M.K. : I think the current state of climate protection is perfectly explainable with the so called „prisoner’s dilemma” – no one wants to move first,
because the one who’s moving first is losing. So how do we start?
Prof. Dr. von Weizsäcker
Exactly. That’s the current mentality of the
decision makers and
the attitude of the climate negotiators.
Nobody wants to move
first. Part of my message is, you can overcome the situation of
the prisoner’s dilem-
ma and move into the
first-mover-advantagesituation, by improving
resource productivity.
M.K. : Big goals need the support of everybody. Isn’t it very frustrating for
you to watch the inconclusive debates between politicians and economists
over the years? For instance, as with the debates at the last United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Warsaw (Poland)?
Prof. Dr. von Weizsäcker
Of course it’s frustrating sometimes. I also
know that we’ve to be
patient with long term
developments, because
the engagement for
a better environment
and
especially
for
those changes is com-
ing in waves.
About
10 years ago, after
Al Gore published his
INCONVENIENT TRUTH,
everybody believed that
climate protection had
to be the first priority of
every government. For
example the British and
34
the German government were very active.
Since then, the priority
of environmental protection has decreased
in northern America and
in Europe, too.