Photo: (c) Last generation
02.08.2023, 16: 00 – Today, August 02nd, is Earth Overload Day – the day on which global resources that can regenerate within a year are exhausted. This means that on average worldwide we use so many resources per year that we would need around 1,7 Earths.
Jonas Ebert (21, system administrator): “If everyone on earth lived like we do here in Germany, the earth's annual resource budget would have been exhausted by May 4th this year. It would take three Earths to sustain our lifestyle.
But we only have this one earth at our disposal, it is our home and our basis of life, and it is heavily overloaded; This has a visible impact on ever-increasing environmental problems.”
The Last Generation Braunschweig is therefore interrupting their community time today to protest against the destruction of livelihoods and is slowing down traffic on the road with a running blockade Wolfenbütteler Straße, near Campestrasse, out of town out:
🔸 Protest in Braunschweig on Earth Overshoot Day
— Last Generation (@uprisingLastGen) August 2
🌍 Today is the day when the global, annually available resources are exhausted.
The federal government is still ignoring the threat to our livelihoods.
We are interrupting this dangerous normality. pic.twitter.com/W5wJqKsi25
Maria Heß (58, teacher): “Today is Earth Overshoot Day. But politics ignores the threat to our livelihoods and our civilization posed by the climate crisis: neither the federal government nor the city of Braunschweig are taking effective measures to curb the wasteful use of the resources that are available to us. There is clearly a lack of political will:
The federal government continues to violate its own laws and the constitution. I ask you: where is the media outcry? Where is the uprising of society? Where is the opposition’s protest?”
The city of Braunschweig has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2030 - but instead of consistently implementing the necessary measures, it is trying to do so general decree to suppress the necessary protest against the further destruction of our livelihoods:
Alexander Grimm (28, IT specialist for system integration): “The city of Braunschweig is trying to force climate movement rallies off the streets. But no punishment can stop us from taking to the streets for a future worth living and against the inadequate and illegal actions of the federal government.
On the contrary, right now our protest is more necessary than ever: the general decree clearly reveals that the city of Braunschweig lacks the political will to tackle the problem - it would rather silence those who take to the streets to solve the problem. This increases the need to continue to vigorously interrupt everyday social life here in Braunschweig!”
Last generation receives the “Dare Democracy – Show Civil Courage” award
For their commitment, the Last Generation receives the “Dare Democracy – Show Civil Courage” prize. The Solbach-Freise Foundation for Civil Courage awards this to people or organizations “who work for the general public, for democracy, civil rights and justice, without fearing conflict with the state, bureaucracy or private economic power. People are honored who accept personal disadvantages because of their courageous commitment to the common good. With the honor, the foundation would like to encourage other people not to turn a blind eye to grievances and injustices, but to get involved for their fellow human beings and their rights.”
Such moral courage has never been more necessary than now. Anja Aschenbrenner (50, engineer): “Only civil resistance offers the chance to reverse the destructive course in a timely manner. The Federal Government is not fulfilling its obligation to protect the livelihoods of future generations in accordance with Article 20a of our Basic Law. We need a regenerative culture through which we give back to the earth more than we take from it, rather than being stuck in the greed for perpetual growth, overconsumption, waste of resources and a throwaway mentality.”
Timo Meyer (39 social educator/social worker): “We all clearly see the effects of global warming: In Gifhorn, Göttingen and Goslar, the withdrawal of water from rivers has already been restricted by general decree. Forests are on fire - Braunschweig is also preparing for further forest fires as a location for firefighting aircraft. The federal government must act quickly and effectively now! Because in the end we are all in danger. We are this society's will to survive. "
Edmund Schultz (59, project manager): “We call on the city of Braunschweig: Protect the citizens of Braunschweig and also call on the federal government to protect the population of Germany and to abandon the path of waste and destruction of our livelihoods. While it insists on the debt brake in the financial sense, the debts in the areas of climate and the environment continue to increase - and with them, at the same time, immeasurable financial debts.
With the general decree, the city of Braunschweig is threatening climate protectors with fines of up to 3000 euros, they should continue to take to the streets unannounced and protest against the destruction of everyone's livelihoods. Apparently, at least the last generation does not let this stop them from protesting, quite the opposite.
The city of Hanover's decision, however, was more successful: it supports the demands of the last generation for effective climate protection and also demands this from the federal government. That's why the Last Generation in Hanover stopped all protests and blockades.
The city of Braunschweig wants to become climate neutral by 2030; The logical consequence would now be to call on the federal government to finally take action and implement consistent measures so that Germany will be free from the use of fossil raw materials by 2030.
No fine or prison sentence will stop us from taking to the streets peacefully to preserve our livelihoods and against our federal government's violation of the constitution - including in Braunschweig. Only effective action can end our protest.
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