With Federal Elections coming ahead in Germany, a climate rally was organized outside the Parliament where amongst thousands of activists, youth climate icon Greta Thunberg also participated. The group emphasized that ministers need to take stringent action to control stop climate change.
The protest in the capital of Germany is part of a series of protests happening across the world to make the governments take more conscious steps as warnings of a climate catastrophe have been persistently highlighted by the scientific community and climate experts.
Greta Thunberg vocalized the idea of a “climate strike” for the first time in Stockholm three years ago in the form of a solo protest.
The idea got popular and was making rounds to each important table till the coronavirus pandemic halted the possibility of mass gatherings, Now activists have started discussing issues again in small gatherings, reported Al-Jazeera.
Thunberg, who is 18 now, said in her address to the rally that as important as voting is, the significance of protests to pressurize the politicians inside is not to be undermined, both need to go hand in hand.
She said, “We can still turn this around. We demand change, and we are the change.”
Prominent German climate activist Luisa Neubauer along with Thunberg expressed criticism of the government’s efforts to curb climate change, which are not enough despite Germany being on the list of top emitters.
They added that the policies adopted by the government are not sufficient to reach the limit of restricting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) — the more ambitious limit set out in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Germany plans to phase out coal-generated power by 2038.
Lisa Göldner, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Germany, told news agency Euronews, “We want to today take a strong stance in favour of climate protection and also motivate people that when they go to cast their vote that they also consider climate an important issue.
It’s about sending a strong message to the future Govt that we expect ambitious climate politics, and it’s also about motivating people who are still uncertain who to vote for. Greenpeace will be joining the climate protests in Germany.”
Moreover, Nef, a Cologne-based student who was earlier camping in Lutzerath, a village soon going to be destructed by the impacts of coal mine said, “If Lutzerath goes and Garzweiler keeps ongoing for five more years, Germany can just say goodbye to respecting the Paris Agreement.
It’s always funny to me when we’re described as radical because I just feel like we’re doing just the basics, which is to try to keep 500 million tonnes of CO2 in the ground … I don’t see how that’s radical in any way.”
Luisa Neubauer, a German climate activist, wrote on social media: “This election campaign gave me no hope that the crisis would be seen as non-partisan for what it is. What gives me hope are the people who take the warnings seriously.”
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