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CLIMATE CRISIS

Last Generation climate activists plan to bring Berlin to a ‘standstill’

Starting on Wednesday, April 19th, climate activists from the group Last Generation (Letzte Generation) are gathering members from across Germany for a series of actions attempting to bring the capital to a “standstill”.

Last Generation street gluing action
Last Generation members glued themselves by Berlin's Ernst Reuter Platz at the end of March. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Paul Zinken

“We will come to Berlin and bring the city to a standstill in order to get the government to move forward,” Lilly Schubert, the press spokesperson for Berlin, told The Local.

As of Monday, more than 800 people from around the country had signed up, with the numbers continuing to grow, according to Schubert.

Starting on Wednesday, the activists are planning protests and “civil resistance” in the capital’s government district (Regierungsviertel). 

READ ALSO: Climate activists glue themselves to roads across Germany

A rally at the Brandenburg Gate is then slated for Sunday, April 23rd, followed by “blockade actions” throughout the city in the coming week

“We will be everywhere in Berlin with as many people as possible – in the first days mainly in the government district and in the core of the city,” said Schubert.

The climate activists have earned the nickname ‘climate stickers’ (Klimakleber) due to frequently gluing themselves to roads and infrastructure in an attempt to stymie traffic and gain attention. 

The goal of the upcoming actions, as with their other protests, is to convince the government to enforce a speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour on the Autobahn, and issue a nationwide €9 ticket that can be used on all local and regional transport. 

The activists are also calling for an emergency ‘social council of experts’ to figure out a plan to end the use of fossil fuels in Germany by 2030, and stick to the limits of the Paris climate agreement

How effective will the protests be?

The group, which says it has 300 members in Berlin, have already carried out several actions in capital, ranging from climbing the Brandenburg Gate to unfurl signs to gluing the themselves to the ground at BER and stopping planes from landing.

Mobility researcher Andreas Knie from the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) told Morgenpost he did not think that the climate protesters would be large enough in numbers to stop all traffic amid their upcoming actions, even if they caused an inconvenience.

However, he added that, “if politicians continue to refuse to find compromises and instead decide to save internal combustion engines, only reduce CO2 emissions to a limited extent and dismiss climate activists as criminals,” the Last Generation movement will only grow larger.

Berlin’s police have previously called for the activists to face seven days of detention following their road-blocking protest actions, which the group themselves bills as peaceful but that opponents say put the public in potentially dangerous and costly traffic situations.

READ ALSO: Berlin police call for consequences as climate protesters glue themselves to streets

A Last Generation activist glues his hand to the street in Munich in November.

A Last Generation activist glues his hand to the street in Munich in November. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Lennart Preiss

According to Last Generation on their website, at least five people are needed to block an eight-metre wide road with three lanes.

For smaller roads with two lanes, they called on at least four people to fully stop all traffic.

With 160 people, depending on the distribution, between 32 and 40 blockades could take place at the same time or spread over the day, according to Last Generation. 

PODCAST: Has a decade of the AfD changed Germany, and why is Berlin repeating elections?

The duration of a blockade usually lasts between 15 minutes to more than an hour, depending on how long it takes the police to intervene.

Berlin’s fire brigade said it is already preparing for potential public safety hazards.

“We have discussed distributing the rescue vehicles differently in the city,” says Manuel Barth, spokesman for the German firefighters’ union in Berlin-Brandenburg.

“Even if the vehicles are distributed in various locations, the fear is there that the city motorway will still be blocked at some point,” says Barth. “The action is likely to significantly hamper Berlin in terms of safety.”

Activists of the “Last Generation” movement stuck to the A100 and A115 in Berlin on Monday.

Activists of the “Last Generation” movement stuck to the A100 and A115 in Berlin.
Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jörg Carstensen

‘Solutions for society’

Fellow climate protest movement Fridays for Future also criticised the group for “creating divisions.”

“The climate crisis needs solutions for society as a whole, and we can only find and fight for them together, not by turning people against each other in everyday life,” said spokesperson Annika Rittmann.

In Hamburg, for example, the blockages particularly affected low income earners who can’t afford to live in the centre of the Harbour City, and who have limited options to get there with public transport due to its lack of expansion, she said.

“Something similar is to be feared in Berlin,” amid the upcoming actions, added Rittmann.

READ ALSO: Fridays for Futures criticises Berlin’s Letzte Generation climate protesters

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PROPERTY

Why it’s hard to find an apartment with air conditioning in Germany

When temperatures start to get up to 30C or more in Germany, a familiar debate begins. It often starts with a simple question, asked by a new arrival to the country: “Why don’t German homes have air conditioning?”

Why it's hard to find an apartment with air conditioning in Germany

The tendency to avoid air conditioning (A/C) is not uniquely a German trend. Europeans tend to use A/C less than residents in the US, and some countries in Asia.

