Italo Calvino’s “The Baron in the Trees" (Il Barone rampante) takes place in the times of Voltaire when not only a lot of ideas were being discovered in the new age but also a lot of trees. In 1767, the 12-year-old Baron Cosimo Piavosco di Rondo refused to eat the snails he had been served at table and, in an Italian snit (nowadays we call it a temper tantrum), took to the trees. He spent the rest of his considerably long life up there!Seeing Ingo Frost up in a tree, talking about his vision of WikiWoods, he reminds me quite strongly of Cosimo, who talked to the people that climbed up to him.

Ingo Frost in a treeIngo is convinced that his and his friends’ new initiative will be the incentive for Berliners to take a stance for the forests that surround the three million strong capital of Germany. “We combat climate change by planting the trees that bind the CO2 from the atmosphere”, he says. Especially in urban surroundings, the a slow yet sustainable reduction of CO2 emissions will have an impact in many years to come. Just as Baron Cosimo found an infinite number of trees in his park, so the WikiWoods community has established a virtual garden paradise of the same kind. Ingo and his friends will host “tree giving” in Berlin and will invite others to do the same all over the planet. The philosophy of WikiWoods is to act locally and to get together virtually by exchanging experiences and thoughts about the tree planting projects. By collaboratively expanding and contributing, WikiWoods will grow in the same way as Wikipedia has (the online encyclopedia where the name is borrowed from).The interview that follows is a result of our friendly tree-chat.
How did you come up with the idea for WikiWoods?The Internet is the perfect medium to bring people together and to enable self organization. That's what I learned from Wikipedia. But the activities of volunteers are not limited to the Internet: You can initialize cooperation to solve real world problems, such as climate change.How is WikiWoods going to work?WikiWoods will be an international platform to bring the different groups together to rebuild natural and sustainable forests - volunteers who plant the trees, experts who help with their knowledge and experience and of course partners who support us with money.Are there not enough offsetting programs that are quite similar to WikiWoods? What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) anyway?Our USP is: We use the Internet because we know there are enough people who are willing to do something against climate change. We can reach them and bring them together, so that they have everything to build their own projects within WikiWoods. We are open for any co-operation with existing initiatives and organizations.Are the people in Berlin receptive to sustainability issues?It's amazing how many people react positively when I talk about WikiWoods and it is even more fascinating to see how many people are working already voluntarily with these issues.If someone flies a lot during the year – can he buy trees at WikiWoods or is it just for organizations and institutions?We don't actually sell certificates like Atmosfair. We just rebuild natural resources that assist in the carbon conditions for the public.How do you select the places you plant trees? Do you guys have any partners in industry or politics?

We want to ensure sustainability by special mechanisms: At the beginning we buy the places together with environmental organizations that can ensure that the forest is protected. At the moment we do not yet have any big partners in industry or politics.

American President George W. Bush sticks up for a new and worldwide agreement of reducing CO2 emissions in the year 2008. Observers see a change in the President's politics on climate change in this announcement. However, adressing a new initiative for 2008 signifies the no-interest of the President in finding a new strategy for lowering the CO2 emissions during the G8 summit neyt week in Heiligendamm, Germany.The German government is not really amused about President Bush's proposal but Chancellor Angela Merkel embraced it saying it is important that all polluters worldwide recognize their responsibility in lowering emissions and facing the possible risks of climate change.It is not ruled out there will be no agreement next week in Heiligendamm. In 2008 a new American President will be elected. It seems Mr. Bush wants to transfer the issue to his successor.

Jürgen Thumann is the head of BDI, the national federation of German industry. Talking to us during the European Business Summit he emphazised on the work already done in German industry regarding renewables. Environment Technologies will provide as much employments as car and steelindustry in the near future.The aim of the European Union to bring down CO2 emissions drastically until 2020 by at least 20 percent is a great opportunity for German industry, Thumann added, for the industry to show off what already is developed or in development at the moment.What the BDI thinks about energy policy:Sustainable economic policy aims at efficient useof energy and raw materials. Together with its member associations, the BDI devises concepts for a both sustainable and cost-effective supply of energy that is also environmentally sound. The BDI plays an active role in the liberalisation of the European energy markets. Infrastructure and telecommunications systems, as well as innovative services, are Germany’s strategic basis as an industrial location.The BDI thus paves the way for the information society. It is the task of the Energy Policy / Telecommunications Policy Department to help create the framework to strengthen Germany’s competitiveness on these markets.Because the fact is that about 50 percent of the electricity production required for the base load is provided by nuclear energy. This base load – the electricity needed round-the-clock every day, for industrial production in particular – cannot, in the foreseeable future, be economically replaced in Germany by regenerative energy, combined heat and power, or savings in electricity consumption. The answer to this question is vital for securing the energy supply for Germany as a business location at competitive prices. And on top of that, there is the fact that without nuclear energy, we will hardly be able to fulfil our obligations to protect the climate", says BDI President Juergen R. Thumann.From the BDI website

Friday 6th of April 2006 will not be recalled as a "Good Friday", though the day in this year is entitled with this name for Christians remember the death of Jesus.Being Christian or not, we all would have wished to have gotten better, good, news from the IPCC. We were prepared by the first part of the report in January though - and learn now that the impacts of global warming might be even bigger than we thought.To the 2500 scientists who signed the report droughts, hurricanes, floods, economical losses will be amongst the impacts of global warming. The 23 pages long summary of their 1400 pages report for politicians was hard discussed before the release: Newspapers reported that the United States tried to reach for the cancelation of the passage that says that the US will see hard ecological damages due to climate change. China that - because of being labeled as a development country - has not to sign the Kyoto protocol announced after international protest to change their environmental politics by the year 2013.In May the IPCC will release the third and last part of the report. It will contain descriptions for solutions to moderate the impacts of climate change. On 17th april the United Nations Security Council will debate for the first time about climate change in history. On the agenda of the G8 summit in June in Heiligendamm climate change is set as well."Good Friday" in German language is called "Kar-Friday", "Kar" - signifing "mourning". This describes the mood of many who heard about the IPCCreport last Friday.In English or German - or basically in any other language - we all hope to see a little of Easter in May when we will be told that we cn stop climate change to a certain extend if we just get it started now!