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Talk by Karhu (Ende Gelände)
at the climate strike on Apr 11, 2025I would like to shed light on a topic that is not often discussed in the discourse on climate justice, namely the relationship of humans to the land on which they live. A vital part of the land for humans is water. Climate justice also means that all people in this world must be guaranteed free access to clean drinking water. We may all know that global warming is destroying glaciers and thus huge reserves of drinking water; however, I would like to highlight a few more details. For one, I want to mention that generative artificial intelligence estimates that by 2027, Denmark will have six times the water extraction. Large corporations have a habit of extracting and polluting exorbitant amounts of drinking water all over the world and are usually protected by governments from the consequences.
We can see in Flint, Michigan, what happens when the drinking water supply is privatized due to misguided austerity policies. There, thousands of people suffered lead poisoning as a direct result. To this day, there have been no political or legal consequences. History shows that countries that engage in colonialism will inevitably apply the methods of colonialism against their own population as well. Thus, the water pollution of the Global South through the brutal exploitation of the African continent is also evident in the chronically leaking pipelines that the USA and Canada build partly through the autonomous territories of American Indigenous peoples. One drop of oil contaminates 10,000 liters of freshwater.
Another example is Israel's human rights-violating water policy in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. According to reports from the United Nations, the entire water supply of Palestine is controlled by Israel, and this control is abused to harass farmers, often providing them with not even the bare minimum needed to water their crops.
This must come to an end in the future, not only in the USA but also here in Würzburg. Here, Knauf is trying to establish a mine to extract gypsum. In doing so, Knauf is jeopardizing the drinking water supply of Würzburg. If we do not resist, then calcified faucets and showerheads will be our least problem. Therefore: Say no to Knauf's gypsum mine. Let us flood the physical and digital mailbox of the corporation with our resistance against the contamination of our groundwater. Let us fight for a world where all people have good access to drinking water.