Ever since, the desire to act according to the principles of nature shaped Helmut’s thinking and acting very strongly, he loved being in nature and playing with the elements, applying and testing feelings about how things work. Many years of formal education gave him the opportunity to root these more intuitive approaches in a sound foundation of Physics and Engineering, enabling him to see these phenomena from various angles and sharpen the image of sustainable acting. Participation in various international projects in the fields of rural water management, renewable energy, resource efficient snow production, plastic pollution and climate change added the global dimension to the picture. However, at the same time, discomfort with the predominant mechanistic thinking in science and the increasing technologisation and atomisation of the world into narrower and narrower, lifeless disciplines grew. This urged him to find other ways of looking at things and dealing with the apparent gap between how things are and how they should be. Extensive travels helped bringing along some profound insights of more spiritual nature, Yoga, Nuad and meditation should become new pillars of Helmut’s life. As a result, also his idea of sustainability changed: Understanding the importance of social sustainability, he started working with refugees and other people with difficult backgrounds. After these years of working hands-on, mainly following upcycling- ideas, and simultaneous efforts to make his home more self-sustaining, beginning of 2019 Helmut was just ready to take the opportunity to “be the change he wants to see in the world” by merging all those different approaches and applying them in his work for alchemia-nova.

E-mail: helmut.schabschneider(at)alchemia-nova.net