Upper Bavaria

Amrei Küsel unfolds large fabric banners on which the Fridays for Future logo is emblazoned and an immediate system change is demanded. For the trainee, the “global climate strike” that the climate movement Fridays for Future called for worldwide on Friday is not the first demonstration for more climate protection. She has been involved with the Munich local group for years. Recently, however, fewer and fewer people have come to the protests. “Of course there are ups and downs and sometimes you just don’t have any energy left, but that’s exactly when we have to stand up,” says Küsel.

Alliance calls for a halt to the expansion of fossil fuels in Bavaria

“We are clearly demanding: get out of fossil fuels,” says Küsel. That is why the Munich group of Fridays for Future is opposed to gas drilling in Bavaria. This mainly concerns the planned drilling in Reichling in the Landsberg am Lech district. Renewable energies should be expanded instead, demands the climate activist.

People are taking to the streets with Fridays for Future all over Bavaria – including in Kempten with 200 participants, as well as in Nördlingen, Landshut and several places in Middle and Upper Franconia such as Erlangen, Fürth and Bamberg. Around 100 climate protests are taking place nationwide.

Parents, teachers and scientists demonstrate with

However, among the 2,000 to 3,000 participants on Königsplatz in Munich, according to police figures, there are not only students. The older generation seems to be almost more conspicuous.

“Show your stance for the climate” is written on the banner that Katja Pfeiffer is holding up. She has two children. “We have to show politicians that more climate protection is needed,” says the mother. She is involved with Parents for Future. Her family doesn’t drive a car and goes on vacation by train. But only a few of her neighbors in Munich make their everyday lives climate-friendly. “It’s difficult to get a voice heard,” says Pfeiffer.

“Get drunk at the Oktoberfest instead of drowning in the meadows”

Data scientist Leah von der Heyde holds up a cardboard poster with this inscription. The 30-year-old is spending her lunch break with two colleagues at the climate strike. Climate protection also affects the scientific community, say the Munich researchers. One problem is finding suitable locations for conferences where participants do not have to travel too far, but developing countries are not excluded either.

Compulsory education is handled differently in schools

Climate protection plays a smaller role among students than it did in 2019, says teacher Tim Rädert. Even though the management of the Munich high school where he works has already released students for such strikes. “My impression is that fewer and fewer students understand the explosive nature of climate change, but there are still enough who are committed to it,” says the Munich high school teacher.

But not all schools are so relaxed about students taking part in climate demonstrations during class time. High school student Bálint Kondor has called in sick and is risking a warning. At his school, the rule on exemption from classes for climate strikes has been abolished. But it’s worth it to him, says the 18-year-old: “If there is no more earth and no more living space that is habitable, then it doesn’t matter whether I’ve learned physics or Spanish vocabulary.”

Many classmates find it difficult to do without

Bálint Kondor believes that climate protection can only be achieved through sacrifice. “It’s the things that make our lives comfortable, like driving a car, flying on vacation, eating and consuming meat. Those are great things and everyone likes to do them.” But the 18-year-old is also disappointed with politics and the media because climate protection has been pushed into the background in the political debate. He no longer knows who to vote for.

Amrei Küsel from Fridays for Future Munich is continuing to organize the protest march through the city on Friday afternoon. Even if there are no longer around 1.4 million people taking to the streets like in 2019, quitting is not an option for the climate activist. “I am very afraid of the future and I am trying to suppress this fear through activism and use it for something good,” says the 19-year-old.