By Leah Vincent
Growing up, I had little to no exposure, access, or education regarding climate change. There was no one to guide me on my journey of activism and frankly, I dove into the deep end rather quickly. As a BIPOC climate activist still struggling to find her voice, Kristy Drutman’s project Browngirl Green, is an inspirational step forward in the right direction for other young minority activists in need of guidance. Inspired by Kristy’s call to “tap into your network,” I’ve decided to interview Katharina Maier, a lead organizer for the Climate Initiative: Fridays for Future in Berlin and the US. We discussed the impact of this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP27) and what people from all over the world can do to make an impact in their communities at home and abroad.
Q: Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I go by Kat (she/her), short for Katharina, currently on Piscataway lands also known as Washington D.C. I was born in Germany but grew up in Southern Indiana, then went back to Germany for one year of high school which eventually turned into the next 12 years of my life. I went to business school in Berlin and back in 2018 when the Friday’s for Future wave swept over Europe [especially in Germany], I found a FFF group at my university. At that time I was also working as a freelance events manager and knew absolutely nothing about climate change. I went to one of the protests and figured these people could use an events manager and asked the organizers if I could help [organize] their rallies and marches. From there on I went from organizing my local group, to the Berlin group, to the German level, and eventually made it internationally. I quickly got sucked in and learned about climate and how fast we need to act. I felt frustrated because I was at the end of business school and I was just now learning about this. Having both an American and German education, there was no excuse not to know about climate by then. I moved back to the US in 2020 to specifically work on climate things. Coming during the midst of the pandemic, a lot of the activism fizzled out, specifically a lot of the Friday’s for Future groups. By the end of 2020, a few of us got together and wanted to establish a chapter in the US, which led to us creating the Friday’s for Future network here as we know it today.
Q: Wow, it’s really exciting to meet someone who was part of planting the roots of Friday’s for Future US.
Thank you! Coming from Germany, everybody knows Friday’s for Futures or has had some sort of touch points or degrees of separation from the organization. In the US, there’s a lot more support than people think. Here, it isn’t very “name orientated” like it is in Germany. We’re more of an infrastructure and a place where people come together to do things and meet like-minded people.
Q: As you probably know, COP27 just concluded yesterday (November 20, 2022). Have you been keeping up with this year’s Conference of the Parties and do you play any role in them?
I have not been to a COP myself, but I help and support those that do. I also track it to the extent that it is necessary for communications. I share information to the community as well as letting the public know what’s happening so that people care about things like loss and damage. Normal people aren’t going to know or care about it. I explain it in a way that’s very simple so that people know about it and show public support for it.
Q: In recent COP’s, countries started to bring up the idea of financial reparations. How do you feel about big emitting nations such as China and India not contributing to last year’s agreements and continuing to do so this year?
It’s the same question where, how is it possible that the system that was built to be a solution to climate change is currently being rigged by exactly those people who are supposed to be on the regulated side of it? There were over 600 fossil fuel lobbyists there. Coca Cola was a sponsor. The PR firm was the same PR firm that helps big oil companies greenwash. The fact that this is even allowed and possible just boggles everybody’s mind. Even people that know nothing about climate are like: “Who even makes up these rules?” and I’m like “That’s a really good question!” It frustrates me and so many people in the climate community. The main problem is that there is no other mechanism by which we can bring the world together. Many of us are losing faith in the system that’s been built. The UN and the COP have become more of a trade show. It’s like this climate-activist-destination-place-to-be and that is not the point. Up until a few years ago, nobody in the general public knew what a “COP” was. There’s a bunch of different COPs, it just stands for Conference of the Parties. Each UN section has their own COP. For example, there is COP19, which is the endangered species COP happening in Panama right now. There’s even the biodiversity COP, which is happening this December in Montreal. Nobody knows what they are and nobody’s supposed to know what’s going on. It’s a bunch of boring talks with negotiators getting together to figure out what’s going on in their respective countries. Because it’s not working, activists are trying to create pressure around these things and call attention to the fact that, for instance, all of these fossil fuel lobbies are in national delegations. A lot of the fossil fuel industries are behind closed doors in these negotiating rooms, which is wrong on so many levels.
Q: Compared to Germany, how do you think the US is doing within these COP talks? If possible, could you compare and contrast these two nations?
It’s a little hard. Just to preface, of the big countries that are able to make big moves, no country is doing enough. The roles of the US and Germany are rather different but they are both similar in the sense that they both have large peer pressure [influencing] roles within the international community. Germany is undoubtedly more progressive on a lot of these issues. In the US, it’s like “Do we even want to be in the Paris Agreement?” It’s just fundamentally a different conversation. It is the norm [in Germany] to care about climate in some way, shape, or form. It’s harder to find outright climate deniers there while here in the US at least a lot of the population refuse to believe the man made aspect of climate change. There’s a lot of empty promises coming from both sides.
Q: To me this COP felt a little more of a show because of the amount of political turmoil that’s going on right now. The new British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was there as well as President Biden [for three hours]. President Biden did make a very bold claim stating that the United States was committing themselves to being a leader financially, promising $11.4 billion in international climate finance annually by 2024. Do you think that this call to leadership will actually stand this time?
I think it’s all talk. I don’t think he’s going to live up to any of the promises he’s making. If you look at all of the things that are happening now, he’s pushed for electric school buses and now has climate funding in the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act). There is a historical amount of funding in that bill. However, a lot of things that are portrayed as green, aren’t actually. Just throwing money at renewables isn’t going to solve the problem. If we just swap out big oil with big renewables, we’re still going to have the same systemic injustices. We’re not going to solve the fundamental problems of the structure if we just swap out fossil fuels with renewables. We need to get away from fossil fuels. No question whatsoever. However, even renewable projects and infrastructure can be done in a way that’s harmful. All of the different refineries and facilities are being built in the same communities we’ve already stripped of resources to defend themselves. And again, the renewables that need a lot of space are going directly on indigenous lands because of course they have the most undeveloped land. And do you know why? Because they know how to defend and protect their land for the next generation. Even doing the right thing the wrong way can lead to more harm. President Biden has approved more offshore drilling than President Trump. There’s so many things where the action is not even close to what they’re promising. America is really good at big words, putting up conferences, inviting ministers that don’t actually do anything, a lot of big words and more promises that the actions aren’t even close to what they’re saying.
Q: What can activists and everyday people do to make a difference and what steps can we take in the right direction?
COP feels really far away. President Biden feels very far away. All of that is built on the foundations of us feeling like we can’t reach that. It is really important that we have “normal” people involved in the COPs, especially in the negotiating room where the decisions are being made. A lot of people are underestimating [in the context of this COP] solidarity strikes, especially this year because people couldn’t protest in Egypt. There were toolkits for social media posts, petitions to sign. Sitting here, signing a petition, or posting a picture with a hashtag can feel performative and cancel culture is real. The thing is, it really does make a difference. In these kinds of international spaces, the number of signatures on a petition is used in those rooms as evidence of how many people are behind this. Whenever people are sitting in the negotiating room, they look at how fast people tweet about something using a hashtag. It’s important to be an active participant in the community and holding the decision makers accountable. The answer to this question is so different where you are and in each situation. The answer is get involved in a community and then you will find all the ways to become the one who makes the change. The more local you get, the more people you will find to positively collaborate. The question is how do we get to the point where we feel like we’re making a difference. Whenever politicians say they can’t move any faster or don’t want to pass a bill because they’re afraid that people are going to get mad because inflation is getting higher. It is always public perception and public anger that people use as an excuse. Changing the participatory nature of our society is fundamental to shifting anything that goes beyond that.
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