{"id":46660,"date":"2025-01-31T21:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T20:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/we-know-were-destroying-the-earth-and-we-do-it-anyway-bernd-holly-on-social-responsibility\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T07:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:19:33","slug":"we-know-were-destroying-the-earth-and-we-do-it-anyway-bernd-holly-on-social-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/we-know-were-destroying-the-earth-and-we-do-it-anyway-bernd-holly-on-social-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"“We know we’re destroying the Earth\u2014and we do it anyway”: Bernd Holly on social responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, Bernd Holly, as principal of Steinm\u00fchle, made announcements: at events, over the PA system, or sometimes in person when he wanted to get a message across. His announcement at the end of January to the upper-school students was different. It was a call to rethink their own behavior if everyone on this planet wants to continue living here. <\/p>\n

“We know we\u2019re destroying the Earth. And we do it anyway.” That\u2019s how the educator\u2014who has been retired since the summer of 2023\u2014began his talk. The worst part is: he\u2019s right. With this reality in mind, Bernd Holly shared numerous examples with the audience\u2014examples they could recognize in their own lives and that would give them pause for thought. How thoughtlessly do we buy coffee to go, leaving behind a billion disposable cups in Germany alone? We mow our lawns to achieve the perfect \u201cEnglish\u201d style, but in doing so, we destroy the wildflower meadow. And we would have loved to win the shopping weekend in New York that a public radio station in Hesse raffled off around Christmas time. Is reflection a matter of luck? Seriously? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Energy drinks? Totally out of touch! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Holly makes it clear that he adapts his talks\u2014which he also gives to adults at companies\u2014slightly when speaking at schools. “Anyone who drinks energy drinks is a victim. Completely out of it.” He raised awareness about fruit that\u2019s peeled and then packaged in plastic, advocated for seasonal fruits, and encouraged people to rethink their meat consumption for health and environmental reasons. \u201cThe world doesn\u2019t need people\u2014it\u2019s about the foundations of our existence. We\u2019re seeing this firsthand through the effects of climate disasters like those in the Ahr Valley, in Valencia, or now in California,\u201d appealed Holly, who has been a vegetarian for four years. He questioned the popular nut nougat spread not only because of its sugar content but also because of its use of palm oil, which leads to rainforest deforestation. There are many things people would rather not see, said the former school principal, citing, among other things, the Christmas goose industry. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

35 percent of food ends up in the trash<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breaking free from the pressure to be seemingly perfect isn\u2019t easy, but it is possible: constantly buying new clothes you never wear anyway, constantly getting a new cell phone, buying too much groceries, 35 percent of which end up in the trash\u2014as has been proven. \u201cShopping triggers happiness hormones, I know,\u201d remarked Holly, who began volunteering at the Marburg Food Bank at the start of his retirement, \u201can institution that symbolizes social problems,\u201d he noted. Then the conversation quickly turned political: migrants\u2019 lack of German language skills as a sign of failed integration, gender-neutral language as a sham debate (\u201cI don\u2019t do that\u201d), and then back to the \u201cDon\u2019t Buy Anything List\u201d that had convinced him, along with the question of whether speeding down Berlin\u2019s Ku\u2019damm in a souped-up car was really the only way to gain social recognition. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Giving Back to Society”<\/strong><\/p>\n

But\u2014Bernd Holly is a realist. He knows that not all of his points will be implemented right away, and he understands the odds involved. \u201cYou are privileged; you will eventually hold key positions. Think things through and be role models.\u201d If even just one of the points he listed were to be implemented, the lecture would have been worth it. <\/p>\n

Bernd Holly looks back on his life so far. Coming from a very humble background and having risen to become principal of the popular and highly sought-after Steinm\u00fchle School, he wants to give something back to society. Out of a sense of responsibility\u2014”which (turning to the student body) you, too, will one day bear.” <\/p>\n

The lecture was a project of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) program based at the Steinm\u00fchle.<\/em><\/p>\n

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For decades, Bernd Holly, as principal of Steinm\u00fchle, made announcements: at events, over the PA system, or sometimes in person when he wanted to get a message across. His announcement at the end of January to the upper-school students was different. It was a call to rethink their own behavior if everyone on this planet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":46664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,102,85,93,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecology-and-sustainability","category-former-students-alumni","category-news","category-politics-business-responsibility","category-social-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51044,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46660\/revisions\/51044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}