3 Questions for biotechnologist Lucie Moeller

What is the most exiting thing about your job?

The topics I work on with my team concern how humans can adapt to climate change. Specifically, we focus on water in cities. We look at how rainwater can be retained in cities for use during dry periods, and how it can be reused. We’re also interested in local water cycles. Separating material flows is very important in this context: in the future, toilet waste could be considered a raw material, and gray water could be reclaimed using simple, nature-based methods and used for irrigation. The most exciting thing for me is working with city officials to develop solutions together.

If money and time were no object, what would your next project be?

I would focus even more intensively on climate adaptation in Leipzig and work with relevant allies to develop the city into a role model for climate adaptation. There are several topics I could investigate with my team: Which rainwater management technologies make sense in Leipzig? How do these technologies need to be applied so that they really work, taking into account all local conditions? I would also like to incorporate elements of material flow separation into urban planning. An important first step would be to develop a site for processing the waste from dry toilets installed in public spaces.

If you could choose anyone, who would you like to have dinner with and what would you talk about?

There are several exciting personalities I would like to invite to dinner, for example Rüdiger Nehberg, whose book “Dem Mut ist keine Gefahr gewachsen” (No danger is a match for courage) I find very inspiring. I also greatly admire the Czech priest and sociologist Prof. Tomáš Halík and would love to talk to him about ethics in times of climate change: Where does a person’s freedom begin – and where does it end when it comes to existential questions?