Fighting Climate Change in Germany
The Climate Change Mascot (1/15)
Polar bear Knut has never seen the arctic habitat of its species. Still, the cub has become something of a symbol for global warming in Germany with newspapers running shocking stories about melting ice caps and drowning polar bears. But beyond the headlines, there is a climate change reality that more and more Germans begin to feel in their everyday life. Our picture gallery presents some impressions from this changing world and how Germans react to it. (Photo: Reuters)
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The Climate Change Mascot (1/15)
Polar bear Knut has never seen the arctic habitat of its species. Still, the cub has become something of a symbol for global warming in Germany with newspapers running shocking stories about melting ice caps and drowning polar bears. But beyond the headlines, there is a climate change reality that more and more Germans begin to feel in their everyday life. Our picture gallery presents some impressions from this changing world and how Germans react to it. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Living with the Water (2/15)
Eighty-two-year-old resident Georg Drysch sits on a truck after his evacuation from the flood-stricken town of Bitterfeld, north of Dresden, in August 2002. The worst flooding in history swamped large parts of eastern Germany, leaving 19 people dead and causing around 9 billion Euros in damages. (Photo: Reuters)
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Living with the Water (2/15)
Eighty-two-year-old resident Georg Drysch sits on a truck after his evacuation from the flood-stricken town of Bitterfeld, north of Dresden, in August 2002. The worst flooding in history swamped large parts of eastern Germany, leaving 19 people dead and causing around 9 billion Euros in damages. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Flood (3/15)
A boy walks in front of a dam built with sandbags during the April 2006 flood in Dresden, Germany. Hundreds worked around the clock checking dikes, erecting sandbag barriers and pumping water. The flood was the second so-called "flood of the century" to strike eastern Germany in just four years. (Photo: Reuters)
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Flood (3/15)
A boy walks in front of a dam built with sandbags during the April 2006 flood in Dresden, Germany. Hundreds worked around the clock checking dikes, erecting sandbag barriers and pumping water. The flood was the second so-called "flood of the century" to strike eastern Germany in just four years. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Drought (4/15)
Bushes grow on the partially dried-up riverbed of the Elbe River in the eastern German town of Dresden in May 2007. A warm and dry winter and a long period of high spring temperatures caused one of the lowest water levels on the Elbe ever recorded in spring. (Photo: Reuters)
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Drought (4/15)
Bushes grow on the partially dried-up riverbed of the Elbe River in the eastern German town of Dresden in May 2007. A warm and dry winter and a long period of high spring temperatures caused one of the lowest water levels on the Elbe ever recorded in spring. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Heat Wave (5/15)
A zookeeper sprays water on an elephant during a heat wave at Munich Zoo in August 2003. Germany experienced extreme weather conditions, as temperatures consistenly rose above 40 degrees Celsius. Around 7,000 people died in Germany that summer from heat-related complications.(Photo: Reuters)
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Heat Wave (5/15)
A zookeeper sprays water on an elephant during a heat wave at Munich Zoo in August 2003. Germany experienced extreme weather conditions, as temperatures consistenly rose above 40 degrees Celsius. Around 7,000 people died in Germany that summer from heat-related complications.(Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Melting Glaciers (6/15)
Workers try to cover a glacier on Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze. The giant anti-glare shields should reduce the melting on what is left of Germany's last remaining glacier. In 2009, the shield on the 2,962-meter peak in the northern Alps was laid out for the 17th time to preserve 80,000 cubic metres of snow from melting due to global warming. Despite efforts to stop the melting of the Zugspitze glacier - which was 80 meters thick in 1910 - experts say it could melt completely in the next 20 years. (Photo: Reuters)
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Melting Glaciers (6/15)
Workers try to cover a glacier on Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze. The giant anti-glare shields should reduce the melting on what is left of Germany's last remaining glacier. In 2009, the shield on the 2,962-meter peak in the northern Alps was laid out for the 17th time to preserve 80,000 cubic metres of snow from melting due to global warming. Despite efforts to stop the melting of the Zugspitze glacier - which was 80 meters thick in 1910 - experts say it could melt completely in the next 20 years. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Coal Power Plant (7/15)
Steam clouds pour out of the cooling towers of a lignite powered energy plant in Cologne. Coal power plants – considered the most climate-unfriendly of all forms of energy production – supplied around 47 percent of all electricity produced in Germany in 2007. There are about 36.8 billion tons of coal reserves left in Germany. (Photo: Reuters)
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Coal Power Plant (7/15)
Steam clouds pour out of the cooling towers of a lignite powered energy plant in Cologne. Coal power plants – considered the most climate-unfriendly of all forms of energy production – supplied around 47 percent of all electricity produced in Germany in 2007. There are about 36.8 billion tons of coal reserves left in Germany. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Hydrogen or Hybrid (8/15)
A BMW is docked at the world's first filling station for liquid and gaseous hydrogen with on-site hydrogen gas production at Munich International Airport in 1999. German car manufacturers like BMW had initially focused on developing hydrogen-powered cars, and are now trying to catch up with non-German competitors in the fast growing market for hybrid cars. (Photo: Reuters)
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Hydrogen or Hybrid (8/15)
A BMW is docked at the world's first filling station for liquid and gaseous hydrogen with on-site hydrogen gas production at Munich International Airport in 1999. German car manufacturers like BMW had initially focused on developing hydrogen-powered cars, and are now trying to catch up with non-German competitors in the fast growing market for hybrid cars. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Speed Limit (9/15)
