Climate Activist Luisa Neubauer Solicits Advice from Columbia Students

“We always say knowledge is power, but in dealing with the climate, knowledge is powerlessness because we are overwhelmed by facts.”

That was one of many insights from Luisa Neubauer, the lead organizer of the Fridays For the Future climate movement in Germany, in conversation with Columbia history professor and noted economist Adam Tooze.

On Friday, September 27, Neubauer led a workshop with over 30 students that was cohosted by IGP, the Climate School, the European Institute, Columbia Global, the Obama Scholars program, and the Committee on Global Thought. The workshop sought proactive ideas to address the climate emergency and political polarization. If ideas could survive in America, Neubauer posited, they could survive anywhere.

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A central obstacle identified in the discussion was climate exhaustion, the unwillingness of many Americans to engage with climate policy because the outcomes all terrified them. For climate activists, Neubauer explained, that creates a conundrum: do you talk about climate and potentially lose your audience, or do you stay silent on the issue and perhaps move the ball forward? In German, she refers to this phenomenon as a ‘spiral of silence.’

A Chilean student clarified that in his country, “we are tired of inaction, [and] not tired of talking about climate.” Neubauer responded that everything from climate financing for adaptation to the uptick in electric vehicle purchases is beneficial because “what we need is a thousand influences, not just a big heart.” However, she believes a deeper barrier to activism is people feeling they are sacrificing their own futures in order to protect the climate. 

“The lie is to frame caring about the climate as an issue of privilege," Neubauer concluded. "Who is willing to stand up in the storm and challenge narratives about who’s doomed and who is not?”