ᐅ The frequency of tornadoes in Germany is increasing significantly

Müllerin schrieb:

You’re absolutely right – brick veneers are only worthwhile if the house will stand for a long time or if the bricks are reused. There are already some projects like this, although still quite few and more expensive due to the cleaning effort. Hopefully, that will change someday…

Our two concrete ceilings could also have been made more climate-friendly with wood – but my husband just didn’t want that.

No one is perfect in everything. But everyone should contribute what they can, that would already be a big step.

And that’s exactly what no one does. :-) I had to smile a bit. Just above, you wrote that your husband didn’t want wooden ceilings. He probably could have done it if he wanted to. And it was a new build, too. Not that I’m any better. In the end, everyone only does what fits within their own comfort zone. Genuine sacrifice? I’m not so sure about that. If you don’t fly, you probably just don’t have a desire for long-distance travel, right? And you like your garden just the way it is :-)

Who among us has ever truly given something up for the environment that they would have otherwise wanted?

Ysop*** schrieb:


How many of us have actually given up something we liked, purely for the sake of the environment?

Me, on meat. I only eat it on weekends at most. And when it comes to beef, it has to be high-quality, for grilling 😎

Ysop*** schrieb:

Concrete is definitely very, very harmful to the climate. We once watched a documentary about cement production. It was not a pleasant sight.

The damage to the forest floor during logging is immense, no matter where it happens. Here, they use machines in the forest and nothing is left standing, whether useful or not. The soil is destroyed. In Canada, it’s also just a picture of devastation. Reforestation often does not take place or is done as a monoculture.
Wood is frequently transported over long distances, and the harvesting process is nothing but devastation.
Therefore, I have my doubts about whether wood is really that ecological.

Neubau2022 schrieb:

Icke auf Fleisch. Es is usually only eaten on weekends. And if ring beef, then high quality for the grill 😎

Unfortunately, high quality has no impact on the carbon footprint. It might even be worse?! It would be interesting to see a CO2 comparison between intensive animal farming and organic and/or small-scale farming.

Regarding tornadoes and houses in the USA: I think we might need to be more modest here. The reason we see less damage here than in the USA is more due to the rarity of such events rather than genuinely more robust construction. Once roof tiles start flying around, they will destroy everything. That doesn’t make much difference when it comes to a wooden house.

Stefan001 schrieb:

Unfortunately, the quality has no impact on the carbon footprint. If anything, it might even be worse?! It would be interesting to see a CO2 comparison between industrial-scale livestock farming and organic and/or small-scale farms.

Regarding tornadoes and houses in the USA: I think we might need to be more realistic here. The reason we see less damage here compared to the USA is more due to the rarity of such events rather than sturdier construction methods. Once roof tiles start flying around, they will cause severe damage. When it comes to a wooden house, it doesn’t make much difference anymore.

No, but the frequency of eating meat does have a very significant impact on the carbon footprint.

In 2018, an article appeared in the bedroom magazine on the topic "Can you protect your house from tornadoes?"

Quote from this article
What kind of damage is most likely to occur to a house during a tornado?
"Windows break and roofs are ripped off. Once the roof is damaged, the storm obviously has many more entry points. ‘That means it suddenly gets under the roof and lifts it like a sail,’ says Prof. Norbert Gebbeken, President of the Bavarian Chamber of Civil Engineers. ‘You also have to expect that vehicles can be thrown around up to a height of twelve meters (40 feet). If a car hits masonry, it won’t withstand the impact.’"

I think if a tornado with the scale seen in the USA sweeps through a city here, a lot of debris would be left behind.

I am not sure whether our construction methods are practical in the USA.
Tornadoes cause massive damage to buildings
Extreme temperature variations between summer and winter
Permafrost, heat, wildfires, termites, earthquakes.