But as temperatures have crept slowly upwards due to climate change, and the number of hot days has increased, Europe has seen an increase in demand for air conditioning. Across the continent A/C use has more than doubled since 1990.

But A/C is used much more commonly in countries that see higher temperatures like Spain, Italy or France, whereas it is still uncommon in homes in Germany.

So why does Germany tend to lack air conditioning, and why aren’t more Germans interested in installing it?

It’s not a ‘hot’ country

Ask a German why air conditioning is so rare in the country, and you’ll probably hear some version of “Well Germany is not such a hot country.” Which may be true generally, but is a less than convincing explanation if you hear it on a sunny summer day when it’s 35C outside.

But it is worth keeping in mind that while Germany does have warm summers, often with at least a couple heat waves, super hot days are few compared to warmer countries, like those in southern Europe. 

Given Germany’s weather can really only be described as hot for a few weeks out of each year, and considering the costs of installing and running air conditioning, most Germans figure it’s not worth it.

attic with sliding window

A sliding attic window is designed to help tenants cool off, but it won’t help to open windows during the hottest part of the day. Photo: pa/obs LiDEKO | LiDEKO

This isn’t only reserved for homes, but extends to plenty of public spaces including office and government buildings, and to some public transportation as well. 

In fact, schools and workplaces do occasionally call it quits during hot weather spells in an event called hitzefrei.

READ ALSO: Ditching AC for ‘Hitzefrei’ – Taking on the German summer as a Californian

Air conditioning is energy intensive and expensive

The other side of the argument against air conditioning is that both installation and operating costs can be expensive. Air conditioning tends to be energy inefficient, so using it can significantly increase your utility bill.

From an environmental point of view, all the energy used for air conditioning, if Germany was to start installing A/C at scale, would add to the country’s energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions – both of which Germany is already struggling to cut down year after year as part of its climate goals.

It is an ironic feature of traditional air conditioning that it creates a negative feedback loop: More people rely on air conditioning to stay cool as weather warms, but weather continues warming in part due to emissions from air conditioning.

That said there are cases where access to air conditioning can save lives. In particular elderly people and those with health-risks are prone to heat sensitivity. So while it’s probably good that not every house in Germany has A/C, it’s important that hospitals and some other buildings in a given city do.

READ ALSO: How German cities are adapting to rising temperatures

‘Cold air makes you sick’

Along with the reasonable (if debatable) reasons for the lack of A/C in Germany, there are also cultural factors.

On the social media website Reddit, a user posted the question, “Will more places in Germany start using air conditioning?”

One of the top comments read, “Don’t you know cold air makes you sick….says Oma (the German word for grandma). 

While that comment comes off a bit tongue in cheek, it touches on a real and deeply-ingrained belief that persists among parts of the German population: That exposure to cold, or even maybe a cool breeze, is bad for your health. This includes a draft in your house, called a Durchzug in German.

For this reason, the German Red Cross felt compelled to debunk the Durchzug health myth in a hot weather warning they issued in 2019.

a heat pump is installed

An employee inspects a heat pump in front of a newly built residential building. Heat pumps are also effective for cooling. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd Weißbrod

What can you do about the heat?

Regardless of where you stand on the air conditioning debate, if you don’t have a personal A/C unit at home presently, the best way to endure the hottest days of summer may be to take a few tips from the locals.

During my first summer in Germany, I took to leaving the windows open throughout the day, thinking that the occasional warm breeze was the best relief I could hope for at home. But one day my landlord came by and asked me why I was suffering in the heat with the windows open.

He recommended that I instead leave the windows open at night or in the early morning to get some fresh cool air inside, and then keep all the windows closed through the heat of the day. I tried this strategy the next day, and immediately felt that he was right.

Compared to homes in the US, for instance, German homes tend to be very well insulated. This can be equally important in the summer as it means that the interior tends to stay cooler than the outside (as long as you keep it mostly sealed off).

On extremely hot days, you might even keep your shutters down to shade the windows and prevent the sun from shining through.

Of course the effectiveness of the strategy depends on having a home that’s well insulated, including double paned windows and well-sealed doors etc. If you feel that the inside of your house is getting as warm or warmer than the outside, then it’s probably time to open up the windows or go outside and sit in the shade.

Fans are also useful. Best is a ceiling fan designed to rotate counter-clockwise to push air downward, which can maximise wind chill within a home, but floor fans can also help.

Ironically, in the longer term it may actually be heat pumps that help Germany to modernise its cooling infrastructure. 

Heat pumps maximise the efficiency of heating systems by moving warm air around a building, and they can also work with cooling systems. Many heat pump systems on the market today are already built to support both heating and cooling functions, and they are much more energy efficient than classic air condition systems.

READ ALSO: Who can apply for Germany’s new heat pump grants for homes?

Unfortunately for tenants with no heat pump and no A/C, the best you can do for now is take notes of cool places in your city where you can relax in the shade or in the water during the hottest hours or the hottest days.

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