First or Last Generation?

“Climate Terrorists” – “Green RAF” – “Eco-Fascists” – “Putschists against the Rule of Law” there is no lack of verbal and political excitement these days about the “Last Generation” and their actions.

This name, by the way, does not say that the radical youth see themselves as the last generation of survivors of the climate catastrophe, but goes back to an important speech by former U.S. President Barack Obama, who said in 2015, “We are the first generation to feel climate change firsthand and the last generation to do anything about it…we only have one planet…and there is no plan B.”

Whether first or last generation – the problem is recognized

By climate science for decades and by the majority of European citizens at the latest since the Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg sat down in front of the Reichstag in Stockholm with a self-made cardboard sign and the inscription “School strike for the climate” and initiated a worldwide climate protection movement, which millions of people have joined. The “Fridays for Future” movement was followed by “Scientists for Future,” “Parents for Future,” “Omas for Future” and even “Churches for Future,” among others.

The movement was and is successful. Greta was invited to the UN, spoke at international congresses and with the German Chancellor. Even the Federal Constitutional Court was inspired by her.

But what really helps the climate?

So there is no lack of knowledge about climate change. However, there is still a lack of implementation of the necessary measures for climate protection. Politicians, right up to the world climate conferences, are still far too dependent on the old fossil-nuclear energy industry. In 1990, the world was blowing around 100 million tons of greenhouse gases into the air every day; today it’s around 180 million tons – every day. And we are wiping out around 180 animal and plant species every day. The planet can’t take that in the long run. We are on the way to global ecological bankruptcy. An enlightened civil society must defend itself against this.

We are waging a third world war against nature and thus against ourselves. This is what UN Secretary General Guterres has just said at the opening of the World Conference on Nature in Montreal.

“We have the choice: Collective action or collective suicide.”

António Guterres (2022) | Secretary-General of the United Nations

But are traffic blockades on roads, highways and airports therefore justified and helpful for saving the climate? Is it therefore legitimate and helpful to mashed potato works of art with mashed potatoes? Does that really help the climate? That’s what matters, after all.

According to a Spiegel survey, 85% of Germans reject the actions of the “Last Generation”. The end does not justify the means. Of course, this also applies to climate protection. Greta Thunberg and the actions she initiated are respected worldwide. The actions of the iconoclasts and traffic blockers, however, are rejected by the majority. This is a fundamental difference.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes on one day “Trouble is part of it”, the activists help to “bring about change”, but suspects a few days later: “The activists cross the line to political blackmail with their protests. This radicalization will weaken the entire climate movement.”

Young people should and are allowed to be radical in the sense of getting to the bottom of problems and going to the root (radix). But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have to think self-critically about the consequences of their actions if they want to be taken seriously. The tabloid press, the AfD and parts of the CDU/CSU parties are making fools of themselves with their radical excitement about the “Last Generation” and are distracting from their own failure on the issue of climate protection.

The position of the sunny side: “Protesting and fighting for the solar energy turnaround and against climate change is vital for mankind and for all life. However, if the methods are rejected by 85% of the people, then – we fear – the protests are rather counterproductive. The “Last Generation” should be more mindful and think self-critically about the effect of their protests. However, they are not terrorists. Troublemakers belong to every democracy, otherwise it is not a democracy.

The demands of the “Last Generation (german)

Source

Franz Alt 2022 / Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)