Luisa Neubauer, Germany’s best-known climate activist has warned that the rise in extreme weather is not generating political support for climate action, as conspiracy theories increasingly circle after disasters made worse by global heating.
“Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”
The 28-year-old activist, who spent three months in the US before the presidential election, said she had been shocked to see the destruction from Hurricane Helene “play into the cards of those denying climate disasters”.
Far-right influencers and conspiracy theorists used the wildfires that ravaged California this month to attack efforts to stop the planet from heating. Similar disinformation was seen in Spain after deadly floods struck Valencia in October.
Read also: Southern California prepares for vicious winds as new fires break out in region
On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed the extent to which climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank had been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against efforts to protect nature and quit fossil fuels.
Neubauer said that the climate struggle in rich democracies had drastically changed, and that Elon Musk’s vocal support for the far right was symbolic of that shift.
Musk, the billionaire owner of electric carmaker Tesla, has boosted debunked conspiracy theories and thrown his support behind anti-immigrant and climate-sceptic parties in the UK and Germany. On Monday, he gave straight-armed salutes at Donald Trump’s inauguration that were celebrated by neo-Nazis.
“It’s no longer green technologies that are the issue, but the fight for democracy and truth,” said Neubauer. “If there’s no shared reality in which we operate, it will be impossible to move forward with the climate transition.”
Neubauer, who rose to fame during the global school strikes started by Greta Thunberg, said she used to think it did not matter if people wanted to save the planet for profit or morals. She described having felt like she was “in the future” when she travelled back to Germany in a Tesla after a climate conference in Madrid in 2019.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
