It has been one of those meetings were you have two days to go deeper into the topics than within a telephone or video conference. 27 Ministers of Environment from the European Union gathered in Essen, Nordrhein-Westphalia to discuss the climate politics of the continent for the next years.Club of Pioneers was there, meeting with Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Achim Steiner and Alex Goerlach
Steiner worked with the worldwide largest Environmental Protection NGO,the IUCN in Washington (D.C.) and Asia before he became Secretary General of World Commission on Dams (WCD) in Capetown. Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and CEO of Foundation on Economic Trends. In now 17 books he wrote about the changes in development, technique and the labor processes. He is an observer of the consumer society. His books are translated into 20 languages.

Jeremy Rifkin and Alex GoerlachBoth Rifkin and Steiner agreed to speak in upcoming posts of Club of Pioneers about their work and their vision for a sustainable future. During the conference they were introduced into the Hydrogen 7 of BMW and the company's vision of a future Hydrogen powered world.

Die Liberalen scheinen im politischen Berlin abgetaucht - Oppositionsdasein, Kräfte sammeln wie es heißt. Im Gespräch mit Guido Westerwelle, dem Bundesvorsitzenden der FDP wird deutlich, dass die Liberalen über ihre klassischen Politikfelder, Außen- und Wirtschaftspolitik, hinaus Akzente setzen wollen.

English version below!CoP: Im Moment scheinen sich alle Parteien ein Öko-Siegel verdienen zu wollen – wie steht es mit der FDP?WESTERWELLE: Die FDP hat Anfang der 1970er Jahre, als Hans-Dietrich Genscher Bundesinnenminister war, den Umweltschutz als politisches Thema auf die Tagesordnung gebracht. Wir haben bei ökologischer Vernunft keinen Aufholbedarf. Allerdings setzen wir beim umweltpolitischen Fortschritt mehr auf neue Technologien und gesunden Menschenverstand als auf ideologische Symbolpolitik und Gewissensberuhigung.CoP: Früher hieß es – vereinfachend gesagt – Umweltschutz kostet Arbeitsplätze. Die FDP als liberale Wirtschaftspartei schien diesem Diktum verpflichtet. Hat sich diese Maßgabe geändert?WESTERWELLE: Umweltschutz und wirtschaftliche Vernunft sind kein Widerspruch, sondern gehören zusammen, denn nur wenn sich ökologischer Fortschritt auch wirtschaftlich rechnet, wird er sich auf breiter Front durchsetzen können. Ideologie kostet Arbeitsplätze, liberale Umweltpolitik sichert und schafft sogar Arbeitsplätze.CoP: Die Grünen als klassische Umweltpartei, so schreiben manche Kommentatoren, scheinen die Zeichen der gegenwärtigen Umweltwelle zu verpassen. Sehen Sie das genauso und wenn ja, wo liegen darin die Chancen der FDP?WESTERWELLE: Die Grünen haben sieben Jahre lang als Regierungspartei bewiesen, dass eine Dosenpfandpolitik der besten Absichten das Gegenteil ist von einer Umweltpolitik der besten Ergebnisse. Wir Liberale finden immer mehr Partner für unsere rationale Umweltpolitik. Wenn wir von der Vorreiterrolle Deutschlands beim Klimaschutz sprechen, denken wir vor allem an die Forschungsmöglichkeiten, die es hierzulande gibt und die weltweit von Nutzen sein können.

CoP: Die FDP möchte ihre Umweltprogrammatik der veränderten Lage anpassen – was ist die Agenda, was sind die Ziele?WESTERWELLE: Wir setzen auf wirkungsvolle, globale Innovationen zusammen mit der Wirtschaft statt auf eine Verbotspolitik gegen den Rest der Welt. Die Welt braucht eine rasche Verringerung des Schadstoff-Ausstoßes in den aufstrebenden Wirtschaftszentren zum Beispiel Asiens. Die Chance Deutschlands liegt darin, die Technologien und Innovationen zu entwickeln und marktreif zu machen, die anschließend weltweit für weniger Schadstoffe und besseren Klimaschutz sorgen können.CoP: In welcher Weise muss die Wirtschaft – müssen Automobilhersteller – ihren Beitrag für den Klimaschutz leisten?WESTERWELLE: Die Freude am Fahren sollte mit einer Freude am Energiesparen einhergehen. Es gibt kaum eine Branche, bei der die Kunden so begeisterungsfähig für sinnvolle Neuerungen sind wie die Automobilbranche. Der Katalysator hat sich durchgesetzt, weil die Autofahrer erkannt haben, dass viel Mobilität und weniger Luftverschmutzung gut zueinander passen. Die Popularität, die das Autofahren weltweit besitzt, ist ein erstklassiger Sympathiebonus für neue Umwelt-Techniken unter der Motorhaube.CoP: Wie nehmen Sie persönlich die Neuigkeiten eines beschleunigten Klimawandels, wie sie etwa vom IPCC formuliert wurden, auf?WESTERWELLE: Ich behalte einen kühlen Kopf. Wir müssen handeln, und das rasch, aber eben nicht symbolisch, sondern handfest, und vor allem nicht nur in Deutschland, sondern mit couragierten Partnern weltweit. Unsere Umwelt braucht Herz und noch mehr Verstand.Das Interview führte Alexander Görlach

