Never before has a year seen such intense discussion about climate change. Unfortunately, most of the time people were talking past one another rather than with — and that has to change, says Henrik Böhme.
The whole situation is intractable. Adversaries have locked horns and it is impossible to have a civilized debate. You are either for or against, right or wrong, good or evil. There is no room for anything in between. There is simply no time to talk, the end is nigh. Now is the time for action, not words. Alarm bells are ringing everywhere.
There is no doubt, the climate is important: This is about melting glaciers, withering landscapes, rising sea levels and starving polar bears.
What always gets left out, however, are the steps already being taken to make sure less CO2 is released into the atmosphere. The things that make factories cleaner, lower automobile emissions or even cut them altogether by going electric. In most cases, such measures are brushed off by critics as "greenwashing."
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Travel responsibly
Walking or cycling from A to B is one the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint — while also giving your own health a boost! And cutting back on flying to save emissions doesn't mean you have to forgo your annual holiday either. Simply hop on the train to your next destination, pack up the caravan for a road trip or even opt for a carbon-offset adventure!
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Focus on sustainable shopping
Being more conscious about what you buy (and what you don't) can go a long way toward helping our planet. Luckily, it's easier than ever to buy environmentally friendly products. Use your power as a consumer to support eco-conscious brands, shop second-hand when possible and just try to buy less "stuff" overall. It helps to always ask yourself if you really need something before buying it.
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Cut back on food waste
Did you know almost a third of all food produced every year is lost or wasted? You can help reduce this figure by wasting as little of your own food as possible: Eat the leftovers, get creative with any extra ingredients and start a compost pile in your backyard with remaining scraps. Compost also makes a great fertilizer, so you won't have to buy any harmful chemical alternatives!
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Switch off and unplug
While we're more connected than ever before, the simple act of remembering to turn off the lights, PCs, laptops and screens when you don't need them can save a huge amount of energy in the long-run. Keep it up and pretty soon you'll develop an easy habit that's also great for our planet!
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Speak up!
If you haven't already, this is the year to lend your voice to the growing movement for global climate action. And that doesn't have to mean protesting on the streets: Push your local politicians to act on climate change. Stay informed and talk to your friends, colleagues and neighbors about what they can do to help the planet. Don't underestimate the power of speaking up.
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Vary your diet
We could probably all be a bit healthier when it comes to our diet choices. But switching to a more plant-based diet can also help fight climate change. Farming animals for meat and dairy is one of the biggest causes of deforestation and is a major source of CO2 emissions. Eating more plant-based foods can lower your individual impact on the environment.
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Recycle, recycle, recycle
There's a reason we're reminded of the importance of recycling time and time again. The devastating consequences of plastic pollution is becoming increasingly obvious — especially in our oceans. Recycling means fewer new materials will need to be made. You can even upcycle if you're feeling particularly resourceful. Why not turn an old bottle into a lamp, or even a bird feeder?
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8 ways you can help the environment in 2020
Get out into nature
This year, make more of an effort to get out of the house and explore the most beautiful landscapes our Earth has to offer. It might not have a direct impact on climate action, but it's a great way to truly appreciate our planet — and remind us what we need to protect.
Author: Ineke Mules
What's already happening?
Here are a couple of randomly chosen examples of steps already being taken: 10 years ago, the German steel manufacturer Salzgitter started something it called its EnergyEfficiency project. Since then, it has saved a million tons of CO2, as well as consuming 3,300 Terajoule less energy each year — enough to power some 55,000 households.
Another example is Washington State Ferries, the world's second-largest ferry operator. The company is currently in the process of converting its fleet — which had consumed some 75 million liters (20 million gallons) of diesel fuel annually — to battery power.
But why? Because Governor Jay Inslee signed a law mandating it. But the head of the company has also said the change isn't just about conforming to the new law. He says it's a good idea, adding that you don't have to be an environmental activist to appreciate the fact that it means quieter boats, less pollution and more financial savings.
More and more companies are going green
Just recently, during the latest COP25 global climate conference in Madrid, some 180 companies also committed themselves to ambitious environmental goals, pledging to cut emissions continuously with the aim of being carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
January: Germany sets coal end date
After lengthy talks, a government-appointed commission announces Germany plans to stop producing energy from coal-fired plants by 2038. Climate campaigners say it's too little, too late. Germany currently generates nearly 40% of its electricity from coal and has failed to meet targets set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The anticipated phaseout cost: €40 billion ($44 billion).
