Podcasts

One casualty of Covid-19 in my life is podcasts. In pre-Covid times, I would listen to podcasts during my commute or at any other time when I was waiting for a connection or a meeting or something else.

However, I’m now working almost exclusively from home, and there are no idle times anymore.

I am not very good at listening to someone talking in the background, so I’ve been missing many podcast episodes lately.

To make up for it, I want to share my top three:

If you’re still finding time to listen to Podcasts, give them a try!

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(Google Podcasts, Radiorebell screenshot, 12/7/20)

Shutdown two, week four

We haven’t been that successful in flattening the curve of infections, so it didn’t come as a surprise when our government announced an extension of the current measures until December 20.

Even though I understand the desire to lift the restrictions a bit over Christmas and New Year’s, I firmly believe that the virus won’t care. The current lockdown will most likely need to last until mid-February to slow the spread. For me, I plan to visit family and friends over the holidays virtually and avoid personal contact.

At the same time, the fight for the Dannenröder Forst continues.

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(Your tax dollars at work, Volksgarten, 11/23/20)

Shutdown two, third week

Infection rates are dropping way too slowly; we will likely see an extension of the current lockdown at the next federal conference tomorrow.

Still, Police in the state of Hessen is using the lockdown to press ahead with the utterly unnecessary destruction of the Dannenröder Forst. And the Greens are keeping their silence.

All over the republic, activists are staging protests in support of the people defending the forest. Well done!

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(Danni bleibt, Volksgarten, 11/23/20)

The Greens

We need to talk: For the past decades, you have billed yourself as the leading party supporting the protection of our environment.

In the face of the current climate emergency, the ecological movement has grown into a worldwide climate justice movement.

However, in the states where you are governing, you’re coming up short – sending riot police after peaceful protests protecting our forests is abhorrent.

Maybe now it’s time for you to step aside and make room for a new green party, one that’s less clinging to power but more willing to fight for climate justice?

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(Twitter, @oekofuzzi, 11/16/20)

Shutdown two, second week

We just completed the second week of the second lockdown.

Wednesday (11/11) in a typical year would have marked the start of Carnival – this year, we canceled all celebrations and the day was eerily quiet, with only security guards out on the streets.

The infection rates are still not looking good, and more contact restrictions will be necessary for the coming weeks.  Also, we can expect Christmas and New Year to become virtual celebrations this year.

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel – the early tests with the vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech look quite promising!

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(Louis The Breakfast Club, 11/11/20)

Shutdown two, first week

A week ago, the second lockdown started after the number of infections steadily rose to unmanageable levels.

Public life has again come to an (almost) complete standstill, and most events have moved online. In addition to the Corona Warn App, I’ve also started a Corona contact diary (Coronika) to track where I was and whom I met, just in case.

Today was the 82nd anniversary of the Reichsprogromnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) when Germany started slaughtering its Jewish population, the most heinous crime ever committed in the history of humankind.

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(Corona contact diary, 11/9/20)

Gleueler Wiesen

It’s not only the Dannenröder Forst or the open-pit mine Garzweiler where our politicians stick to the ideas of yesteryear and ignore the climate emergency.

In our fair city, Cologne, the city council is determined to destroy the city’s lung, the green belt, for our soccer club’s benefit. The club is not that successful, they play on and off in the Bundesliga, but they are well-liked in the city.

Soccer is quite emotional, making it quite challenging to speak out against their expansion plans; however, the city’s climate and its inhabitants’ well-being are equally essential. There are several good alternatives to their plans to destroy the Gleuler Wiesen.

With the looming climate crisis upon us, we should no longer destroy old habitats for the profit of a few!

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(Climate strike, Gleueler Wiesen, 10/31/20)

One year later

One year ago, we decided to add an after-work protest to the weekly climate strikes.

Much has happened since, not least, a global pandemic, but one thing did not change: Our politicians still largely ignore the climate emergency.

They seem unwilling to change, adapt, and leave the fossil era behind, not for themselves and not even for their kids.

What does that mean for us?

The science is obvious; we won’t stop fighting!

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(Chlodwigplatz, properly distanced, 10/16/20)

Danni bleibt

In 2020, Germany builds a new motorway through three old and precious forests, severely endangering biodiversity and the supply of drinking water for the surrounding villages.

The state’s government is a Black/Green coalition (in US colors, that would be Blue/Green – the Christian Democrats in Germany occupy a comparable space in the political landscape as the Democrats do in the US). One would assume that a state ministry of public transportation run by a Green would oppose such a forest’s culling.

Alas, the Green party does nothing to oppose it. Their silence is deafening, and state party officials hide behind legalities and technicalities to not loose their power positions.

Unfortunately, a Black/Green coalition government is also the most likely outcome for the next national election.

We’re doomed.

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(Dannenröder Forst, 10/4/20)