Berlin(Germany)- “It’s crazy to stick yourself to the road with superglue,” admits Lina Schinkoethe, a 19-year-old who recently landed in jail for doing just that, protesting what she believes is the German government’s failure to act against climate change.
Schinkoethe is part of a group called Uprising of the Last Generation that claims the world has only a few years left to turn the wheel around and avoid catastrophic levels of global warming.
Like-minded European activists have recently interrupted significant sporting events such as the Tour de France and the Formula One Grand Prix in Silverstone. In contrast, others glued themselves to the frame of a painting at London’s Royal Academy of Arts Tuesday. But Schinkoethe’s group has mainly targeted ordinary commuters in cities such as Berlin who, on any given day this summer, might find themselves in an hours-long tailback caused by a handful of activists glueing themselves to the asphalt.
Schinkoethe says the escalation in tactics is justified.
“If we wanted people to like us, then we’d do something else, but we’ve tried everything else,” she told The Associated Press. “We’ve asked nicely. We’ve demonstrated calmly.”
She recalls joining the Fridays for Future protests led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg which saw hundreds of thousands of students worldwide skip school and rally for a better world.
“I hoped something would change, that politicians would react and finally take us and the science of climate change seriously,” she said. “But we’re still heading for a world that’s 3 to 4 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 7.2 Fahrenheit) warmer.”
Such a rise in global temperatures is more than twice the 1.5-C (2.7-F) limit countries agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord. While progress has been made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, experts agree the goal is still far out of reach.
Scientists agree that the world has no time to waste in cutting emissions but have tried to counter ‘dooms’ by arguing that the world isn’t heading for one cliff edge so much as a long, steep slope with several precipitous drops.
“Each tenth of a degree matters,” said Ricarda Winkelmann, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research near Berlin.
“If we start acting now and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, chances are that we can limit some of the most severe climate impacts,” she said.
Such messages are lost on many of those caught up in the blockades.
At two protests witnessed by The AP in June and July, several truckers got out of their cabs to berate the activists. One physically hauled two protesters off the road.
Some drivers, who weren’t affected by the blockade, also hurled abuse at the activists. A few expressed support for the climate cause but questioned how the protests were conducted.
“They need to find a different way to do this than to block other people,” said one driver on his way to work, who would only give his name as Stefan.
Berlin’s mayor has called the street blockades “crimes,” while the city’s top security official demands that prosecutors and courts meet swift convictions. So far, no cases have gone to trial.
Still, Schinkoethe believes she has no choice but to keep going.
“We need to generate peaceful friction so that there’s an honest debate and we can act accordingly,” she said.
That sentiment was echoed by Ernst Hoermann, a retired railway engineer and grandfather of eight who has been travelling to Berlin from Bavaria regularly to participate in the protests.
“We have to cause a nuisance until it hurts,” he said as a police officer tried to unstick him from the road with the help of cooking oil.
Similar protests have resulted in weeks-long prison sentences in Britain, where the government has sought court injunctions to stop road blockades by the group Insulate Britain preemptively.
Hoermann, 72, said he isn’t afraid of fines or the prospect of prison.
“Not compared to the fear I have for my children,” he said.
Last Generation has recently focused on Germany’s plans to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Despite having the most ambitious climate target of any major industrialized nation, Germany’s centre-left government is scrambling like other European countries to replace its Russian energy imports and avoid painful fuel shortages in the coming years.
Schinkoethe says the number of people participating in the group’s actions has grown from 30 to 200 in six months and argues that the blockades follow the tradition of civil disobedience seen during the U.S. civil rights movement and the fight for women’s suffrage.
“What we’re doing is illegal,” she said. “At the same time, it’s legitimate.”
Manuel Ostermann, a senior member of one of Germany’s police unions, accused the group of committing crimes while portraying themselves as victims.
“Where the process of radicalization gets going, extremism isn’t far off,” he wrote on Twitter.
Members of Last Generation have tried to counter that, citing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who earlier this year said that “the hazardous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.”
“I’m going to keep going until the government locks the other activists up for their peaceful protests and me or gives in to our demands,” said Schinkoethe.