Pope welcomes frequent-flyer climate hypocrite into Vatican to promote new environmental encyclical. She thinks having children damages the planet.
Environmental protection is a matter close to the Pope's heart. That is why the head of the Church will publish a continuation of his encyclical "Laudato si" in the coming days. A climate activist from Germany will also speak at the presentation.
German climate protection activist Luisa Neubauer will speak at the Vatican on the Pope's new environmental letter. The Vatican press office lists her as a participant in a press conference entitled "Laudate Deum: Voices and Testimonies on the Climate Crisis" next Thursday. A day earlier, the sequel to Francis' 2015 environmental encyclical "Laudato si" is due to be released. The letter is entitled "Laudate Deum" ("Praise God"). It is intended to take into account the latest developments on the topic of environmental and climate protection.
In addition to the German Fridays for Future activist, other participants in the conversation include the Italian Nobel laureate in physics Giorgio Parisi and the Indian environmental activist Ridhima Pandey. The Pope had recently spoken sympathetically about young climate activists while flying back from a visit to Mongolia. He said that they were fighting out of concern for their future, and that this was basically a good thing. However, he rejects any form of extremism.
Some background on the sort of extremist that Pope Francis is happy to encourage. She has also been attacked many times in Germany over the great fondness for long-haul flights.
Don't have children for the climate? Lanz puts Luisa Neubauer under pressure
The 23-year-old climate activist Luisa Neubauer got into trouble with Markus Lanz. The ZDF presenter wanted to hear a clear answer to a controversial passage in her new book - and the discussion reached a heated climax.
On Tuesday evening, Markus Lanz had Luisa Neubauer as a guest on his ZDF talk show. The 23-year-old climate activist is the face of the German “Fridays for Future” movement. The reason for her invitation and the main topic of the conversation with her: the book “From the End of the Climate Crisis – A Story of Our Future”, which Neubauer wrote together with the political economist Alexander Repenning.
At its core, this book is a good thing, Lanz said during the program. However, the moderator was so offended by one passage that he continued to probe further and further - until Neubauer was visibly annoyed by it.
“And then there is a sentence that disturbed me a bit.”
“They say we have to think more radically, we have to take a more radical approach,” Lanz began. “They say we also need to look at demographics: this is one of the causes of climate change. And then there is a sentence that disturbed me a bit, I have to be honest: the most CO2-intensive thing is, so to speak, to bring a child into the world. Nothing uses more CO2 than the birth of a child. What does this mean for you?”
The climate activist initially replied: “Well, the fact that man-made climate change is man-made and that people are somehow at the core of the problem is not an extraordinary statement.” You also dealt with demographic questions in the book, precisely because that is central. “How do we manage to feed 10 billion people on a planet with finite resources? How do we manage to make society sustainable?”
“Is it still responsible to bring young people into this world?”
Lanz was not satisfied with this answer and asked: “I think we have to be precise about this. Now you can put that into perspective a bit. In your book you ask the following question: Is having children responsible towards our fellow human beings, since statistically nothing leaves a larger carbon footprint than a child?”
Neubauer then explained that she was asked about this by many young women in Germany: “They come to me and say: 'Luisa, is it still responsible to bring a child into the world?'” It wasn't just about that many people and their emissions. “The central question that really arises for young women is: Is it still responsible to bring young people into this world who will have to struggle with this crisis all their lives? And I don't know..."
Lanz interrupted her and wanted to know what she would say to them. Neubauer spoke of confidence and that “we are currently at a scientific crossroads” – with many opportunities to shape the future. “And that is, at this point I encourage women to fight with us for this change and to shape these futures so that at some point we are at a point where we can say: Yes, we have the crisis under control, we engage in crisis management.”
Neubauer: “Sorry, it’s not that easy”
Lanz continued to insist: “Again, that is not the answer to the question.” At this point, at the latest, Neubauer could tell that she was not very enthusiastic. “If you now want to hear from me that people should no longer have children in the global north: Sorry, it’s not that simple.” The question is not the number of people in the world, but rather how these people live.
However, in the book there are “always these very irritating, and for me disturbing, objections when, for example, children are offset against CO2,” says Lanz. “I'm sorry, I always ask myself: What kind of view of humanity is behind it? Where is this optimism that has always brought us forward as humanity?” The moderator questioned whether such a “radical” description of things was helpful and would help us move forward. He drew parallels between the “ideological underpinnings” of Fridays for Future and the “language and way in which the AfD, for example, operates”. And he implied that Neubauer could contribute to a “hardening” of things, which could ultimately promote the willingness of some climate activists to use violence - Neubauer distanced himself from this.
Her cynical tweet after the show: “Recording was a party”
Neubauer stressed that she always advocated peaceful, non-violent protest and that of course they were "concerned about borders". But the activist was visibly irritated at being pushed into the radical corner and showed no understanding for Lanz's triangulation "book statement: additional children cause CO2" / "hardening of the fronts" / "violent riots".
The presenter and the climate activist clearly did not find common ground at this point. Neubauer tweeted cynically afterwards: "After today's show, Mr #Lanz can no longer be accused of not being critical enough of climate activists. Fair enough✌️ recording was a party."
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