Climate protection in times of war: only 100 participants at Fridays for Future in Dorfen

Created: 03/26/2022, 09:00

By: Michaele Heske

"We are here, we are loud": With this call, around 100 demonstrators crossed the Isen Bridge.

The energy turnaround is even more important © Michaele Heske

Less inflow at the climate demo in Dorfen.

The organizers defend themselves against criticism.

Dorfen

– Only a hundred demonstrators took part in the climate protest in Dorfen on Friday.

The organizers had long considered whether they should organize this fifth Fridays for Future train.

After all, the focus is currently on the Ukraine war.

Nevertheless: "There is nothing more important than the climate crisis," said moderator Rita Rott.

Even if the demos are usually chanted loudly, the villager asked for silence: "Let's take a minute's silence for peace."

In any case, the announcement of this climate demo met with great resistance in the Dorfen group on Facebook.

"Now it's starting again, does it have to be?" were many comments.

But Rott explained to the participants in front of the Dorfen town hall: "Climate protection and peace can only be achieved together." And she added: "It doesn't matter whether it's euros, dollars or rubles - we here in Dorfen also have to finance this war.

Now people are realizing how dependent they are on fossil fuels.”

A second point of criticism on Facebook: "Climate change isn't that bad - we don't see or feel anything." Manfred Groh counters this.

The physicist and scientist, who has a doctorate, has long been calling for the switch to other energy sources, such as solar energy and wind power.

"How long do we want to get gas and oil from Putin or other criminals?" asked Dorfener.

According to Rott, the energy transition must finally be accelerated.

"We're running out of time." Four days after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of the consequences of global warming - "but this report was lost in the turmoil of war," says Groh.

The physicist spoke of tipping points and pointed out that the permafrost soils in the north are thawing.

Rott hoped that the politicians and the people would finally rethink: "We don't look too closely." The signs are more than clear, he says.

"It's not enough for politicians to always set new targets that are far away, action must be more goal-oriented and sustainable."

According to the expert, the last few months with the immense flood damage, uncontrollable forest fires and strong hurricanes have shown that climate change threatens "all of us and our future".

And he was reminiscent of the Seebach, which had flooded the settlement in Oberdorfen six months ago.

"Climate change is more than a fact," explained Florian Kaiser, officer at the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern and officer for political communication.

The fact is that active climate protection at global, national and local level is currently faltering, according to the conservationist.

“The young generation is right that just setting targets for 2050 is far from enough.

It’s about concrete steps.”

A little boy at the demo held up a sign: "I'm six years old and I have to demonstrate because you screwed it up." Another poster aroused great displeasure in the Dorfen group: "For committed climate policy - older men are not the future. ”That is not disrespect, according to moderator Rott.

Because older men in politics in particular would have delayed or prevented climate protection: "At that age, they don't care either."