On the day the universally respected monarch of the United Kingdom died, Markus Lanz and his guests dealt with the question of whether nuclear power is safe and whether capitalism is compatible with climate protection.
Hamburg – On Tuesday, Economics Minister Robert Habeck expressed himself to Sandra Maischberger somewhat unhappily and caused bizarre upheavals in social media. So the last Markus Lanz program of the week began with a review of Habeck’s attempt to explain what insolvency means and whether there is a difference to bankruptcy. Habeck’s party colleague Steffi Lemke tried to help the Vice Chancellor and explained the confusion very pragmatically with the late transmission time of the Maischberger broadcast.
However, as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Lemke was primarily a guest to report on the planned reserve operation at two nuclear power plants. This decision by the Economics Minister has also been met with criticism, the operators of the Isar nuclear power plant doubted the possibility of a stretching operation, why Steffi Lemke could not explain to Markus Lanz on ZDF.
Steffi Lemke at Markus Lanz: penetrating follow-up from the host
“We are in an extreme situation and will concentrate on implementing solutions,” Lemke tried to block Lanz’s persistent digging in a state-supportive manner. He turned out to be an advocate of nuclear power and thus a natural opponent of the Green politician. Steffi Lemke did not want to change the decision to phase out nuclear power, the technology was too expensive and dangerous, as one would see at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.
The entrepreneur Frank Thelen questioned Markus Lanz on ZDF about the climate and energy policy of the federal government and demanded lower electricity prices from politicians. The problem with the power supply is the electricity storage, said Thelen, but above all the lack of innovative power in Germany. Germany needs more technology, not less: “We need people who dare to do something, who also think differently.”
Frank Thelen shakes his head
Ulrike Herrmann, political expert at the taz, sees things differently. The journalist and bestselling author has just published a book with a long title: “The end of capitalism: Why growth and climate protection are incompatible – and how we will live in the future.” The sacred cow of capitalism, constant growth, is not compatible with consistent climate protection, said Herrmann at Markus Lanz on ZDF. Even if she is very much in favor of wind turbines and solar systems: Germany’s enormous and constantly growing hunger for energy cannot be satisfied with these technologies alone. According to Hermann, the solution can only be to do without and scale back economic output.
And roughly to the level of 1978, which means: Practically no more flying, less driving, but in principle not so bad living. A radical claim that made Frank Thelen, the capitalist in the group, shake his head. But Hermann’s statement that infinite growth is not possible in a finite world is ultimately exactly what the Club of Rome wrote in its much-quoted report “The Limits to Growth” from the early 1970s.
| Markus Lanz (ZDF) | Guests of the September 8 show |
| Steffi Lemke | B’90/Greens |
| Frank Thelen | entrepreneur |
| Ulrike Herrmann | journalist |
Surprisingly, Green Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, of all people, had little interest in Herrmann’s daring theses. “We need green growth” said the politician at Markus Lanz on ZDF. Downright apocalyptic scenarios such as a return to 1978 conditions would only prevent people from taking the climate crisis seriously and exhausting all possibilities.
But there is not much time left, as Ulrike Herrmann emphasized. Germany wants to be climate-neutral by 2045, but doing without is unlikely to be the path that large parts of the population will accept. So you’d rather follow the optimist Frank Thelen, who at the end of the discussion with Markus Lanz on ZDF sang a song of praise for the innovative power of the economy, which finds solutions and does not make sacrifices necessary. Will it happen? We will experience it. (Michael Meyns)
