opinion
The pandemic is taking a summer break, but the climate is now taking over. The mechanisms are the same. Instead of thinking coldly about solutions to avoid future flood disasters, we get lost in ideological trench warfare and election campaign din, says our author.
From Frank Schmiechen
Virologists become meteorologists. It’s that fast. A flood disaster that is currently shaking western Germany makes it possible. Suddenly Karl Lauterbach is no longer lecturing on the next “wave” and the next virus variant, but on the climate. CDU Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet jumps into his rubber boots with an inappropriate smile in front of the well-lit disaster scene.
The mechanisms are strangely familiar. Lauterbach, Corona screech bomb or reminder, depending on personal preference, has new horror visions ready. After he wanted to tell us about the pandemic that an entire generation of parents was dying in their forties in intensive care units, he can now claim on television that California will be uninhabitable in the future.
Quickly into panic mode: nothing learned from the pandemic?
Laschet creates a direct connection between the climate issue and the catastrophic flood of rain. He wants to close power plants very quickly, he affirms honestly. As if that could help anyone in the current situation. Germany looks stunned at the victims of the flood – Laschet is campaigning.
“Of course, those are the effects of the climate catastrophe,” says Katrin Göring-Eckardt from the Greens with certainty. Many media and politicians share this view. But the German Weather Service says: In Germany, there is no trend towards more days with heavy precipitation. The Federal Environment Agency reports: River floods do not occur more frequently in this country than in the past.
How can it be that we lose our composure again so quickly and switch into panic mode? Have we really learned nothing from the pandemic? In the face of the catastrophe and so many victims, we are obliged to think coldly. Solutions must be worked on to prevent such disasters in the future. The meteorologists on television can apparently predict the climate better than life-threatening weather conditions.
Frank Schmiechen
Frank Schmiechen has been a journalist for more than 30 years. Among other things, he was deputy editor-in-chief of “Welt” and editor-in-chief of “Gründerszene”. Today he works as a Senior Advisor at the communications consulting agency WMP Eurocom. Schmiechen loves pop music and football.
Laschet prefers to refer to the climate than to his own negligence
Experience in other countries has shown that one can prepare for such floods with smart precautions such as better sewage systems. As a result, damage from floods has decreased worldwide in recent years. In Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia, too, there are repeated warnings that our infrastructure is out of date. But Prime Minister Laschet would of course much rather refer to the climate than to his own negligence.
Only the WDR was a bit too relaxed on the first night of the disaster – and instead of sending information about the situation in its broadcasting area, it broadcast canned pop music.
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