Is it a Piebald Squirrel? Maybe it’s a Kermode Bear?
Nope. But it is most definitely an extremely rare sighting in Germany. And in Berlin of all places. It is a so-called “pro-nuclear activist,” practically extinct, a highly endangered species indeed. They’re never seen in these parts. Not for very long. Poachers hunt them for their meat, hide, bones and hair.
German pro-nuclear activists make rare appearance in Berlin – With Germany set to shut down its last six reactors in 2022, a group of pro-nuclear activists made a rare appearance in Berlin over the weekend in the hope of reversing the decision. Operators, for their part, are wary of another abrupt policy change.
But I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.*
The Dirty Truth About Clean Technologies – The poor South is being exploited so that the rich North can transition to environmental sustainability. Entire swaths of land are being destroyed to secure the resources needed to produce wind turbines and solar cells. Are there alternatives?
Yes, there are. One of them is called “nuclear energy.”
*The Germans say “even a blind chicken finds a kernel of corn once in a while.”
It seems pretty clear to me who the next German Finance Minister will be.
Their boss, Christian Linder, will get the job. If he doesn’t, it won’t come to this odd coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP.
Lindner and the FDP stand for low taxes, debt limitation and a hard line towards Germany’s European partners. The climate crisis is to be addressed by private investment and carbon pricing. The Greens, by contrast, have put climate first – and for that reason advocate large-scale investment, lifting Germany’s “debt brake”, and a pro-European policy that continues the steps taken in 2020 towards common, debt-financed investment policy. It is precisely in these policy areas – where the differences between the Greens (and the SPD) and the FDP are greatest – that the finance ministry is critical.
That means “citrus coalition.” The Greens have green as their party color (what a surprise) and the FDP has yellow.
Germany’s Kingmakers – Difficult Talks Ahead for Greens and Free Democrats – The Green Party and the business-friendly Free Democrats plan to hold exploratory talks with each other before meeting with the main chancellor candidates in the coming days. They appear to be worlds apart but are already finding some common ground…
FDP leader Christian Lindner also continued Monday with the message he initiated on election night: measured praise for the potential coalition partner. The Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) are not parties of change, he said. In talks between his party and the Greens, it would therefore be necessary to examine “whether, despite all the differences, this could become the progressive center of a new coalition government,” even if that seems like a bit of a stretch.
Renewables can’t generate enough energy. In Germany or elsewhere. The German “transition to renewables” isn’t doomed because it’s being done wrong. It’s doomed because our civilization can’t return to pre-modern life. Now, nuclear energy, on the other hand…
Can Germany – Europe’s biggest carbon polluter – clean up its act?
That climate change has figured prominently in the national election campaign now underway in Germany is hardly surprising.
Devastating flash floods that killed almost 200 people there this summer have focused even more attention on the issue in a country already reputed to be one of the most climate-conscious in the world. Around 50% of electricity in Germany comes from renewable energy sources, and the government in Berlin has signed up to some of the most ambitious decarbonization targets, including net-zero emissions by 2045 — five years earlier than most other developed economies…
Twenty percent of German power is generated by burning coal — about the same as in the U.S. — but a large amount of the German coal is of the most carbon polluting type, lignite…
Germany has committed to phasing out coal by 2038, but Laumanns would like to see a much quicker exit and hopes the government will be shamed into action at COP26.
“I hope that it’s going to be an international humiliation for Germany, so that this green image of Germany is corrected,” he said.
But what could be more natural than coal, right? Is wind more natural? Why? How?
Germany: Coal tops wind as primary electricity source – In the first half of 2021, coal shot up as the biggest contributor to Germany’s electric grid, while wind power dropped to its lowest level since 2018. Officials say the weather is partly to blame.
The weather made us do it, the Greens will now explain. Like, duh. Are they finally starting to figure it out? The weather always makes us do it. The climate even (weather over time). It’s called not wanting to freeze to death.
The German Greens reassure their voters. To save the planet and all that.
But their voters are finally starting to get restless. Even Good Green Germans may stop doing what they’re told at one point.
Not easy voting green: Germans wary of getting climate bill – Climate change is among the top concerns for Germans going into this month’s national election, which will determine who replaces Angela Merkel as chancellor.
“They don’t say enough where the money is going to come from.”
They couldn’t have reached this low without you, Angie. And everybody here in Germany knows it.
This is where seventeen years of “taking the wind out of the opponent’s sails” slaps back in your face. You’ve turned what was once a conservative CDU/CSU into another SPD (Social Democrats – bourgeois socialists). You’re greener than the Greens. The Free Democrat FDP who stuck to their guns are back and more liberal (in the good sense) than ever but don’t have to have you as coalition partner anymore. Many staunch conservatives who still could jumped your CDU/CSU ship and are now with the EVIL AfD who no one will work with because nobody, your party included, likes competition, so they must be EVIL. And nobody likes the Mini-Merkel-Man you selected to succeed you. Other than that, though, things are looking good. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Merkel implores Germans to back conservatives as they hit record low – Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned plea to German voters on Tuesday to back her would-be successor Armin Laschet at this month’s national election, as an opinion poll showed support for their conservatives slumping to an all-time low.
The Forsa poll for RTL/n-tv put support for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) at 25%, extending their lead over the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, who dropped 2 points from the previous week to 19%, which n-tv said was a record trough.
As a first step. There will soon be new measures to follow. Remember: We’re only doing this for your own good.
Berlin’s university canteens go almost meat-free as students prioritise climate – The 34 outlets catering to students at four universities will offer only a single meat option four days a week.
The 34 canteens and cafes catering to Berlin’s sizeable student population at four different universities will offer from October a menu that is 68% vegan, 28% vegetarian, and 2% fish-based, with a single meat option offered four days a week.
That’s what the German voter wants. Or at least that’w what the German Greens think they want.
I knew they’d shoot themselves in the foot before the upcoming election but that they could shoot themselves three or four times was beyond my wildest dreams.
German Greens under fire over 19th-century folk song in election ad – Greens go for wide appeal with reworked campfire song with no mention of devastating floods.
The original song, Kein Schöner Land in dieser Zeit (there is no country more beautiful than ours at this time) – still a popular campfire song and widely sung by scouts – celebrates the gathering of friends in nature one summer’s evening. They declare that with God’s grace they will continue to meet in this way in the future.
Observing Hermann 