Why Face Reality When You Can Wrap Increasingly Undeniable Climate Chaos In Conspiracy Theories

The rise in extreme weather is not generating political support for climate action, Germany’s best-known climate activist has warned, as conspiracy theories increasingly circle after disasters made worse by global heating. “Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”

The 28-year-old activist, who spent three months in the US before the presidential election, said she had been shocked to see the destruction from Hurricane Helene “play into the cards of those denying climate disasters”. Far-right influencers and conspiracy theorists used the wildfires that ravaged California this month to attack efforts to stop the planet from heating. Similar disinformation was seen in Spain after deadly floods struck Valencia in October. On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed the extent to which climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank had been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against efforts to protect nature and quit fossil fuels.

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Before the last German election in 2021, all parties bar the AfD promised to stop the planet from heating by 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. But in the four years since, public interest in cutting pollution has waned, anger at the Green party has surged – egged on by politicians across the political spectrum – and policies such as phasing out gas boilers have sparked fury among some voters. “With the German heating law, I think media and party politics tested the waters on how easy it is to get people tricked into believing the Greens want an eco-dictatorship … and that we need to protect ourselves from [climate activists], rather than the climate crisis,” said Neubauer. “Apparently that worked out well.”

Neubauer has previously criticised centrist politicans, including the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, from the centre-left Social Democratic party, for polluting the discourse and normalising hateful rhetoric against climate activists. She said Fridays for Future’s greatest failure in Germany was not embedding climate policy across the democratic spectrum “in a way that it could sustainably live on without us”. “It’s a disaster,” she said. “And I fear Germany is a very prominent example of what is happening in many liberal democracies around the world.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/24/extreme-weather-failing-encourage-political-climate-action-luisa-neubauer