Members of the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) hold traffic signs and a banner during a demonstration in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. The club demanded a general speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour (74.5 miles per hour) on all German motorways. The banner reads: "Slow down climate change - Speed limit now!" Germany is among the few countries in the world without a general speed limit on highways. (Photo: Reuters)
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Speed Limit (9/15)
Members of the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) hold traffic signs and a banner during a demonstration in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. The club demanded a general speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour (74.5 miles per hour) on all German motorways. The banner reads: "Slow down climate change - Speed limit now!" Germany is among the few countries in the world without a general speed limit on highways. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Automobile Industry (10/15)
Ferdinand Piech (left), former Volkswagen CEO and his successor, Bernd Pischetsrieder, present the prototype of a so-called 'one-liter Volkswagen' car. Built out of carbon fiber, the car uses a mere 0.999 litres of diesel per 100 kilometers. In general, however, German car manufacturers face serious problems meeting EU emission guidelines for carbon dioxide.(Photo: Reuters)
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Automobile Industry (10/15)
Ferdinand Piech (left), former Volkswagen CEO and his successor, Bernd Pischetsrieder, present the prototype of a so-called 'one-liter Volkswagen' car. Built out of carbon fiber, the car uses a mere 0.999 litres of diesel per 100 kilometers. In general, however, German car manufacturers face serious problems meeting EU emission guidelines for carbon dioxide.(Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Chancellor for the Environment? (11/15)
Environmentalists pinned great hopes on Angela Merkel when she became Germany's chancellor. The trained physicist and former minister for the environment used her position as president both of the G8 and the European Union in 2007 to lobby for ambitious climate policies.
However, in the past year, Merkel's international climate policy repeatedly came under fire. Critics say she is putting her focus too much on the economy rather than focusing on both issues at the same time - climate protection and the economic crisis. (Photo: Reuters)
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Chancellor for the Environment? (11/15)
Environmentalists pinned great hopes on Angela Merkel when she became Germany's chancellor. The trained physicist and former minister for the environment used her position as president both of the G8 and the European Union in 2007 to lobby for ambitious climate policies.
However, in the past year, Merkel's international climate policy repeatedly came under fire. Critics say she is putting her focus too much on the economy rather than focusing on both issues at the same time - climate protection and the economic crisis. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Environmentalist (12/15)
Petra Kelly, one of the founders of the Green Party in Germany.
Different than in most countries, Germany's Green Party is among the nation's most important political forces. After the party's foundation in 1980, the Greens' popularity gradually rose in Germany, eventually landing them in a coalition government with the social democrats from 1998 to 2005. Kelly, who died in 1992, had studied in the United States. She was an admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr. and campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 U.S. elections. (Photo: Public Domain)
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Environmentalist (12/15)
Petra Kelly, one of the founders of the Green Party in Germany.
Different than in most countries, Germany's Green Party is among the nation's most important political forces. After the party's foundation in 1980, the Greens' popularity gradually rose in Germany, eventually landing them in a coalition government with the social democrats from 1998 to 2005. Kelly, who died in 1992, had studied in the United States. She was an admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr. and campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 U.S. elections. (Photo: Public Domain)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Nuclear Energy (13/15)
A nuclear plant in the southern German town of Obrigheim. The 18-year plant, the oldest of 18 working reactors in Germany, was closed in 2005 under the national nuclear withdrawal program. According to the phase-out program, no nuclear power plant is allowed to operate for more than 32 years. The recent debate on global warming and carbon dioxide emissions, however, strengthened nuclear energy supporters. Some conservative members of the government are now demanding a phase-out of the phase-out. (Photo: Reuters)
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Nuclear Energy (13/15)
A nuclear plant in the southern German town of Obrigheim. The 18-year plant, the oldest of 18 working reactors in Germany, was closed in 2005 under the national nuclear withdrawal program. According to the phase-out program, no nuclear power plant is allowed to operate for more than 32 years. The recent debate on global warming and carbon dioxide emissions, however, strengthened nuclear energy supporters. Some conservative members of the government are now demanding a phase-out of the phase-out. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Wind Power (14/15)
Cranes lift up the rotor of a giant wind generator in Brunsbuettel, Germany. The REpower wind generator has a rotor of 126 meters in diameter, a hub height of 120 meters. Wind turbines supply around 38 percent of the energy needs in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. (Photo: Reuters)
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Wind Power (14/15)
Cranes lift up the rotor of a giant wind generator in Brunsbuettel, Germany. The REpower wind generator has a rotor of 126 meters in diameter, a hub height of 120 meters. Wind turbines supply around 38 percent of the energy needs in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting Climate Change in Germany
Solar Power (15/15)
The sky is reflected in solar panels of the world's biggest roof-based solar system in the southern German town of Buerstadt. The 40,000-square-meter installation can produce up to 4.5 Megawatts of electricity. Two hundred kilometers of cables were necessary to wire the facility. (Photo: Reuters)
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Solar Power (15/15)
The sky is reflected in solar panels of the world's biggest roof-based solar system in the southern German town of Buerstadt. The 40,000-square-meter installation can produce up to 4.5 Megawatts of electricity. Two hundred kilometers of cables were necessary to wire the facility. (Photo: Reuters)
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