There seem to be worlds of difference between December 2006, when I started writing for the Club of Pioneers, and today - as far as climate and environmental issues are concerned. After Al Gore’s documentation, the first expert findings of the IPCC report were revealed to the public, while debate about CO2 emissions and new momentum for the environment were initiated by Angela Merkel in Berlin and Tony Blair in London as they tried to outdo each other. During celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome the urgency of a common European environmental and climate policy was emphasized in the speeches.In my first blog I wrote of the small things that every one of us could do. Such appeals often sound inadequate in the face of the global magnitude of expected climate changes. Magazines and newspapers are full of tips about “how we can combat climate change”. Such small attempts at energy conservation that can be achieved in every household, when consolidated, could at least contribute toward the deceleration of climate change. The electric light bulb is a fitting example here. The most important thing is that these small ecologisms have become respectable – even lovers of fast driving are debating in online forums about how to save fuel and drive efficiently. But beside these small steps we need a global agenda, very simply because climate changes do not stop at national borders. When the world’s most powerful meet together, climate change is one of their topics on the agenda, and it appears that the heads of state must demonstrate to one another that in their respective countries there are lots of green ideas and action – see Tony Blair and Angela Merkel. Deutsche Fassung:Zwischen Dezember letzten Jahres, als ich begonnen habe für den Club of Pioneers zu schreiben und heute, scheinen in klima- und umweltpolitischer Hinsicht Welten zu liegen:
Nach der Dokumentation von Al Gore kamen die ersten Erkenntnisse des IPCC-Berichts an die Öffentlichkeit, die Debatte über CO2-Emissionen und die neue umweltpolitischen Impulse, bei denen sich Frau Merkel in Berlin und Tony Blair in London gegenseitig zu übertreffen suchten. Bei den Feierlichkeiten zum 50. Jahrestag der Unterzeichnung der Römischen Verträge, der Gründung der Europäischen Union, wurde unter anderem von der Dringlichkeit einer gemeinsamen europäischen Umwelt- bzw. Klimapolitik gesprochen.In einem meiner ersten Blogs habe ich von den kleinen Dingen gesprochen, die jeder und jede von uns tun kann: Gerade solche Appelle klangen oft als zu wenig Erfolg versprechend, angesichts des globalen Ausmaßes der zu erwartenden Klimaveränderung. Mittlerweile sind vor allem die Magazine und Zeitungen voll mit Tipps „Was wir gegen den Klimawandel tun können“. Gerade die kleinen Energieeinsparungen, die jeder Haushalt leisten kann, könnten in ihrer Summe den Klimawandel zumindest verlangsamen. Das Beispiel der Glühbirne ist hier ganz passend. Das wichtigste ist hierbei, dass diese kleinen Ökologismen mittlerweile salonfähig sind: Selbst Freunde des schnellen Fahrstils debattieren mittlerweile in Online-Foren darüber, wie man Sprit sparen und effizient fahren kann.Neben diesen kleinen Schritten brauchen wir aber die globale Agenda, ganz einfach, weil Klimaveränderungen nicht vor Ländergrenzen halt machen. Auch wenn die Mächtigen der Welt sich treffen, ist der Klimawandel ein Thema, das auf der Tagesordnung ist und es scheint, dass sich die Staatschef gegenseitig beweisen müssen, dass in ihren Ländern grün gedacht und gehandelt wird – siehe Tony Blair und Angela Merkel.

Christoph Metzelder and Alex Goerlach
After an injury in the past year you have returned to the playing field. How are things now?Thanks, I’m doing well again and happy that I can play again. I’m grateful in every respect to my doctors and other assistants.
In the period of recuperating from your injury you became involved in the Club of Pioneers. That sounds like being ill is a good condition for thinking about climate protection and sustainability. I don’t really think that there is a connection between the two. Climate protection is a subject for me whether I am healthy or sick. To be sure, when you are forced to slow down because of an injury, then there is more time to think about yourself and your life. It doesn’t really belong to the main task of a competitive athlete to discuss issues of environmental protection…This topic should concern all of us! Since I began blogging for the Club of Pioneers in December, amazing things have happened. The topic of climate change and how to combat it is resounding everywhere. The climate conference of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris at the beginning of February has shown that we have no more time to postpone solutions till some later date.What can athletes and other prominent people like you do?

In general we have many fans and even a whole string of fan clubs. Those are the forums in which I can arouse attention to the subjects that are important to me. In my Web site www.metzelder.de there is, for example, a link to the Club of Pioneers. And so, many of my fans come in contact with my blog at Club of Pioneers and are confronted with my way of thinking and position on these matters.Are you able to come to terms with the idea of “sustainable lifestyle”?I think that most people – including myself – do not want to abandon their standard of living. But at the same time they don’t want to enjoy their lifestyle at the expense of God's creation or the coming generation. Technical progress is in principle positive, but it must be used responsibly. I view this in the exact same way. This has nothing to do with a particular political opinion, but with rationality. Can you give us an example?For instance, driving a car. I like to be mobile and really enjoy the technology of a car, also a certain amount of comfort and good design. But a car must be eco-friendly. Therefore I am interested in alternative forms of combustion and would be delighted to test drive the BMW Hydrogen 7 model. Is climate protection the only area in which you are involved?I am also involved in the area of work with underprivileged children and youth. For me it is important to be able to offer a perspective to the upcoming generation. We need to make it possible for boys and girls to develop their abilities in school and training and to play a part in society. But for that to happen, we need to turn a world over to them in which they can live naturally and without detriment. To me both of these areas belong together.Interview: Alex Goerlach

Children are important, and it is a misfortune that in virtually all industrial nations the birth rate is declining. There is lots of thought and public discussion in Germany these days about the right upbringing and education for children. Often the issue is centered on values. What values are important and how should parents and society impart these values to the adolescent generation?One value that in my opinion belongs, among others, to values education, but which has not yet been taken into broad consideration, is ecological, sustainable behavior. By this I mean, for instance, respect for natural resources – frugal use of water, conscientious energy consumption (heat, electricity). Children don’t learn frugality incidentally, but more exactly when they are deliberately introduced to it, best of all by persons who lead the way by example.

But there is also the personal level on which small-scale changes can be brought about. Without wanting to become too pathetic or swinging the moral bludgeon, let me say that revolution must come from the base, from the rank and file. I, too, am conscious of the fact that we are beneficiaries of progress and mobility. So much effort has been taken off our daily workloads and made our lives easier. To call you to test yourself, in which areas you can practice environmental protection and conserve limited resources, is not my intention in this case. It is rather my objective to exchange ideas and projects, to do lobbying in a specific manner. The times have passed when a political fringe group was laughed at because it dealt with environmental protection and sustainability. Nevertheless, the problems of global “climate diplomacy” show that in all countries groundwork for an intensive and constructive discussion has not yet been sufficiently laid. And the worldwide Internet provides cross-border possibilities to discuss these topics and exchange ideas.For if the struggle against climate change should be lost due to ignorance, then that would be grossly negligent.