German Word of the Week: Sonntagsfrage

“Wenn am nächsten Sonntag tatsächlich Bundestagswahl wäre, welche der folgenden Parteien würden Sie dann wählen?” (“If the Bundestag election were next Sunday, for which party would you vote?”) asks a typical Sonntagsfrage poll question, asking citizens to envision how they would cast their ballots if the election crept up on them unexpectedly.

Read more in the current German Word of the Week article, published by the German Information Center USA, at http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/GIC/TWIG__WoW/2013/32-Sonntagsfrage.html

Germany in Transition

Interesting article at http://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/germany-in-transition-42039

Quote:

"Will Germany be able to solve all problems and meet challenges that energiewende has thrown up? Can it meet all its targets?

I believe, it can and it will. The exciting thing about energiewende is not how much renewable energy Germany has installed so far, but how the German government, businesses and civil society are thinking about the energy transition. I believe the German society has crossed the hump."

Boris Johnson: "Forget about trying to contain Germany – we should copy it"

Good article by Boris Johnson at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10193985/Forget-about-trying-to-contain-Germany-we-should-copy-it.html.

Shame he doesn't mention energy policy, which is definitely something Britain should copy from Germany!

I have a (non-nuclear) dream...

In view of yesterday's amazing/historic election result in Germany (see below), I'm dreaming of a time when: a) the British electorate might be similarly concerned about nuclear issues, and b) the outdated British (in particular English) election system might have changed sufficiently to allow similarly amazing outcomes.

See also extract from today's edition of UK Nuclear News below.

Germany

An estimated quarter of a million people took to the streets in four German cities on Saturday to call for the closure of all nuclear power plants in the country. The demonstrations in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich were organised by a wide range of environmental groups and supported by the main opposition parties in parliament—the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Left Party. The German federation of trade unions (DGB) also put its name to the list of sponsors and its chairman was the main speaker at the rally following the march in Berlin.

World Socialist Web 28th March 2011

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/gdem-m28.shtml

Morning Star 27th March 2011

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/102752

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition was defeated in its southwestern heartland and failed to win control of a second state as the anti-nuclear Greens vote surged to a record, forcing her to reassess energy policy. The Greens were poised to enter the regional governments in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate after state elections yesterday conducted in the shadow of the nuclear disaster in Japan. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Greens were set to lead their first state administration, ejecting Merkel’s Christian Democrats from power in Stuttgart after 58 years.

Bloomberg 27th March 2011

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-27/merkel-s-nuclear-policy-under-fire-as-greens-surge-in-elections.html

Telegraph 27th March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8409736/Angela-Merkel-suffers-further-election-blow-over-nuclear-policy.html

Guardian 28th March 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/27/german-green-victory-fukushima

Four nuclear power companies are preparing lawsuits against the German government in the wake of its decision to idle seven of the country’s 17 nuclear-power stations. Officials at the companies – Germany’s Eon, RWE and EnBW and Sweden’s Vattenfall – said no top-level decisions had been taken, but obligations to shareholders made suits “almost an imperative”.

FT 28th March 2011

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d2319bc-588f-11e0-9b8a-00144feab49a.html

Nuclear Monbiot

Update 7th December 2013:
Excellent article by Jonathon Porritt under the heading "It can't be easy being George Monbiot" in the Ecologist.
_____________________________________________________________________________

See below for nuclear-related e-mail sent to George Monbiot on 16 April 2009.

On a related note, see also http://herbeppel.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-have-non-nuclear-dream.html

*******************************************************
Subject: Let's resist the atomic menace
From: Herbert Eppel
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:53 +0100
To: George Monbiot
CC: ...

Dear George

I don't know whether you remember, but we met and had a brief chat at the Road Block conference in Birmingham a couple of years or so ago.

I regularly read your excellent, thought-provoking and indeed witty columns in the Guardian - today's hilarious statement "Carrier bags were so poorly represented in my sample that I am considering reporting the matter to the Royal Society for the Protection of Plastic Waste" followed by the serious message "Yes of course we should wage war on the plastic bag. But it should be our 1000th environmental priority, not our first and - in some cases - only one" is another classic!

However, in view of the fact that I having been campaigning (more or less actively and in various roles and wearing different hats) for energy efficiency and renewables and against nuclear power for 20 years, I am somewhat alarmed by the apparent U-turn by some environmentalists (including, apparently, yourself) who seem to see nuclear power as a necessary evil for solving the climate change problem, which I feel plays right into the hands of the nuclear lobby.
...

I strongly feel that nuclear power is not only undesirable for numerous, well-documented reasons, but also unnecessary, as demonstrated by Germany's nuclear exit strategy, for example. ...

Here is a good article, if you haven't seen it already:
Germany: The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy

Quote: "It's ambitious, but Germany can be running on renewable energy by 2050 if there is the political will."

No doubt Britain could do it too if it didn't keep getting side-tracked by climate numpties etc.

In summary, I strongly feel that [climate] campaigners should stand firm and united against the 'atomic menace'.

Best wishes

Herbert Eppel, wearing the following hats, among others:

• Pro Wind Alliance www.ProWA.org.uk
• Leicester FoE http://www.foe.co.uk/groups/leicester/
• HE Translations http://www.HETranslations.uk