The world is suffocating in plastics – film “Plastic Fantastic” opens nature film festival
Thanks to speaker Michael Braungart, the opening of the third Lüneburg Heath Nature Film Festival provided creative ideas to combat the flood of plastic in the sea. “There are between 1400 and 40000 pieces of micro- and nanoplastics in an oyster. If we eat enough oysters, the oceans will be…
New in the cinema and well worth seeing: ‘Petra Kelly – Act now’
Insults, sexist remarks and death threats: What women (and men) experience on social media today is nothing new. In the film “Petra Kelly – Act now”, it becomes clear how the activist was already exposed to constant verbal abuse in the 1980s, before the internet existed. This is one of…
Insights into a China that can be visited again: trip with the Economic Forum of the Social Democracy
China maintained its position as Germany’s largest trading partner last year, just ahead of the USA. At 253.1 billion euros, imports and exports were slightly higher than trade in goods with the USA (252.3 billion euros). The trip, which was organized by the Economic Forum of the Social Democratic Party…
Georgia – a country at a crossroads
One can only be torn. On the one hand, while we are in Georgia with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DAGP), tens of thousands of people have been on the streets for over a month protesting against the law “on foreign agents”. It was passed on May 28 against…
An evening with Martin Walker
How surprised we are, the participants of an exploratory trip about biodiversity, when in the restaurant “Chez Julien” in Paunat in the Périgord, the writer and journalist Martin Walker actually appears. Martin Walker is Scottish and has had a varied professional life. He is the author of the million-selling Bruno…
Monika Griefahn receives the Federal Order of Merit
Olaf Lies freely admitted that he didn’t have the easiest of jobs. Monika Griefahn’s “successor-successor-successor”, as the current environment minister of the German federal state of Lower Saxony smirkingly described himself, said: “You can’t list all of Monika Griefahn’s merits – you can only mention the highlights.” Lies was speaking…
Awards for “eco-films”: the secret lifelines of trees revealed
Winners and organizers of the eco film tour 2018. It is a very gratifying task to serve on the jury of the Ökofilmtour (“eco film tour”) festival for films about nature and the environment. Every year I get to watch around 40 great documentary and feature…
The epitome of political art turns 80 – congratulations Klaus Staeck!
Congratualtions by Uwe-Karsten Heye and Monika Griefahn, Willy-Brandt-Haus Berlin. Foto: Florian Gaertner/photothek.net “Nothing is finished” – that’s the motto under which Klaus Staeck invited guests to celebrate his 80th birthday at the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. More precisely it was the Social Democratic Party’s executive, who organised…
“Trees wouldn’t vote for Trump…”
(A review of the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair)
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to Margaret AtwoodPhoto: Monika Griefahn “Trees wouldn’t vote for Trump…” – that’s how the forester and author Peter Wohlleben summarised his view on the current political landscape. Trees, he says, know that they can only survive as part of a group….
New consensus after a long debate: “Computer games are a cultural asset”
Monika Griefahn in 2015 at the award ceremony of the German “Computerspielpreis”.Photo (archives): Franziska Krug/Getty Images for Quinke Networks Just ahead of the recent general elections the German Cultural Council issued a gratifying news release: “The Chancellor and the Secretaries-General of the CDU, SPD, Greens, the…
Emotion Award – A Prize for women who inspire
Photograph: Franziska Krug/Getty Images for Emotion.award Dr. Alexandra Widmer? Heike Langguth? Annette Pascoe? None of them are names necessarily known to everyone. And yet all of these women have recently received the Emotion Award in Germany. It’s an award that recognised women who inspire others. For…
Monika Griefahn GmbH