Focus on climate crisis
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Reporting on climate change is one of the major journalistic challenges of our time. The climate crisis is also one of the most important issues of humanity for SPIEGEL. For this reason, we support an international initiative that seeks to take a look this week: "Covering Climate Now" has been initiated by the Columbia Journalism Review and the Canadian newspaper "The Nation", with more than 200 media companies worldwide including the Guardian, El País, La Repubblica, The Times of India, Bloomberg or Vanity Fair. SPIEGEL is dedicating the cover story of the current issue to the climate crisis this week and every day pays special attention to mirror.de
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The beauty of real political commentary is that they explain evil as a necessity. The car-free city? Maybe works in the Netherlands, but not in the car wonderland Germany!
More ecology? Would be great, but is not enforce in the economic miracle country. More transparency? Great idea, but the lobby groups, they are against.
A change in the Ministry of Transport? All would be correct, but the proportional party does not allow that.
I am curious how to conclusively explain why the grand coalition is now committing political suicide. The demonstrations of today were bigger than many had expected: more people on the streets, 270,000 in Berlin alone, more than 70,000 in Cologne and Hamburg, tens of thousands in other cities.
The social climate was noticeably more heated in recent months than the ecological one. It was clear what people were waiting for, not just the students of "Fridays for Future," not just the 2,000 scientists who clearly positioned themselves for a different policy - but almost everyone else in the country.
Those who are infinitely sorry, in the supermarket to turn the avocado back and forth in the question of whether what is good for health, ecologically is still justifiable. Buy the grim organic bugs in the plastic box and use even more grim an ailing public transport network. They wonder, stunned, why in this country still the mass animal husbandry brings more economic advantages than the biological agriculture and why Germany leaves more manure in its soils than the EU allows.
Those who insisted on promoting the obvious madness as consumers, if they only do the obvious and the cheap.
Most of them have been waiting for the Grand Coalition to implement the political will of the sensible. That she acts, that she uses her power and her opportunities, that she takes responsibility.
But none of that has happened.
An unsuitable, yet complicated bundle of micro-measures, a harmful commuter lump sum, a carry on "in small steps with lasting prosperity", a continuation of the "conventional", ie: ecologically devastating agriculture. A disgrace and a disaster.
Why?
If it should be the fear that drastic measures are unpopular: A whole generation has the "car-free Sunday", the Chancellor Schmidt pretty shirt-like decree, in vivifying and funny memory.
The smoking ban in restaurants, the seat belt: were grumbling first, then gratefully accepted. If the state did not enforce what is in the interest of the common good, then today we would not have compulsory education and the children would work in the mining industry because they fit so well in the narrow shafts.
Union and SPD, you had your opportunity. And you ruined her, licked her, fucked her. Today has shown that with your power you can do as little as the dinosaurs do with theirs, as soon as it comes to the mind. The world did not go down. The dinosaurs already.
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