Tens of thousands on climate strike
Neubauer: People are no longer in the mood
September 15, 2023, 7:33 p.m
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For the 13th time, climate activists from Fridays for Futre are taking to the streets around the world to put pressure on governments. According to the group, a quarter of a million people in Germany are joining. This means that the movement is a long way from the high number of participants from previous years.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated today in more than 200 locations in Germany for more speed and ambition in climate protection. The Fridays for Future movement estimated the number nationwide at around 250,000 people – including 24,000 in Berlin, 22,000 in Hamburg and around 10,000 in Munich. The police estimates were sometimes lower. In Berlin, officials assumed there would be around 12,500 participants.
At the last so-called global climate strike in March, activists put the total number at around 220,000. At the height of Fridays for Future, in September 2019, there were well over 200,000 people on the streets in Berlin alone, and well over a million nationwide. The activist Luisa Neubauer was nevertheless satisfied with the turnout in Berlin. “We are overwhelmed by how many people are there. It’s loud, it’s angry,” she wrote on Instagram. Entire schools were at the start. The pressure on politics is there. “People are no longer interested in climate goals being delayed.”
Tens of thousands also joined the demonstrations in other German cities such as Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Leipzig. Slogans like “Speed limit immediately!” could be read on posters. or “You have to act!”. In Hamburg, Silbermond and Herbert Grönemeyer, among others, played live at the rally, and a performance by the pop band Juli was planned in Berlin. There were also protests in other European countries, for example in Stockholm, Dublin and Vienna, where, according to the organizers, around 20,000 people came together. However, the high number of participants of previous years was usually not reached here either.
Protests all the way to the North Pole
There were even demonstrations at the North Pole: around 40 climate researchers in the Arctic, traveling with the research ship “Polarstern”, stood behind a banner with the inscription “We deliver the facts. It’s time to act” to act). Hundreds of rallies and so-called climate strikes in schools were planned around the globe – demanding a rapid exit from coal, oil and gas.
The movement was started five years ago by the Swede Greta Thunberg. German activist Carla Reemtsma listed reasons for the climate protests on 4 degree course.”
In Germany, the movement is calling for the introduction of climate money and the tightening of climate protection laws. The so-called climate money is stipulated in the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. It is intended to socially compensate for rising prices for the emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The current climate protection law plans to reduce climate-damaging emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the reduction is currently around 41 percent.
Global emissions at record levels
Hundreds more demonstrations and protests are planned around the world until Sunday, with organizers expecting millions of people to attend. According to the Climate Action Network, the “historic mobilization” is also aimed at a climate summit on September 20th in New York, to which UN Secretary-General António Guterres has invited.
Despite all the climate protection promises of recent years, global emissions have reached a new record in 2022, according to figures from the International Energy Agency. The world has already warmed by around 1.1 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, and Germany has even warmed by 1.6 degrees. The eight warmest years since weather records began have been the last eight.
Just on Thursday, a study showed that human exploitation of the planet is creating ever greater risks. Accordingly, six out of nine so-called planetary load limits have already been exceeded – in some cases significantly. These include, among other things, global warming, the destruction of habitats and the pollution of the environment with new types of substances such as pesticides, microplastics and nuclear waste. “The Earth is a patient that is not doing well,” said co-author Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.