“Enormous energy consumption”
Volker Wissing railed against food photos on Instagram – and was confronted with his own
“If you look at the number of photos of food around the world, then you come to an enormous energy consumption,” says Wissing
© Oliver Berg/ / Picture Alliance
For Digital Minister Volker Wissing, more sustainability apparently goes hand in hand with doing without photos of Essen. He is now confronted with his own posts from Essen on social media.
The G7 countries want to pay attention to more sustainability in digitization in the future. Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing has his own opinion on this – and wonders whether photographing food is really necessary.
“If you look at the number of photos of Essen around the world, then you come to an enormous energy consumption,” said the FDP politician at the end of a meeting of G7 ministers on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. “Do we think about such things as having significant consequences?” The topic of energy shortages should be brought more into people’s awareness overall. This also included technological devices and their power consumption.
“This is what ‘Shirking Responsibility’ looks like”
His statements were repeatedly taken up and commented on on social networks. Many users compared Wissing’s statements with food postings that the digital minister himself had uploaded to Instagram. A post from late 2020 showed him sitting at his desk with a cup of coffee and a waffle with cherries and powdered sugar in front of him. He wrote: “Waffle day 😍 A spoiled minister in the truest sense of the word.”
A user writes: “Is there actually a single politician who demands any waivers from others that he also adheres to?” The journalist Jürgen Döschner tweeted: “This is what ‘stealing oneself from responsibility’ looks like: there is an appeal for renunciation #speed limit – Just say clearly that you are not in the mood for climate protection, Minister.”
Wissing sees politics as a responsibility
In the meantime, Wissing has responded to the allegations and commented: “Does the Internet consume electricity? Of course. Should we still use it? Of course. Everyone should be able to use the network freely, also for #photosoffoodand politicians should ensure that this is possible in a climate-neutral manner.”
In addition to the Federal Republic of Germany, the G7 countries include the large industrialized countries USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Germany currently chairs the group, hence is Federal MinisterWissing the host of the event in the Rhineland. Japan will take over the presidency in 2023.
Sources: Twitter, dpa