You don’t believe in the scientific consensus of the man made climate change? Then your political stronghold in Germany is right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). AfD politician Beatrix von Storch said on the popular german video podcast Jung & Naiv, global warming was a matter of sunlight. And you can’t sue the sun. The AfD succeeded with older people in the recent european elections. In eastern german states Saxonia and Brandenburg the AfD became the strongest party with the slogan “Save the Diesel”.
This last refuge for climate change deniers now starts to tumble. The chairman of the Junge Alternative (JA), the AfD youth organization in Berlin, David Eckert, recommended his party to adopt environmental issues, something the AfD has strictly rejected, so far. Climate Change, the right-wing populists say, is a form of hysteria, created by the left and the green to suppress people and to damage the german industry.
Now Eckert demands a change of course in this issue. He points on the bad election results with young people. Only six percent of voters under 30 gave their votes to the AfD in the european elections. In metropolitan areas the AfD performed even worse. Furthermore, all AfD candidates have low sympathy values with younger people, unlike the candidates of the green party. The JA in Berlin claims more impact for young party members and a swing in the discussion on climate change. Eckert declares environmental protection as a protection of the homeland.
Deniers of climate change in Germany could possibly need a new political home in the near future.
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