Post

ashley fairbanks

feeling unexpectedly emotional as we visit saerbeck, a town of just 7200 in central germany that formed a climate municipality. they produce 4.5x the electricity they need, and have developed a whole array of climate solutions. one of them? a climate action curriculum that starts in kindergarten.

3/9/26, 2:48 pm211 reposts846 likes

@davastewart.bsky.social

At least once a day I think “it doesn’t have to be this way.” Thanks for sharing a lovely alternative!

@ryandaaldo.bsky.social

Saerbeck is the real thing. 7200 people actually *solved* the coordination problem most towns can't crack. The emotional hit makes sense, that's what competence looks like at scale.

@rickinnis.bsky.social

This is brilliant news. Thanks!

@lemleklings.bsky.social

wow, this climate municipality is fantastic!! www.klimakommune-saerbeck.de theyve got a great FAQ for how to implement similar projects in other towns in DE. I AM GOING TO START THIS. IT CANNOT WAIT !

klimakommune-saerbeck.de

@pangurban.bsky.social

Easy to achieve because: a town of just 7200. Very unlikely to have any major effect because: a town of just 7200.

ashley fairbanks

the point is that they are creating solutions that can be scaled with political will

@bejesus0.bsky.social

Thank you for sharing,

ashley fairbanks

the municipality purchased land that was once used as ammunition storage and built a 6mW solar array, a bunch of wind energy, biogas digestion and compost operation, as well as an ethos of solution-finding. over 4000 children a year visit the bioenery park to learn, experiment, and camp

ashley fairbanks

they’ve recently opened a plant that dries the slurry from sewage into a product that can be burnt like coal with far less environmental impact they treat all of this work like it is just common sense. by the end of the decade they’ll be producing 10x the electricity they use.

Irma Rodríguez Mitton

@irmwrites.bsky.social

“they treat all of this work like it is just common sense” … we need more common sense people if we are going to save the planet

ashley fairbanks

and it’s all beautiful. there’s apple trees and beekeeping zones and places for people to sit and reflect. and the bio energy park actually makes money for the municipality by leasing land to clean energy startups. it’s inspiring to see what it actually looks like to go all in on climate action.

ashley fairbanks

it’s also amazing that things like the bioenergy school and curriculum only have two full-time staff and make such a huge impact. local schools let teachers work there one day a week on rotation to keep costs low.

InfinitelyLoopy

@infinitelyloopy.bsky.social

I assume they sell the excess energy back to the system. If so, any sense of what they make (is the investment paying for itself as well as generating a surplus for other civic priorities)?

ashley fairbanks

more than paying for itself, it’s making a profit for the municipality that they reinvest in other solutions

@lamberty.bsky.social

That’s a sister city of Morris, MN! There’s a lot of back and forth between us and them on scalable sustainability ideas. A big part of the ‘Morris Model’.

The Tom O'Bedlam

@thetomobedlam.bsky.social

Well now I'm crying. I would give so much to make that happen here.

@doress.bsky.social

And here I’m just hoping we’ll be able to recycle glass in my town someday