When am I a climate sinner? What if I don’t separate my rubbish properly? What if I drive to work? If I go on vacation by plane? We can’t all sail like Greta just because we want to go to New York.
Am I just a Pharisee if I preach water and drink wine? In other words, when I stick myself to freeway ramps in normal life to protest against the federal government’s climate policy and draw attention to the fact that we are all doomed if we continue like this. Or am I, as a climate activist, simply no longer to be taken seriously when I fly to Bali on vacation, but otherwise constantly broadcast what needs to be done? And even then I don’t consistently stick to it? And, last question: Am I automatically a better person if I cycle to the Harz Mountains on a touring bike and camp there?
Phew – it’s a board to find consensus there. The excitement is perfect: the climate activists Louisa S. and Yannik S., 22 and 24 years old, flew on vacation to Bali. Normally not a thing, young people travel to Asia, feel free and carefree, broaden their horizons for other cultures. But the two of them have a taste: In September 2022, the two blocked rush-hour traffic in Stuttgart with other so-called climate stickers and held a banner in their hands that said “save oil instead of drilling”, and they looked very concerned.
A few months later, the couple were on a plane bound for Bali. There is no question that tens of thousands of liters of kerosene are shot up on this flight. The question is: How could the two sleep well in their bamboo beds in the holiday paradise with this hypocritical double standard for many outsiders? Since the “last generation” regularly blocks airports and claims that air travel is only for the “wealthy”, one wonders as a citizen who stands around stupidly on the way to work at one of the taped motorway exits and tries to show understanding, but a little.
The question arises anyway: Isn’t there another way of protesting? Nobody will want to forbid others to demonstrate, in this country we are in the fortunate position of being able to take to the streets for our concerns. What is at least as exciting as going on vacation as a climate activist is the fact that the two activists did not appear at a trial to which they were invited. That’s stupid.
According to the “Bild” newspaper, everything was revealed as follows: Luisa S. (as a witness) and Yannick S. (as a suspect) should appear before the Bad Cannstatt district court because of the fact of coercion on the B 10. As I said, neither of them showed up. When asked by the judge, it was said that they were on vacation in Thailand. And from there it went on to Bali, they say. By plane. Apart from the affront of not showing up for a court date – what about the climate footprint of the two renegades? Modest: Around four tons of CO2 per person. Incidentally, fellow activists of the two appeared at this appointment and were sentenced to fines. Money that should now be missing from the holiday budget.
But no wrongdoing without a good justification: A spokesman for the “Last Generation” defended the two holidaymakers, saying they had booked the flight as private individuals, not as climate protectors, and that one had to keep that apart. Of course, such a cheap explanation is not doing real climate protectionists any favors.
Because it’s about morality, envy, aggression, a heated atmosphere in the country. Everyone has a good explanation as to why he or she urgently needs a holiday in Bali or some other destination that can theoretically only be reached by plane. Yes, we have to raise our awareness, we should urgently pay attention to our personal climate balance. And yes, a lot has been screwed up by previous generations who have been to Bali several times.
In conclusion, therefore, a few thoughts that I stole from the political journalist Anja Reschke: She sees a fundamental conflict of our time in the tension between individual interests and the common good. “It’s not for nothing that we talk a lot about the concept of freedom. But which freedom is it about – that of the individual or freedom as a whole?” she asks. “What is more important – individual interests or the common good” In other words: Can I race as fast as I want on the freeway because that’s my freedom? Or should I be more considerate of the environment and traffic fatalities? “Basic rights can only be protected as long as there is a community that upholds these basic rights,” says Reschke.
It would actually have been better for the two anti-climate protection vacationers to wait with a long-distance trip. Until the train goes to Bali. Or at least the waves have calmed down and other forms of travel have been found. I’m thinking of beaming, which is still under-researched.
