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Essay on Contemporary Knowledge-prize “courage to Sustainability”
Recently I met a good friend in café of Bioshop. We once again chatted about local transport and climate policy. Luisa is very interested in it, riding a lot of bike, even in bad wear. She chooses Greens. After an hour, Luisa stood up and said, “Well, I’m going to go over to Lidl now, and I wanted to buy nuts.” I said, “They’re in grocery store, too.”
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Luisa: “Yes, but y’re so expensive.”
I was somewhat irritated by this answer, because her husband is a manager and a top earner, and she also deserves an above-average salary in an advertising agency. I could not help commenting, “You have money without end, what do you care a few euros more or less? Actually, you could shop for whole family at grocery store, and in your budget budget extra costs would hardly be noticed. “
“That’s right,” said Luisa, “but I’m in it. I was so educated. “
Michael Kopatz
Is project manager for energy, transport and climate policy at Wuppertal Institute. In his book Ökoroutine, he shows that environmentally friendly behavior is not caused by moral appeals. It is better to change conditions, for example by increasing standards for products.
Luisa is in good company: Many people don’t do what y think is right. More than 90 percent of Germans can imagine spending significantly more money on good meat, but only four percent really do. Surveys also show that people want to have a lot less cars in cities. Nine out of ten welcome an ambitious climate protection policy. Alone, start with yourself, that only few want.
The campaigns and educational initiatives of past 30 years have not changed this much. On contrary: flats, TVs and refrigerators are becoming increasingly larger. Cars today are twice as heavy and numerous as in 1980s. Flown is as much as never before.
At same time, many people seem to be able to live with blatant contradictions. They love ir domestic dog and at same time place cheap sausages from martial livestock on 800-euro-grill. This form of living schizophrenia is also dominated by many politicians. They are vehemently demanding climate protection and are building new roads and airstripes year after year. They say goodbye to noise protection plans in order to reject tempo 30 zones immediately reafter. Some complain of nitrate pollution of groundwater and encourage parallel livestock farming and export of meat.
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In turn, companies refer to responsibility of consumers at every opportunity. Ultimately, only what is bought will be produced. But it’s not that simple. The industry spends more than 30 billion euros per year on advertising, so people buy things y don’t really need. We toiled to shop. All material consumption does not make us happier. Happiness is not as arbitrary as an increase.
The consumer has power, it likes to say. Or: The turnaround must take place in minds! If I were a lobbyist for Volkswagen, I would have to think of exactly such proverbs. The car makers cannot do anything better. Consumers are responsible for global warming, y buy SUVs. They also buy cheap meat. Farmers only deliver what everyone wants. This is very convenient for producers. You can stick to your business models and only have to worry about your profits.
