Germany is only responsible for around 2% of the world's carbon emissions. And there's a quick and easy way to reduce that even further, as DW's Felix Steiner argues in this polemic.
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What a spectacle! A 19-hour-long struggle, accompanied by demonstrations in front of the Chancellery in Berlin, and 500 other cities throughout Germany. But the objective was nothing less than saving the world!
Just a few days before the next United Nations climate summit, protesters took to the streets across the globe. And nowhere is the topic revered with such fervor as it here in Germany.
Germans are once again in their element: We know what is noble, effective, and what is right. And we must set an example for the rest of the world so that they fall into line behind us as quickly as possible.
''German values shall cure the world'' is a line from a poem penned by Emanuel Geibel from back when Germany still had an emperor.
And our government has in fact pulled off a remarkable feat: Over the next four years, a massive €54 billion ($59 billion) will be redistributed. Of course there will be some who profit from it. But for the average person, it simply means a sharp tax hike. After all, people will still have to drive to work and do not want to freeze in winter.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz must be a very happy man. Who can recall a time in history where people have demostrated in such numbers to see their taxes raised?
It is somewhat perplexing that the demonstrators are mostly young people. No matter how well the economy has been doing, there has never been enough money for schools and universties in recent decades.
Germany's carbon emissions
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Now, at last, €5 billion (a tenth of the sum for that put towards saving the world) has been made available to equip schools with modern computers. And this in a country with no natural resources, other than the abilities of its people!
Yet young people do not seem fazed by this imbalance between climate spending and education spending. As their banners proclaim. without climate protection, they have no future anyway.
What nonsense! The world will not end in 2030 or in the decades that follow — no matter how much the temperature changes. The daily apocalyptic talk of crisis, catastrophe, and tipping points seems to have clouded the senses of many people.
The fact that this alarmism becomes counterproductive can be felt by the climate protection movement in the US. Writing in the renowned New Yorker magazine, Jonathan Franzen posed the question: What happens now that we are all doomed?
Climate demonstration in Berlin - Action for the Planet
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Keeping Germany at the forefront of world technology
€54 billion. Think of everything we could have done with all that money.
What about investing in nuclear fusion research or developing fuel cell cars? We could advance every form of progress and innovation that is not dependent on the overexploitation of resources.
We could keep Germany at the forefront of global technology in order to secure the hard-earned prosperity.
But it is all going to take too long? The climate targets of 2025 and 2030 can’t be achieved in this way alone? Perhaps not.
However: There is a very easy way that we could meet these targets. Put the existing nuclear power plants back into operation and get rid of the horrendous, coal-powered carbon polluters!
In 2011, the nuclear phase-out was approved with messianic certitude. With it, Germany looked to lead the way, but no other state has followed suit since.
On the weekend, I will not be out demonstrating. Instead, I'll be preparing for the approaching winter by chopping wood. And what a satisfying task, one of which I can immediately see the results. One that is guaranteed to work. As temperatures drop outside, my living room will be warm and cosy.
At least 5,000 strikes in 156 countries are planned around the world to call on leaders to address climate breakdown. They are demanding action from world leaders who are gathering for a UN Climate Action Summit.
Image: Getty Images/B. Mitchell
Starting off in the South Pacific
The first strike of the day kicked off in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. Islanders have worked hard in recent years to protect the vital coral reefs that surround the archipelago. However, rising sea levels are placing every island nation in peril.
Image: 350 Pacific via Reuters
Solomon Islands
Students in the Solomon Islands, which comprises hundreds of islands in the South Pacific, skipped school on Friday morning to call attention to how climate breakdown threatens their country.
Image: 350 Pacific via Reuters
Hundreds of thousands gather in Australia
The first major protests of the day started in Australia, where demonstrators want the government and businesses to commit to a target of zero net carbon emissions by 2030. More broadly, they are seeking for world leaders to commit to real change at an upcoming UN Climate Action Summit.
Image: Getty Images/B. Mitchell
Southeast Asia joins the movement
Thai students joined the global movement outside of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in Bangkok. Thailand, as part of the Mekong River basin, has already felt the effects of catastrophic flooding and coastal erosin.
Image: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun
Borneo burning
Demonstrators gathered in Palangka Raya, on the Indonesnian island of Borneo, which is currently covered in smog from forest fires. Borneo is already feeling the devastation from deforestation due to palm oil farming, which has hurt the local human populations as well as dramatically reduce the habitat for orangutans.
Image: Reuters/W. Kurniawan
Dhaka demonstration
Bangladeshi school students and other climate activists took to the streets of the capital Dhaka. Bangladesh is a major hub for the garment industry, which on top of forcing workers into sweatshop conditions, is one of the most polluting industries on earth.
Image: Getty Images/A. Joyce
London crowds
An estimated 100,000 people joined a climate rally in the government district in central London. Similar marches were held in dozens of other European cities, including Paris, Stockholm and Helsinki.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Augstein
Blocking traffic
Protesters got started before dawn in Germany, with demonstrations planned for almost every major city. Here in Frankfurt, climate strikers blocked rush hour traffic in the city's central Baseler Platz, unperturbed by the chorus of car horns.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Europe calls for lower emissions
Students in the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic, called on their leaders to lower carbon emissions and enact better climate protection. The Prague demonstration was one of 5,000 planned around the world.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Rihova
Kenya against coal
Activists in Nairobi, Kenya, called for an end to the government's plans to open new coal mines. They want more support for renewable energy sources across the country.
Image: Reuters/B. Ratner
Leading the way
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who started the worldwide climate strike movement, led a major demonstration in New York City. Tens of thousands of people filled Lower Manhattan to march with the 16-year-old from Foley Square to Battery Park. "I hope this will be another social tipping point that we show how many people are engaged," she told Agence-France Presse.