Guido Westerwelle in the Hydrogen 7
Guido Westerwelle im Hydrogen 7English Version:

 

The Liberals classically are not known for much expertise in the area of environment. Being in the opposition at the moment the Liberals under their Chairman Guido Westerwelle prepare for reattaining power and therefore occupy political territories of other parties - namely the Greens. CoP: At the moment all parties seem wanting to gain the eco-seal – how about the Liberals?In the early 1970ies when Hans-Dietrich Genscher was the Federal Minister of the Interior, the FDP put environmental protection on the agenda. Concerning ecological prudence we have nothing to catch up. As to environmental progress we do count on new technologies and common sense rather than on ideological policy of symbolism and conscience silencing.CoP: It used to be said that – put in simple terms- protecting the environment destroyed jobs. The FDP as a liberal business party seemed to be committed to this dictum. Did the conditions change?Environmental protection and financial prudence are in no contradiction with each other, because only when ecological progress is economical, it can prevail across-the-board. Ideology destroys jobs, liberal environment policy secures and even creates jobs.CoP: The green party being the classical environment party – according to some commentators – seem to miss the actual environmental movement. Would you agree and if so, in which ways does this present an opportunity for the FDP?For seven years, the Greens – being the governing party - have proved that a can-deposit policy, while carried out with the best intentions is the exact opposite of successful environmental policy. We, the Liberals, are finding more and more partners for our rational environmental policy. When speaking of Germany’s pioneer role in climate protection, we primarily think of the research possibilities we have in Germany and that can avail universally.CoP: The FDP wants to adjust its environmental long-term objectives to the changed situation – what is the agenda, and what are the aims?We focus on effective, global innovations, combined with economy rather a policy of prohibition against the rest of the world. The world needs a fast reduction of noxious emissions in the evolving business centres of Asia, for instance. Germany’s opportunity herein is to develop marketable technologies and innovations that will globally contribute to the reduction of pollution and better climate protection.

CoP: In what manner does the economy – the automobile producers – have to contribute to climate protection?Driving pleasure should go hand in hand with a joy of saving energy. There is hardly an industrial sector where customers are as enthusiastic about useful innovations as in the automotive industry. The catalytic converter has asserted itself because drivers realized that a high amount of mobility and a small amount of air pollution go well together. The popularity of driving throughout the world adds to the sympathy of new environmental-friendly automobile technologies.CoP: How do you, personally, perceive the news of the accelerated climate change, as put out by the IPPC?I keep a clear head. We have to act, and we have to act fast, not in a symbolic manner but in a very tangible way – not only on Germany, but with courageous partners throughout the world. Our environment needs our heart, and even more so, our understanding.Interview by Alex Goerlach

Climate change: Everyone talks about it, only a few people live with it (and its consequences) - so far. The ones feeling the effects of climate change, other environmental and social conditions normally don’t get the opportunity or have the ability to talk about it: rural, mostly poor and so called disadvantaged groups of people. The project PhotoVoice tries to fix this imbalance by giving them a voice – through pictures, not taken of them but by them. The concept is as simple as it is smart: the program acknowledges the power of visuals in nowadays world, understands and evaluates the knowledge and deep feeling of humans living in specific situations and environments. People in the target group get trained in photojournalism, in a next step the images produced by them are getting promoted through the web, newsletters, mainstream media, development media, events and exhibitions – providing an access channel to the decision makers affecting those people’s lives. Founded in 1998 the project already won several awards -among them the Wavemakers Award and the arts, culture and heritage category at the Charity Awards for Transparency. Since 1999 PhotoVoice, based in London, UK, has initiated over 15 projects working in 12 different countries pioneering the use of photography with refugee groups, rural groups, street children and special needs groups. Partnership projects included those with UNICEF and Amnesty International. One of the projects dealing with natural conservation and environmental awareness is called “The Kashmir Seasons Project”. Giving the cameras in 150 children’s hands, they got the chance to document the different seasons in earthquake affected Kashmir. The goal: to educate about how nature can absolute devastate if we don't take care of what we have. But PhotoVoice wants more than that: it aims to promote Self-Development through encouraging participants to gain confidence in their capabilities and their role in civil society.
It tries to promote Advocacy through enabling participants to become advocates for change.
And, last but not least, PhotoVoice projects may also result in a better standard of living by selling and marketing images produced by PhotoVoice participants on their behalf.Fotos: Website

David Cameron is the front-runner of the Conservatives in the race to succeed Tony Blair. Cameron knows that his party needs to perform well after years in the opposition, and above all, they need a hot topic. Cameron has found that topic – climate protection. For instance Cameron likes to talk in pre-election campaigns in London about the “green economy for a green future”.

