Ralf Zaehringer lives and works in the city of Freiburg. He is a lawyer, a public leader, and an environmental activist. Since 1995, he has held a leading position as city rights director in the Environmental Protection Office of the City of Freiburg. The city of Freiburg has been committed to the sustainable use of the environment since the mid-1980s. Freiburg has been honored in Germany for its special environmental management in recent years. Freiburg maintains its image as an environmental capital in Germany. Every year, many groups of visitors from all over the world come to Freiburg to inform themselves about the concrete possibilities of municipalities to protect the environment.