy construction sites. And these are only the visible stressors not to mention fine dust particles or mixtures of fragrances. Scientists have started to address these issues under the title of neuro-urbanism. This topic is part of a broader agenda on public mental health which addresses the rise in mental disorders globally. Expanding urbanization is considered a major driver of an often overwhelming cognitive load in cities. Growing into it helps, but many move to cities for professional reasons or simply a job being largely unprepared to the practice of daily commuting for years. Several potential stressors tend to cumulate: High Social density, broad diversity in aesthetics as well as social structure, relationships, social participation or public transport as part of mobility make cities interesting or hard to cope with.

26/08/202625/08/2026

Loss of green

In many instances we learn only if we have lost something. The loss of biodiversity is rather abstract. The loss of a favorite green, allay or park due to a severe drought, however, is fairly visible. The point of departure of the Tour de France more than 100 years ago in Montgeron and the green alley which was built to allow to ride through the Forêt de Sénart to Fontainebleau has suffered from the 2026 repeated heatwaves and droughts. The scientific evidence accumulates to the manmade responsibilities over time. What used to be a fantastic area for leisure and walks after work has turned into a dusty place. Even the recent efforts to improve the greenery further has been surpassed by the unexpected lack of precipitation, although forecasted by some scientists. The costs of climate change, global warming and therefore more difficult water management become pressing policy issues.

22/08/202621/08/2026

Sleepless sleep

The reasons why we pass an almost sleepless night or sleep are manifold. Too much to drink, eat or partying are just among the more social ones. The neighbour’s cat or cock may be another one. A recent comment by Pixin Gong (2026) outlined a whole research agenda on heat and sleep deficits. What is the threshold of bad sleep? Do we accumulate over days and how do we recover from it? Which measures and metrics are important? How to determine the social gradient of sleep deficits? The research base is largely missing due to neglecting the link of temperature as crucial impact on sleep in addition to melatonin levels. The implications of expected results can be far reaching like re-organization of homes, urban planning and architecture. (Image on the right: Rooster 1924 and Sleeping Muse 1910 by Brancusi, Centre Pompidou Paris in Berlin Exhibition Neue Nationalgalerie 2026-5)

21/08/202621/08/2026

Countryside warming

During summer inner cities heat up more than the rest of the country. This is largely due to the well-known urban heat island effect. However, on top of this effect scientific evidence based on high resolution climate data show that the nowadays countrysides are heating up faster than cities. Catching up with negative climate evolutions is a worrisome recent development. The usual “wealthy person’s climate refugee strategy” to leave the inner cities in summer and move to the cooler countryside becomes more elitist. The global space of cooler refugee regions is shrinking just as biodiversity is reducing at a fast pace.

20/08/202619/08/2026

Urban heat island

Heat in the city, is a real problem. Of course, some like it hot and that’s why they move to inner cities and specific quarters in a city. However, this is not the scientific definition of the “urban heat island effect”. The former issue is more a socio-legal-moral concern, whereas the latter has physics or geophysical effects at its origin.
More concrete and asphalt instead of leafy islands in inner cities create hot micro-climates as sunlight and warmth get stored during the day and feeds back into homes during nights. If the cooling effect of wind and humidity become trapped outside of building blocks an urban heat island can reach very uncomfortable levels. Add underground car parking, tunnels for traffic and public transport to the scenario and the unhealthy limits of heat over the summer are exceeded for months rather than weeks. Geophysical factors like altitude, mountains, river or seaside proximity are additional factors to consider, but the narrow urban heat island effect is a rather robust finding across the world even if the precise measurement and potential remedies of it are under scientific debate.

19/08/202618/08/2026

Ocean Acidification

No, the abbreviation of acidification is not AC/DC. Acidification stands for the process that our oceans turn more acid due to the absorption of CO₂ from the atmosphere. This has several harmful consequences. Lower calcification, slower growth of corals and mollusks (oysters and mussels) for example, shall reduce biodiversity in the medium term of species with calcium-based skeletons. The UN highlights this in several reports, but action upon this evidence (Ifremer 2026) is slow or even absent. Besides the acidification, the oceans have increasing temperatures. Some researchers frame this process already as the “tropicalisation”, the warming of sea water and migration of fish according depending on their preferred or necessary temperatures of sea water. Some move to cooler water, other species move into or “invade” due to higher temperatures.
This can be observed and studied in citizen science projects across the globe and by tourists with a little interests in what is happening near the beaches. Just take a litmus-strip with you to test the basic or alkaline pH-value of the sea water in a glass of sea water. Then add a bit of soda water and test again. That’s a bit exaggerating, what acidification of oceans is about, but the underlying mechanisms is the same.

Category: Environment

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