Debate about the climate at "Hart aber fair" (ARD): flood disaster in the Ahr valley "was just weather"

Frank Plasberg discusses the climate conference in Glasgow at “Hart aber fair” (ARD): “Sick forests, flooded valleys – are we getting serious now?”

Cologne – The current climate conference began on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, and since Angela Merkel, Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and the others were not available as a result, Frank Plasberg (ARD) invited Peter Wohlleben to his show. With this joke, a discussion began on the anything but funny topic: “Sick forests, flooded valleys – is it now being taken seriously?”

What is known as Germany’s most famous forester, who a few years ago celebrated a remarkable success in non-fiction with his book “The Secret Life of Trees”, introduced the program with a short report that showed the forester in his area: in the forest . There he trains people as forest guides, brings them closer to the diversity of this habitat, shows them, for example, that there are more living beings in the forest floor than people on the planet. Above all, however, the forest is a fantastic CO² storage facility that we are currently still knowingly destroying.

“Hard but fair” (ARD): Climate activist sees the state as an obligation

How difficult it is to change something, however, became apparent at the end of the report during a visit to the people in the Ahr Valley who were victims of the devastating flood disaster a few months ago. The region still looks like a battlefield, the reconstruction is only progressing slowly, but the people have hope that everything will be as it once was.

Carla Reemtsma, climate activist and co-organizer of the “Fridays for Future” demos, which on “Hart aber fair” (ARD) primarily focuses on the state, also understands that individual citizens have few opportunities to do anything substantial against the climate catastrophe who sees duty. Far too much money is still being invested in fossil fuels, something should change immediately, preferably with the new traffic light government.

Anne Spiegel, B’90 / Greens, Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, spoke in the same direction, of course emphasizing the successes of her own government, but also pointed out to Frank Plasberg that Germany is not alone can act against climate change, but only together with European and global partners.

The size of the task overwhelms the people, claimed the business journalist Dorothea Siems, on the other hand, an individual person has little influence on the big picture, doubts the benefit of personal sacrifice. The conservative journalist also questioned the nuclear phase-out, saying that in France the carbon footprint would look significantly better through nuclear power alone.

“Hard but fair” (ARD): Industrial clerk sees no climate problem in the flood disaster

Professionally alone, Sebastian Lachmann, industrial clerk at the mining and power plant operator LEAG in Cottbus, has a slightly different position than the discussion participants: inside “Hart aber fair” from the other side. He claimed that the disaster in the Ahr valley had nothing to do with the climate, but with the weather, a statement that outraged Reemtsma and Spiegel. They referred to the numerous studies that show that there will be more and more extreme weather events in the future.

Lachmann only wanted to hear about it to a limited extent and emphasized that it is getting worse anyway, so one should invest a lot more in trying to take short-term protective measures. The sealing of soils contributed significantly to the effects of the flood, and it is much easier to start there than to ask for more and more to do without.

“Hart aber fair” (ARD) debates: What is the right way to deal with climate change?

Petrol and heating costs are already becoming more expensive, CO² prices will rise in the next few years, which on the one hand seems necessary, on the other hand, the enthusiasm of many citizens: inside, when it comes to climate protection, is likely to dampen. As much with your head through the wall as Reemtsma demands, it will hardly go, as deliberately and carefully as Lachmann or Siems on the ARD think it is right, certainly not.

So what do you do? Planting trees, as Peter Rohlleben never tired of emphasizing? Transform society, as Reemtsma’s magic word is, watch the country impoverish when climate protection is taken seriously, as Siems fears? There has to be a middle way, it will probably be, one way or the other: The cuts for all citizens will be enormous in the coming years and decades. (Michael Meyns)