It's freezing here in Europe, currently. Even the German city of Mainz, where I had moved to just a couple of months ago to study, is covered in snow. When I came to Mainz, people were telling me, it's unusual to snow in Mainz and I shouldn't expect it. In fact, Mainz is located in one of Germany's warmest regions – and I detest that! During my life I haven't met many people who share my attidue: loving winter-weather, yet hating the summer all the more. Actually, my former German teacher is the only person that comes to my mind, who, besides myself, was deeply – forgive me my words – pissed when the thermometer reached 25 degrees (Celsius – get used to it!).
Hi, this is my first diary for Daily Kos, though I have been reading it ever since the 2004 elections. We Europeans tend to have a relatively negative view of American politics, I have to admit, and your media never seemed to make the effort to reverse that impression of ours. It had been a welcoming lesson for me to find Daily Kos – a platform, where people actually seemed to be interested in the background of a story, where they seemed to be interested in pursuing the Bush Administrations wrongdoings. Kudos for that!
While the direction of American policies might change with the new Democratic government, I wouldn't be so sure, whether our negative view of Americans as a people will change that quickly. After all, you're all so fat and lazy and you're only driving large cars, you're shooting around and you're using up all the energy of the world. Summing up those views, we Europeans – you won't believe this – are a little prejudiced and lazy in thinking. Not many of us tend to doubt our moral highstanding in the world. Especially when it comes to Global Warming – it's all your fault!
Every time I pass that gas station I live near by, I notice how cheap gas has become as compared to where the prices stood just last year. And when you live in Germany, low gas prices mean one thing: the climate crisis has been everted. You see, when it was politcally comfortable, our chancellor Angela Merkel tried to depict herself as the saviour of our climate. Not many noticed her attending the laying of the foundation stone for the giant new coal-burning power plant that is being constructed in south-western Germany.
Now that everyone seems to have forgotten about Global Warming due to the financial crisis, the European Union just last month caved in during negotiations with the car-industry and basically gave them permission to pollute all the more. Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, which is currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, is a global-warming denier.
So, it's easy for us to demand action from America, while we ourselves actually should look remorsefully into the mirror and rethink our own stance. That's why it's remarkable for me to see that because of the world financial crisis, President-elect Barack Obama has the foresight to want to invest in clean energy and green jobs. He realizes the sustainability of that industry and the burden oil and coal are on the economy. - But promise me one thing: use the power Daily Kos has had on American politics during the Bush-years and hold the new president up to those promises!
Even now, many of us are looking forward to American leadership. Or are at least aware of the power that once so noble super-power still has. Germany's former Secretary of State Joschka Fischer has once warned in an interview not to take it for granted that Germany currently has the leadership in green-technology. Americans were thinking big and once they realized the profitability of green-technology it would be just a matter of time until Germany would lose its leadership-role. - Well, that's a competition I'm glad to have.
Not many people want to be reminded of the climate crisis, in the light of all of those bad news from the world economy. This and the cold winter have laid a veil of denial over our collectiv minds. I'm sure looking forward to January 20th. I hope it will be a cold day. I love it, when it's cold. I just hope the upcoming winters will stay that way. Up until now nothing has been done to safe me my favorite weather...