German “Environmental Expert”/Activist Suggests Humans Need Draconian “Behavior Change”

Today I found an interview with an “environmental expert” by the German alarmist site Klimareporter here. It conveys to us the real aims of the radical climate movement. In a nutshell: To change, limit and dominantly control human behavior.

In the Kilmareporter interview, Prof. Rainer Griesshammer says that changing light bulbs, riding your bicycle and eating organic aren’t going to cut it when it comes to rescuing the climate.

In the interview, Klimareporter brings up Mr. Griesshammer’s  recent book in which he calls for “changing politics and life” in order to combat climate change.

Politics, Griesshammer says, will “not be enough on its own” and that “changes in several areas of society – in the value system, consumer behavior, the legal framework and the market, as well as in infrastructure and technology development” are required.

Citizens still in self-deception

In the interview Grießhammer says that citizens are in a state of “self deception” because “most people already think they are environmentalists because they separate the garbage, screw in a few energy-saving lamps or LEDs and occasionally shop at the organic food store”. But this is woefully insufficient. Most people fail when it comes to protecting the climate in terms of “mobility, electricity consumption, nutrition,” says Griesshammer.

Radical behavior change

What is needed, he says, is radical change in “behavior and shopping”. According to Griesshammer: “In the mainstream, there will only be significant changes if laws, CO2 pricing, product development, infrastructures and behavior all move in the same direction.”

According to Griesshammer, offsets are not going to work because people will continue to emit CO2. He says: “CO2 savings can only be achieved through measures in the home country – such as phasing out coal, renovating buildings, speed limits.”

Germany moving far too slowly

Griesshammer thinks the CO2 reduction target set by the federal government is “far too weak” and sees little hope that Germany will come anywhere near the stated targets because the just-decided coal phase-out “is falling further behind” and at the same time, onshore wind energy is being “stifled by the German government.”

Moreover, petrol and diesel becoming around 7.5 cents per litre more expensive next year means “motorists are unlikely to react to this”.

Policymakers must react “much faster”…”much more sharply”

Griesshammer is also in favor of stricter speed limits on the country’s roads and streets, saying the measure would not only save on emissions, but also lives.

When it comes to global warming, Griesshammer says  policymaking has waited far too long: “Now we have to react much faster and much more sharply. There is a threat of incalculable tipping points with irreversible acceleration of the climate catastrophe…”

Bicycle riding, burning wood and deindustrialization

He says that cutting CO2 has been more successful in other countries: “Denmark has less industry and many good wind locations. Finland can use a lot of wood for energy production and continues to rely on nuclear power.”

“In transport,” Griesshammer says, “it makes more sense to adopt something. The bicycle traffic in Copenhagen is a great example.”