Can we still be saved? Maybe!
Each of the 27 world climate conferences has been a time of pessimism, as greenhouse gas emissions have increased from conference to conference. Even through the conferences themselves, with up to 50,000 people flying in by plane to attend.
In Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 45,000 people are now gathered. What positive outcome is supposed to come out of such a mammoth conference? At least the world is once again dealing with the most important issue of our time. During the first world climate conference in Berlin in 1995, the then six billion people emitted 100 million tons of greenhouse gases per day; today, the eight billion people emit 180 million tons per day, mainly CO2, methane and nitrous oxide.
The only real result of the 27 conferences: The climate is getting worse. Can we still be saved?
There are still left-wing politicians and journalists who claim that capitalism has brought us the climate catastrophe. Did communist or socialist systems protect the climate better? Was it and is it not communist governments that have been preaching for decades that they want to “catch up and overtake” capitalism in its economic growth?
Quite simply, it was and is we humans who protect or pollute the climate, regardless of what political color we give ourselves.
USA and China – the two biggest environmental sinners
The currently biggest climate sinner in the world, China, which still refers to Karl Marx from Germany, is not represented at all in Sharm El Sheikh with its dictator Xi. But China is, after all, the world champion in the expansion of wind and solar energy. And that is what really matters. But China, too, is still advocating the old economic dogma of “growth, growth, growth,” and is thus putting a strain on the global climate.
The USA is represented at the COP27 (Conference of the Parties) by President Biden, who has pushed through the largest climate protection package of all time with 370 billion dollars, but is being thwarted by the Republicans. It makes no difference to the climate whether the 320 million Americans call themselves capitalist or the 1.4 billion Chinese call themselves communist. What matters is what they each do for or against the climate. But the world’s two largest economies are far from doing their part to reach the 1.5 degree target of the Paris climate summit.
What helps the climate?
The only thing that helps the climate is a reduction in greenhouse gases. And what is Germany doing to make its contribution to the Paris target? Almost all experts agree that Germany, too, will miss its climate targets under its new federal government.
According to all experience, there is only one way to protect the climate: the decentralized citizen energy turnaround, which has already led to Germany producing 50% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2022. We also have major deficits in transport, heating and agriculture. To achieve the Paris targets, we need to increase the pace of renewables expansion fivefold. The decisive factor here will not be what is said in Sharm El Sheikh, but what we and the whole world do concretely and practically after this COP27. Then – maybe! – still be saved. We will have to learn that we have to mature spiritually instead of always wanting to grow materially.
Source
FRANZ ALT 2022 / Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
