Politics

Erhard Eppler has passed away on Saturday at the age of 92. We keep his relatives and friends in our thoughts at this difficult time and wish them the strength to be able to fill the gap he leaves in their everyday lives with beautiful memories. Erhard Eppler was a…

…not least as an economic factor. That was the conclusion drawn at an event titled “Climate protection as an innovation driver for the economy” organized recently by Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment. The realization should be reason enough to finally take the foot off the brakes in…

For two days in early May, a number of people committed to the protection of climate and the environment met in the north-eastern German town of Greifswald to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Michael Succow Foundation.

Most people will by now have seen the frightening images of plastic waste in the oceans. Studies of seabirds have shown that the animals will starve to death in spite of a full stomach – however, it is filled with indigestible pieces of plastic.

In Berlin, 8 March – International Women’s Day – is now a public holiday. The city’s Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of the plan in January! It isn’t the worst of ideas if you ask me.

When I was recently invited to speak at the event “Change at next stop” in Bonn, organised by the Goethe-Institute, I was full of anticipation.

It’s a small step towards sustainability, and it has now been implemented by the vast majority of companies obliged to do so: they have based their reporting systems on the requirements laid out by the so-called CSR-RUG.

A lot has changed at TUHH – most notably its name. The institution is now called the Technical University of Hamburg. The addition “Harburg” has been dropped so that the university is abel to sharpen its image internationally. There has also been a change at the top of the university.

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.”

Michael Otto did not want a big party for his 75th birthday. What he did want to do was talk about the issues that are important to him. That’s why the CEO of the Otto Group, Alexander Birken, used the occasion to organize a symposium entitled “future values”.

“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 the evening in Staeck’s honour.

One of my long-time companions, Helge Wendenburg, is retiring. Most recently, he was the director of the Department of Water Resource Protection at the German Federal Environment Ministry.

One of the guests at the 2014 Cradle to Cradle congress in Lueneburg was the German adventurer and human rights activist Rüdiger Nehberg. With his open and humorous temperament he proved that he knows how to inspire people.

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 Left and the FDP consider computer games to be a cultural asset”, it announced.

  Kazakhstan hasn’t been a major focus of attention for many people across Europe. Can the EXPO that took place in Astana recently change that?

The main headlines about the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg in June were about the heavy and destructive violence that was perpetrated by protesters. The fact that actual political agreements were made under the protection of a substantial security operation largely fell by the wayside.

Here’s the good news: yes, we can! Christina von Haaren of the Institute of Environmental Planning at the University of Hanover and her team are currently preparing a study for the Federal Ministry of the Environment in Germany

Already, the campaign for this year’s parliamentary elections in Germany is looming. In order to inspire citizens, and especially young people, to get involved with politics (again) the Friedrich Ebert foundation and our local Member of Parliament, Svenja Stadler

It’s very important that we all remind ourselves of the following: on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima power plant in Japan the literature festival “Reading without Nuclear Power” took up a topic that’s all but forgotten

Slowly but surely those in the German real estate industry – and possibly some day also those responsible for federal subsidy policy – seem to realise that, while not requiring a lot of energy, a well-insulated building still comes with its own difficulties:

For the second time within the space of only a few weeks the young generation has given away a victory to those they would normally reject.

Two important United Nations covenants turn 50 years old this year: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

As is often the case when it comes to technological investments, they aren’t very visible from the outside. But with the introduction of the shore power supply for cruise ships in the Altona district of Hamburg both the city’s port and its shipping industries have taken a huge step

  It’s a forum of exchange for scientists and activists campaigning for human rights, the environment and social justice: the Right Livelihood Award Foundation (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) has recently inaugurated the eighth instalment of the Right Livelihood College (RLC)

Because people are always stronger when they are united, several laureates of the Right Livelihood Award (RLA, “Alternative Nobel Prize”) recently gathered in Kathmandu (Nepal) for a two day seminar to support Shrikrishna Upadhyay of Sappros-Nepal and its partners.