“The state government of Baden-Württemberg is extremely committed to the transition towards a low-carbon economy,” Franz Untersteller, state minister for the environment, climate and energy, said yesterday at the Center for American Progress. “We aim at decarbonizing our economy by midcentury.”
“The great advantage we have in Germany at the moment is we really have the broad consensus in society that corresponds to the size of the task we face,” said Ulrich Luscher, who represents the CDU, the conservative party, on energy issues. “I definitely agree … that we have enormous possibilities for the economy in that [clean energy] sector.”
“We don’t have the situation like you have in the U.S., where you have this Koch brothers,” Untersteller said, referring to the billionaire heirs of Koch Industries.
My wife and I travelled to Costa Rica in '05, and while at a resort there we met and befriended a couple from Germany. She (of the couple) was fluent in English (and Spanish and Italian and probably every other European language, because they travel) and we spent a lot of time discussing our two countries and customs. They were stunned to learn that most americans only get a week or two of vacation time per year, and most don't travel or even take the time off they receive. In Germany even new employees are REQUIRED to take six weeks away from work with full pay. Their health care is taken care of, for the most part, and their jobs are mostly unionized and well paying.
ReplyDeleteIf a billionaire tried to buy their government or regulate their lives the way our money boys do over here, they would be back in the streets with pitchforks and torches. And their beer is chemical free, according to Mark Knopfler in AyeAye Man...
Squatlo,
ReplyDeleteYou learned a good lesson there. I worked in Germany, and I had surgery their, in the hospital for full 7 days. I paid nothing for this surgery. It was a small town hospital and the place was fantastic, clean, excellent food, friendly.