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SoSe 19: Green Germany, Green Berlin: Nature and the Environment in German Culture, Society and Politics

Susanne Scharnowski

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Subject: Germany is often presented and perceived as a country that leads the way in climate protection, in the development of renewable energies, and in garbage separation and recycling, in brief: as a “green” country, the “Greenest Nation” (Frank Uekötter). The so-called “Energiewende”, the transition from nuclear energy and coal to solar and wind energy, was even meant to serve as a global model that other countries should imitate. At the same time, Germany has an economy that relies very much on the production of fast cars, and plastic packaging in Germany remains well above the European average of 167.3 kilos per capita. So perhaps the relationship between economy and ecology in Germany is more ambivalent than it seems at first glance. Program: We will look at some of the key moments in the history of environmental awareness in Germany, considering political, social and cultural aspects of the difficult relationship between industry, modernity, technology and the environment: We will examine the movement for nature conservation at the end of the 19th century, when Germany became a major industrial power; the NS period, when the foundations of modern laws for protection of the environment were laid; the environmental movements of the 1970s in West Germany and environmental protection in the GDR, and current debates about the conflicts between the protection of nature and landscape on the one hand, and climate on the other hand. Is this course suitable for you? The course is open to students from all fields, but you should be interested in environmental questions in an historical, cultural, and political perspective, and you should be prepared to study and discuss academic and journalistic texts. Workload and Assessment: In order to obtain 5 ECTS credits, you will have to • attend the course regularly (at least 10 out of 12 sessions); • have studied the course materials (an average of 15-20 pages of English texts per week); • submit some written work (a brief summary of one of the classes); • pass the written examination (90 minutes). close