Speech by Erik (Fridays for Future)

Greetings to everyone here today to demonstrate for the climate. You are amazing! Thank you for having the courage to be here today. You are the ones who have the courage to acknowledge the truth and are ready to commit to the fight for a better world. You are amazing!

YES, YOU CAN ALL PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK NOW.

We are currently living in dark times in which commitment to environmental protection, human rights, democracy, and a future worth living can no longer be taken for granted. And that's why it's great that you are here today, because that's what sets you apart from the people who have already given up or who simply don't care about anything.

I would like to talk to you today about man-made climate change and the impending climate collapse. To do this, I will refer to two books. The first is by Harald Lesch and Klaus Kamphausen and is titled "Humanity Is Destroying Itself" from 2016. In it, Harald Lesch and Klaus Kamphausen show us in detail the path to climate collapse and explain why it will mean the end of our civilization.

I could now explain in detail why it's bad for us that the groundwater level continues to sink, or why there are negative consequences when global supply chains collapse because boiling oceans make shipping impossible. Or what it means when we have outside temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, or when the southern half of our planet is no longer habitable. Each of these topics could fill several lectures.

The bottom line: We are heading toward an extremely hostile world in which things we take for granted today will simply no longer be so. I'm talking about things like tap water, train and car travel, or the fact that we can always buy enough food in supermarkets. None of this will be a given anymore. And I don't even want to start on the climate refugees — just this much: The climate refugees who will cause us headaches in the future aren't Africans or Muslims, but Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Swiss. And why? Because in the future, the southern death zone in Europe will begin in the Alps.

But Harald Lesch and Klaus Kamphausen explain all of this much better. And at this point, I want to thank you again for being here today. No, seriously: You can pat yourselves on the back for being here. YOU ARE GREAT!

But now I come to the bad news: This year, the 1.5-degree target enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement was officially missed. And it's becoming increasingly clear that we can no longer stop climate collapse. Furthermore, global resource waste is increasing. Humanity is living beyond its means. Every drop of drinking water consumed today will be lacking in the future. Every school of fish fished from the ocean will never return. And every harvest drives the fields further into infertility. All of this has been clear to us – ever since the Club of Rome published its book The Limits to Growth in 1972.

And that's why I want to point out a new solution: Tadzio Müller's idea of solidarity-based precaution.

Tadzio Müller is a co-founder of "Ende Gelände" and a climate activist from the very beginning. He took part in the protest in Lützerath in 2023. In his book Between Peaceful Sabotage and Collapse, he describes the impending collapse and how we can and will only survive it through solidarity with one another.

We must begin adapting today, while we still have time. Because once the full impact hits us, it will be too late. It is our task to create a better world – because we are the ones who do not close our eyes to reality and who do not allow ourselves to be led by the nose by lobbyists and right-wing politicians.

If you're interested in solidarity-based collapse preparedness, please contact me later to network. Thank you!