Save the world for a moment

In Berlin there will be elections again. On Sunday, 2.4 million eligible voters can vote on whether the cult capital will be climate-neutral by 2030 - and not only in 2045 as previously planned. This involves a specific change in the law, so the future government would be bound by it.

Political scientists, constitutional lawyers, even climate scientists like Oliver Geden, co-author of the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are critical. Geden recently contradicted the "Climate Restart" action alliance on Twitter: The report does not show that Berlin must become climate-neutral by 2030. The action alliance, which, with 1.2 million euros in donations, is more generous than almost any party in the last Senate elections, had previously referred to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

On the highly professional website of the initiators, one looks in vain for specific information on how the earlier climate neutrality is to be achieved. Sure, there are a few measures that every fourth grader can recite when they are allowed to write an essay about climate protection for the first time: more solar power, more bike paths, more protection of forests and parks.

Apart from how strange it seems to propose solar power as a panacea after a gray January and an even grayer February in Berlin, these proposals show one thing above all: This climate decision with a smart website, a sophisticated social media strategy and glossy testimonials is no more as a self-care initiative for cargo bike riders in the inner S-Bahn ring.

Self-care usually means doing something good for yourself, rewarding yourself. The important thing is that you don't have to have a guilty conscience. The concept of reward is wonderfully selfish and deeply hedonistic.

Unfortunately, these traits are alien to those who preach renunciation. It is not just since the first Corona lockdown that pausing and doing without have become status symbols for those who have everything and are therefore happy to do without everything voluntarily. And that's exactly what a justification is needed for.

So reward is only acceptable if it serves the community. It feels even better if you stand on the right side. And the most important thing would be if everyone could see it, but with as little effort as possible. The result is the capital self-care program: climate decision 2030. Virtue signaling at absolutely no cost.

To vote “yes” is to stand up. This can be done very easily and comfortably from the Ligne Roset sofa, without having to get up: Kurt Krömer and Luisa Neubauer's funny appeal for elections can be shared on Instagram and Facebook with a concerned "It concerns us all!" comment.

Then another like for the video with Fahri Yardim, the funny mess from the series "Jerks". Of course, you haven't really done anything except make yourself feel good for a moment.

Those who are really self-reliant voted “yes” weeks ago by postal vote. Because who is not for climate protection? It doesn't matter that this vote hardly brings anything in the wish-you-what referendum because the feasibility is completely unclear. You saved the world on paper. The conscience is clear. And afterwards you feel better than after a probiotic kombucha drink or a pleasant clay mask.