Thursday July 22, 2021
Luisa Neubauer at Lanz
“We talk the world beautifully”
By Marko Schlichting
What lessons do we have to learn from the flood disaster? Above all, Luisa Neubauer warns that it will not remain a one-off event. The climate activist takes Markus Lanz hard with politics.
In the areas hit by the flood disaster of the last few days, the clearing up begins. And experts are wondering how such disasters can be better brought under control in the future. On Wednesday evening, Markus Lanz invited a group of politicians and scientists to ZDF. Among them also climate activist Luisa Neubauer. The 25-year-old from Hamburg is co-author of the book “Noch haben wir die Wahl”, which has just been published.
“Not a stupid coincidence”
In Neubauer’s view, the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate was not only “a misfortune and a stupid coincidence”, but “the consequence of the refusal to take scientific warnings seriously”. If the politicians had behaved correctly, then a lot of damage could have been prevented, so the co-organizer of the school strikes under the motto “Fridays for Future”. In the future we would have to expect more heavy rain events. It has been proven: the warmer it gets in the world, the more moisture the air can hold.
That is why Neubauer advocates changes in infrastructure, agriculture and urban planning. “Our infrastructure is not built for climate change,” she says at Lanz. And further: “We now have to help the local people. But it is cynical and mendacious to say now that you are helping people and then at your desk in Berlin to ensure that we have to experience more of these disasters.”
Shaping the fight against climate change socially
The federal and state governments are responsible for the provision, says Neubauer. But: “They pretend that the climate crisis cannot harm us.” As an activist, she constantly hears that measures against climate change must be carefully designed, because climate protection is not compatible with prosperity. The current catastrophe saw how wealth was destroyed. Poor people in particular suffer from this. That is why you have to listen to the local people and to science when it comes to climate protection. “The climate crisis not only costs prosperity, it can also claim human lives.”
Neubauer’s appeal to politicians: “We have to speak plainly.” This includes the admission that one does not intend to reach the 1.5 degree target, she says with a view to the federal election program of the Union parties. Rhetorically, the Union understands the fight against the climate crisis, but there is a lack of action. She cites Bavaria as an example. Only eight wind power plants were approved there last year. But the Union Chancellor candidate also gets his fat off: “And then Laschet stands up and says, on such a day you don’t have to change anything in terms of climate policy. You ask yourself: When then?”
“Get into the pots”
However, Luisa Neubauer has not completely lost hope that the Union will eventually find its way to ecology. But at the moment the CDU and CSU still have no plan to protect people from the climate crisis. “Let’s not wait until this shop hits the pots,” says Neubauer.
“We talk the world beautiful,” criticized the activist with a view to politics. And she appeals to make the voting decision in the coming federal elections dependent on which party is committed to climate policy and which is not. “We can achieve climate neutrality. There are corresponding political proposals for this. And there is a special will among the population,” said Neubauer.
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