Most Germans are in favor of more climate protection. The only question is how – and how quickly. For some, the transformation is not going fast enough, others feel overwhelmed by the planned political measures.
If the polls had their way, climate protection would not be a problem in Germany. Loud ARD Germany trend Germans see environmental protection and climate change as the most important problem to be tackled.
Nevertheless, some of the measures taken by the government in Berlin meet with bitter resistance as soon as they become concrete: power lines? Preferably underground, please! electric mobility? But only if there are still cars with a tank! And: The Building Energy Act? Best not at all.
Each of these topics is different, says political scientist Philipp Lepenies from Freie Universität Berlin, but they all have something to do with one basic topic: the question of how capable of change a society like Germany is: “The biggest challenge is transformation, and transformation means transformation that we need to change the way we produce and consume.”
That sounds very vague at first, says Lepenies. “But with the political measures of the last few weeks and months, you can see that this is slowly becoming more and more concrete.” Neither politicians nor citizens are properly prepared for what that actually means.”
Extreme representative
As far as change is concerned, there is a two-speed Germany: On the one hand, people who are afraid that the transformation is going too slowly and that the future of the next generation is at stake. On the other hand, people who are afraid that everything is going too fast and that their way of life will be called into question.
One of the most extreme representatives of the first type is the “last generation before the tipping point”, also known as “climate glue”, who get on the nerves of politicians and society with sometimes spectacular actions and, at least in Bavaria, come close to a criminal organization become.
The “Last Generation” activists and the “climate gluers” are claiming some kind of climate emergency
The “Last Generation” is declaring a climate emergency
Sticking actions, hunger strikes, attacks on paintings are the only way to “accelerate society,” says Irma Trommer. The 27-year-old actress wanted to photograph “last generation” happenings a year ago and quickly went from observer to activist:
Of course, like so many people, I knew that the climate crisis existed, and I also knew that it was a problem. And I knew that time was short. But I didn’t know how problematic it really is and how blatant it is. And how urgent it is that something is really done now after decades of nothing being done.
Like the entire group, she relies on scientific studies on the impending climate collapse. A lot has to be changed in a short time, she says, like many representatives of the “last generation” she assumes a kind of “climate emergency”.
The government does not go far enough for some
The time for balanced democratic processes has therefore become very short: “The state of emergency we are in is the climate crisis and the narrow window of time that leaves us to act. The future we are facing right now consists of crises and wars and disasters, from water shortages and food shortages.”
The traffic light government and especially the Greens have good ideas, but they don’t go far enough, so the tenor within the “Last Generation”. With the Building Energy Act, says Trommer, people shied away from enforcing rules that were really consistent.
Many feel overwhelmed
But that is exactly what the political scientist Lepenies sees as the problem of the second part of society, which feels overwhelmed and overwhelmed by changes: These people are afraid that the state will really set up new rules, the Building Energy Act is just one example, but it is actually the policy field doesn’t matter.
“The problem is that we now have an image of statehood, which actually means: The state leaves us alone as much as possible. So: The state must also leave us alone as much as possible. And even worse: If it doesn’t do that, it is the state is actually our opponent.”
The desire for a year “to catch your breath”
The part of society for which the changes are already happening too quickly can be viewed like a magnifying glass in East Germany. Martin Exler, in his mid-30s, is an entrepreneur and is a volunteer on the city council of Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt. He also founded the citizens’ movement, which he represents, with friends because he is concerned about the strength of the AfD in the region. Exler speaks of the structural break in the 1990s, the exit from lignite mining, and he gets to the heart of his attitude to life:
Personally, I would be happy if I had a year to catch my breath. It was the corona pandemic, then suddenly there was the Ukraine war, inflation is through the roof, so there have been a lot of changes in itself. Climate protection – you have the feeling that there are more and more new things and it somehow doesn’t stop.
Climate Protection Laws are “excessive and too fast”
Sven Bernstein from the clothing store across the way sees it the same way. He can no longer look to the future with hope, he says: “A lot of fears arose, it wasn’t like that before, there wasn’t a war just around the corner, there weren’t any economic problems, things were moving forward. And Nowadays you’re still dependent on so many extraneous factors that you can’t influence. You don’t know what’s going to happen with the electricity, with the heating, the day after tomorrow.”
Like his colleague, he thinks climate protection is good in principle, but the traffic light government’s climate protection laws are excessive and too fast, overburdening the citizens: “People are driven crazy by something like that, they don’t know today what will happen tomorrow.”
scientist complains about “vacancy in politics”
In Zeitz, as in many regions in East Germany, the AfD is gaining ground. Political scientist Lepenies does not want to confirm whether this is due to the fact that the party particularly appeals to those in society who are tired of change.
But there has been a particular gap in politics for years: Many measures have been poorly explained, people get stuck in the small and small and overlook the opportunity to talk about the opportunities that change brings: “We are so far that With transformation, we really only see what will then no longer be the way it was before. And we see this limitation, this fearful aspect, as something deeply negative.” There is nobody in politics who can fill this gap. “Where’s the positive now?”
Politicians, less the citizens, are responsible for the drifting apart, but also for the emotionalisation of the debate.
Proper communication and a clear view of the social consequences of change, especially for the vulnerable in society, are urgently needed, says Lepenies, to bring two-speed Germany back together. Because that is urgently needed: both those for whom the changes are taking place too slowly and those for whom they are taking place too quickly see Germany in a deep crisis. Both sides are still hoping for a course correction by the federal government, but each in a different direction.
You can find more on this and other topics in the report from Berlin on Sunday at 6 p.m. on ARD.