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
February: On thin ice
After a five-year study, scientists warn two-thirds of glaciers in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan region could melt by 2100 if global carbon emissions are not cut. Meltwater from the area, home to Mount Everest, feeds into 10 of the world's most important river systems. Water shortages would cripple food and energy production in eight countries, directly or indirectly affecting nearly 2 billion people.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
March: Cyclone Idai batters Africa
"One of the deadliest storms on record in the Southern Hemisphere" — according to the UN — hits low-lying Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, killing nearly 1,000 people and causing widespread damage. Vast swaths of farmland are flooded, bringing disease and food shortages. Six weeks later, another cyclone strikes. Some 62 million people were affected by extreme weather in 2018, says the WMO.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
April: Disorder and disruption
Extinction Rebellion causes more than a week of travel chaos in London with disruptive, colorful protests across the British capital. In the UK and around the world, the activist group's rallies make headlines throughout the year as they promote radical political, economic and social change to avert the worst effects of global warming. Critics call their plans to abandon fossil fuels unrealistic.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
May: Green revolution sweeps Europe
At the EU elections, voter turnout is up — and populist and environmentalist parties make big gains. European Green parties win 74 seats in the 751-member European Parliament. The German Greens take more than 20% of the vote, their best-ever results. Frans Timmermans is chosen as the European Commission's new climate chief, with the bloc aiming to cut carbon emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
June: Climate protests target coal
Thousands of protesters descend on Garzweiler, one of Germany's biggest open-pit coal mines near Cologne, protesting plans to expand at the expense of nearby old-growth forest. Meanwhile, an estimated 40,000 people from across Europe march through Aachen to campaign for more climate action. Over the Channel, the UK parliament becomes the first in the world to declare a symbolic climate emergency.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
July: It's getting hot
Much of Europe suffers through an intense heat wave, with temperatures breaking 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across the continent — smashing records set just weeks earlier. People are advised to limit time spent outdoors, while travelers face delays due to speed restrictions on superheated railway tracks. Climate monitoring agencies report July as the hottest month on record.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
August: Amazon on fire
The number of forest fires in the Amazon surges to its highest point since 2010, and thousands of firefighters are deployed to put out the blaze. President Jair Bolsonaro blasts a global outcry that not enough is being done to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest, insisting on Brazil's sovereign right. Previously, he blamed rainforest protections for hindering economic development.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
September: Thunberg vs. Trump
Teen activist Greta Thunberg, who inspired Fridays for Future protests worldwide, blasts world leaders at the United Nations for "failing to act" on the climate crisis. "Change is coming, whether you like it or not." As millions of young people join marches around the world, leaders from more than 70 countries commit to carbon neutrality by 2050 — but not China, Russia, India, Japan or China.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
October: Climate in court
Local groups, cities and young people around the world increasingly take their climate concerns to court in 2019. Just this month: a group of 15 youths (above) sues the Canadian government for violating their fundamental rights with policies that fail to curb CO2 emissions. Over in Germany, a court rejects a lawsuit by three farming families against Berlin's failed climate mitigation efforts.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
November: Rising waters
Venice is hit by exceptional floods, with water levels topping 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) three times in one week — the worst flooding since records began in 1872. Famed monuments and museums, including St. Mark's Basilica and the crypt, are inundated. Undeterred tourists, however, continue to snap selfies. Meanwhile, Oxford English Dictionary names "climate emergency" its word of the year.
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2019: Climate protests take center stage as the world burns
December: 'Our war against nature must stop'
As world leaders meet in Madrid for the COP25 climate conference, the head of the UN says the world is rapidly approaching the "point of no return." An EU report says the environmental situation has worsened, with the bloc likely to miss 2030 carbon reduction targets. Reacting to climate concerns, the European Parliament declares a "climate emergency" and the EU Commission lays out its Green Deal.
Author: Martin Kuebler
And these aren't small, niche companies, but rather big global corporations like the consumer goods producer Beiersdorf; the world's largest beer producer, Ambev; and the International Airline Group, Europe's third-largest airline holding company (British Airways and Iberia). Such commitments have practically doubled the number of companies now in the "Business Ambition for 1.5˚C: Our Only Future" alliance since it was founded in September of last year.
Admittedly, other things are also happening, things that bewilder activists and realists alike. One need only look to the disaster that is the German energy transition. True, the percentage of energy produced by renewables has gone up, but — according to the Federal Audit Office –—some €160 billion ($179 billion) has also devoured in the process.
Despite such efforts, the German solar industry is practically nonexistent and things don't look much better for the wind industry. In Germany, people prefer to argue about minimum distances between wind turbines and the next closest village, while our French neighbors negotiate the construction of six new nuclear power plants.
Read more: Germany shuts down atomic plant as nuclear phase-out enters final stretch
What climate activists really want
Either way: Is it — as climate activists ceaselessly tell us — true that nothing is really happening? Or have the topics of sustainability and environmental compatibility finally struck a note with companies? And if the latter, is it because they provide a good sales strategy? And what would be wrong with that if it did?
Might it not also make sense to look closer at just what climate activists want? Take Luisa Neubauer, for instance, known here as the German Greta Thunberg, despite being a few years older than the Swedish teen; or Carola Rackete, who is internationally known as the refugee-saving captain of the ship Sea Watch 3, but would prefer to be part of the Extinction Rebellion movement.
Both women have now written books: Rackete called hers "Act: A Call to the Last Generation," and Neubauer titled hers "The End of the Climate Crisis." Both books go straight to the heart of the matter — they are full of ideas for bans and penalties. The authors call for those who destroy nature to be tried for crimes against humanity. Yet, neither wastes words defending individual rights, arguing that individuals cannot be trusted to decide whether they are for or against climate protection.
DW's Henrik Böhme
In interviews given after her book was published, Carola Rackete went further still: "Everything we do, or don't do, props up the current system." That's why civil disobedience is so "extremely urgent."
It quickly becomes clear that what these women are after is something much bigger than climate protection: They are at war with the existing economic system, with free-market economies, and with capitalism. And anyone who is opposed to that fight, or is of a different opinion, simply cannot be right. Only those who are for radical climate protection are among the good, and only they own the truth.
But anyone who so vehemently clamors for an environmental planned economy should take a quick look into the recent past. It would seem that the disastrous state of the environment in former East Germany would be enough to illustrate just how ineffective planned systems are when it comes to sustainability and climate protection.
So what now?
In such a heated environment — sorry for the pun — it seems there is no chance of having a rational debate. But we have to talk about how we are going to tackle this challenge, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the discussion has to take place between different generations — one that has experienced life, and another that is impatient.
But apocalyptic scenarios prophesying the end of the world won't lead anywhere. At the most, they will simply harden opposition among those of a different opinion. That would be a shame, because we need the ideas that young people have to offer. We need their youthful nonchalance, their openness and their curiosity. The young need to show us that they can do things better than us — but they should also let us come along on the journey, at least for a while.
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