Yesterday I was part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening.
Climate protection is not a crime.
#LuetziBleibt #LuetziLebt #KeepItInTheGround #ClimateJustice
@gretathunberg Germany is right now transistioning from Putins oil to an energy source that is abundant in germany. Something they should have done years ago. Its impossible to transition to green energy at the same pace as coal.
The money Germany spends on russian oil goes to a gov that doesnt give an f about climate. But the german gov are investing in solar wind...
By doing this you are defunding a country that would have used those money on green energy and letting them go to ..continued
@KasperNicolaisen @gretathunberg it is indeed impossible to transition to renewables without using oil or coal so long as the energy use in Germany stays as it is. That's the variable you and and the government are not considering. Rather than question any possibility of reducing energy use and cutting back, they're going right to coal.
I also question if the amount of coal available without taking over Lütherath was really insufficient.
I wonder if the government would be open to banning RWE from all coal export, so as to reduce the demand to only what is necessary locally. Probably not.
There are a lot of variables unexplored in this so-called rational decision.
@sixohsix @gretathunberg if they can easily just lower their consumption so much that this is not needed, then obv thats what they should do. But im not convinced its that easy.
The idea of banning export also sounds good. But I just think, then someone else in the world would be missing the energy.
@KasperNicolaisen they can't easily reduce consumption, indeed. But the protesters are asking the government to do something difficult, but not impossible. The protest is not meaningless or naive from this perspective.
I actually learned that RWE doesn't export much coal, so I am wrong about that. Still, if other countries banned exports that would be further pressure to move to renewables. Coal is used because it is cheaper and easier than reducing consumption.
Another thing I learned is that the German government is paying RWE a ton of money as compensation for phasing out coal in 2030, to replace the profits they theoretically would have had. Not only that, RWE is suing the Netherlands because they decided to phase out coal without paying them off.
Basically Germany is making deals with a scummy private company and burning more coal because it's easier than reducing national energy use.
@Siberian @KasperNicolaisen right, because it's easier to just buy more oil than to reduce oil usage, even if that means making deals with horrible people. Once again, it's asking more than the bare minimum from our government.
Like, if Saudi oil is so evil, maybe we could drop it from our imports list now... but we don't. The banning of Russian oil has only barely been implemented in the EU. The reduced dependence of the US on Saudi oil has only been achieved by drilling more oil instead of reducing energy use.
Exporting ethical oil is not heroic, it's just another opportunity to delay energy conservation.
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