David Cameron on an adventure-, ecologist expedition in Norway.“Climate change is our burden of debt to future generations,” he states on such occasions. He speaks of the approximate 15,000 species that are in danger of extinction due to climate change. Threatened with extinction because of “the ruthless human exploitation of resources in our common home or fraternity.” Journalists in the United Kingdom are picking up the term “fraternity” and commenting on it. It is a term that normally does not appear in the vocabulary of traditional conservative politicians.As in Germany, where for a long time the conservative Christian Democrats had considered environmental policies to be poison to the economy, so the conservatives in England are now advancing in the direction of sustainable ecological and economic policies. Since the chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern calculated for Blair’s government how much climate change would cost the economy, if it does not undertake any solutions, both political camps in that country – socialists and conservatives - have announced their political shift at least verbally. Competition livens up business, and therefore both political parties have climbed into the ring and are disputing with one another about the severity of environmental and sustainable policies. The Brits, however, who experienced no “green movement” in the 80’s as the Germans did, are approaching this new complex of topics little by little. Objective observers in that land have already spotted a winner in the political trend toward ecology – Nature itself. They cannot assess, however, whether the topic of climate protection and sustainability will help the conservative candidate David Cameron to an election victory.

The “Blauer Engel” – Blue Angel – is the oldest eco-seal of approval. Created in 1977 the seal affirms to his beholder to be of an excellent ecological quality. About 3.600 products and services from approximately 580 label users in Germany and abroad are entitled to bear the Blue Angel. The Blue Angel promotes the concerns of both environmental protection and consumer protection. Therefore it is awarded to products and services which are particularly beneficial for the environment in an all-round consideration and which also fulfil high standards of occupational health and safety and fitness for use. Economical use of raw materials, production, usage, service life and disposal – all these factors are assigned a high importance.According to the demands of the new green movement the seal is about to combine the needs of ecology with the terms of economy. If you go on buying more than one product, carrying the Blue Angel, you will get a discount of 15 percent, the Frankfurter Rundschau reported in their paper of April 3rd. To collect scores for this discount you get a voucher broschure. The broschure is a new offline initiative. On the site www.Blauer-Engel.de
however you find all information on eco-products you can possibly think off.The Blue Angel environmental label is the property of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety. It is sponsored and administered by the German Federal Environmental Agency and the quality assurance and product labelling institute RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. All technical demands placed on products and services for the award of the Environmental Label are decided by the independent Environmental Label jury.

Every year in Spain more apartments are built than in France, England and Germany put together. Spain’s construction industry is booming, not least because many people are acquiring a secondary residence for themselves in that beautiful country.

The Spanish City Cadiz seen from the sea.However, construction is taking place not only on legally designated land. The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported in the March 28 issue that between 2005 and 2006 Spanish environmental police discovered around 13,000 illegal construction operations. This building boom is going on at the expense of Nature. And the Spanish newspaper “El Pais” reported at the beginning of March that ten nature conservation areas are being endangered by illegal construction – building that is manifestly against the effective environmental protection laws. Sometimes illegal land-grabs are even being authorized retroactively. The FAZ writes that last year the regional government of the province Cadiz authorized 15,000 illegally constructed houses and apartments. Due to construction, surfaces are sealed and can no longer absorb water. Many regions are already complaining about chronic lack of water in the hot summer months. An obvious connection between the construction boom and water shortage does not seem to enter the minds of those in authority. Spain’s pleasurable place in the sun could be a thing of the past in coming decades. Christina Narbona, Spain’s Minister of Environment, announced the results of the United Nations climate study in February, whereby in Spain the temperature could increase by between four and seven degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

So what we need is atmosphere control. Controlling means sensing and actuating. We need to know the actual state of the atmosphere, compare it with an established standard and to have the means to modify it accordingly. This sounds easy, but is awfully difficult. Atmosphere is a global system. How can we measure atmospheric constituents entirely? What are acceptable limits for garbage constituents? And once we know the unwanted constituents and their wanted levels, how can nations ensure that every one sticks to reducing the un-wanted garbage? Let’s start with the first step: How can we measure garbage concentrations globally? Take a probe here, take a probe there? Even if we would do that at thousands of sampling stations worldwide, would this give us the overall concentrations? No, because we would also have to climb mountains and even would have to go much higher at any place to sample the entire atmosphere. What we rather need is a globally integrating sensor. We do have sensors like this. They are called environmental satellites. The most sophisticated of these is the European Environmental Satellite, ENVISAT. ENVISAT constantly monitors our atmosphere and Earth’s surface properties from space since March 2002. It is the biggest one as well, com-parable with a truck: 10 meters long, 3 meters wide, and weighting 8 tons. With 2.3 Billion Euros it was also by far the most expensive.