Activist Lisa Storcks is challenging Chancellor Angela Merkel

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Angela Merkel gave Lisa Storcks 2017 in the television, the promise that Germany reaches climate goals for 2020. Now it looks as if Merkel would break that promise. Lisa Storcks do not.

Lisa Storck calls on the Cologne-based climate demonstration by Angela Merkel, the observance of your promise

During a TV broadcast ahead of the election to the Bundestag with Angela Merkel, the then-23-year-old environmental activist Lisa Storcks took a little nervous about the microphone. Storcks asked the Chancellor when the Coal phase-to begin, to Germany, to reach the climate target for 2020.

“We will find ways in which we comply with by 2020 our 40-percent target. I promise you,” replied Merkel.

Read more: How green is Barack Obama?

With this promise Lisa Storcks in Germany. The young student requires responsibility on the part of Merkel to prevent a Failure of climate policy. “It was crazy, that she promised me that she promises that the Federal government would achieve their goals,” says Lisa Storcks to the DW.

Half a year after this promise, the government gave up on the climate objectives. “That was disappointing for me. However, it was also quite surprising. During the TV debate, many knew that it will be difficult to achieve these goals. But we should at least try to achieve it, rather than abandon it,” Storcks.

More: German Council of economic experts urges the Federal government to hurry

Life and thinking for a sustainable future

Lisa Storcks is thinking of the environment since she was twelve years old. She decided then to live up to it, went on her first Demos, to rose to a vegetarian diet and is never flown.

In Berlin and Cologne, around 36,000 people are calling for the exit of the fast Carbon and a policy for climate protection

She is active in the youth organization of the WWF, leads youth groups and taking care of the online article. Also in the case of Greenpeace, she is active and launched on their University of a campaign for a so-called Divestment. They called on the Uni, your Bank accounts to be disclosed and financial assets from a company to deduct the earn with fossil energies is still your money.

Storcks think, but, want bridges to build between environmental activism and a realistic Economy of thought. Currently she is writing her master’s thesis in Economic Policy Consulting at the Ruhr-University of Bochum. In addition, she oversees the network for Plural Economics, the experts from diverse fields to bring together, with the aim of spreading more understanding of a sustainable economy.

It is not just a page

Storcks want an economy that accepts the limitations of this earth – especially in the area of energy supply. “I don’t know, this roller is easy. It is not just a page of the environment or the economy.”

Think long term: Healthy environment and healthy economy go together for Lisa Storcks

The 24-Year-old wants to understand both sides. You want to create mutual understanding between people with alternative, green Ideal and the real world, which is determined by the Economy.

“If you want to protect the environment and the climate, then you have to go where the voice has a weight and change.” For Storcks, there are still many challenges: environmental issues need to be brought to the front. “Politicians and Economists only think in the short term, and care more for money than for the building of a sustainable system,” she says. A Problem is also that the negative consequences of the economy are not always so easily visible.

“The grey gentlemen burn our future”: The movement against short-term profits to grow

“We have to defend ourselves”

Lisa Storcks coordinated demonstrations, write petitions, is active on the network, integrates with other young people and politicians. Nevertheless, she still finds the time, your master’s thesis to finish. “The commitment is for me no work at all, it’s like my Hobby. I want to raise awareness of sustainability in everyday life.”

A stable climate is crucial for the future of their Generation. For Lisa Storcks this is an incentive: “We are affected by climate change already solid. Now we need to open our mouths and resist this.”

On the other hand, but also aware that life in Germany is relatively comfortable. Hence, the strong desire to get involved, especially for a sustainable future and justice for adults. “It is our privilege and our responsibility in the industrial countries. We have caused the climate chaos and the need to do something about it. We live a good life at the expense of the poorer countries, and in the end, these feel a lot stronger, the effects of climate change than we are.”


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    1. Less coal, Oil and Gas

    The majority of greenhouse gases come from power plants, industry and transport. The Heating of buildings causes six per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Who uses energy-efficient, and coal, Oil and Gas, one part, protects the climate.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    2. Clean can generate electricity by itself

    Power, meanwhile, has to come from coal-, Oil – and gas-fired power plants. There are Alternatives – and are now even in most cases cheaper. Electricity is easy to produce and, often, more than you need. On the roofs, there are solar modules, plenty of space, the technology is well established.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    3. Good ideas

    More and more municipalities, companies, and cooperatives to invest in renewable energy and sell clean electricity. This solar Park is one of Saerbeck. The German community, with 7200 inhabitants, produces more electricity than it needs and is a role model. Here, a Delegation from the US just to visit.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    4. No money for climate-polluting companies

    More and more citizens, pension funds, insurance companies, universities, and cities pull their money from fossil fuel companies. Münster in Germany is the first city that joined the so-called Divestment movement. In the world have done this now 57 cities. The global movement has great momentum, also because everyone can join in.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    5. Require to bike, Bus and train

    Bikes, Bus and train will save a lot of CO2. In comparison to the car a Bus is five Times more climate-friendly and an electrically-powered train with green energy even more than 20 Times. In Amsterdam the majority of citizens ride a Bicycle. The city with wide bike paths and bike roads, that goes well.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    6. Don’t fly

    Fly very climate is harmful. The facts show the Dilemma: To comply with the climate targets everyone on the planet should cause, on average, less than two tonnes of CO2 per year. A return flight between Berlin and New York, already a climate effect of 6.5 tonnes of CO2 per Person.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    7. Eat less meat

    For the climate, agriculture is also a Problem. In rice cultivation, and in the stomachs of cattle, sheep and goats, the very climate-damaging Gas, methane. Critical livestock husbandry and growing worldwide meat consumption is also due to the increasing demand for soy for the feeding. For soybean cultivation, forests are cleared.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    8. Organic food to buy

    Particularly climate-damaging nitrous oxide. Its share of the global greenhouse effect is six percent. It is produced in power plants and engines, but especially because of synthetic fertilizers in industrial agriculture. In organic farming these are prohibited and therefore less nitrous oxide is released. This helps to protect the climate.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    9. Build sustainably and consume

    In the manufacture of steel and cement much CO2 is produced, when growth of wood and bamboo, CO2 is bound. The conscious choice of building materials helps the climate, the same applies for the consumer. For a Massage and hair style, you need no fossil energy, for plastic cups that end up every day in the garbage, a lot of.


  • What you can do for climate protection?

    10. Take responsibility

    How to avoid greenhouse gases, so that all the world’s children and their children live without a climate disaster, right? These students are fascinated by clean energy and see it as a Chance for their future. Anyone can help, that this is possible.

    Author: Gero Rueter