‘We Are Looting the Past and Future to Feed the Present’

By Katrin Elger and Christian Schwägerl

SPIEGEL: Who or what is to blame for the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima?

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber: The earthquake was merely the trigger. The crazy logic we apply in dealing with technical risks is to blame. We only protect ourselves against hazards to the extent that it’s economically feasible at a given time, and to the extent to which they can be controlled within the normal operations of a company. But the Richter scale has no upper limit. Why is a Japanese nuclear power plant only designed to withstand a magnitude 8.2 earthquake, not to mention tsunamis?

SPIEGEL: Presumably because otherwise electricity from nuclear power would have been too expensive.

Schellnhuber: The entire affluence-based economic model of the postwar era, be it in Japan or here in Germany, is based on the idea that cheap energy and rising material consumption are supposed to make us happier and happier. This is why nuclear power plants are now being built in areas that are highly active geologically, and why we consume as much oil in one year as was created in 5.3 million years. We are looting both the past and the future to feed the excess of the present. It’s the dictatorship of the here and now.

SPIEGEL: What’s your alternative?

Schellnhuber: We have to stop constantly ignoring the things that are truly harmful to our society. This includes nuclear accidents, but also the prospect of the Earth becoming between 6 and 8 degrees Celsius (11 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer by the year 2200. Only when we have taken the possibility of maximum losses fully into account can we decide whether we even want a specific technology.

SPIEGEL: Up until now, you haven’t been one of the vocal opponents of nuclear power.

Schellnhuber: But neither was I a supporter of nuclear power. My position was: Let’s take advantage of the cost benefits of the existing nuclear plants to quickly develop renewable energy systems. It was my hope that something good would emerge from something bad.

SPIEGEL: How do you feel about the government’s plans to temporarily shut down seven nuclear power plants in Germany?

Schellnhuber: It’s the right thing to do. Something resembling what happened in Japan could also happen in Germany if one of the countless possible chains of unfortunate events were to occur. It’s the unavoidability of the improbable. But the way the government approached the issue was not very beneficial for Germany’s political culture.

SPIEGEL: Why?

Schellnhuber: Last year they decided that German power plants are safe. This allows for only two possible conclusions: Either the full truth wasn’t recognized at the time, in which case it was bad policy, or they are reacting in a purely opportunistic fashion now, against their better judgment. That’s even worse policy.

SPIEGEL: Are you worried that the government’s new anti-nuclear course will lead to higher CO2 emissions because more coal will be burned once again?

Schellnhuber: Actually, I’m convinced that this is precisely what Chancellor Angela Merkel will not allow. Now everyone is starting to realize that society’s entire fossil-nuclear operating system has no future and that massive investments have to be made in renewable sources of energy.

SPIEGEL: Do you feel that the government’s abrupt change of course in relation to its energy policy is adequate?

Schellnhuber: No. It can only be the beginning of a deep-seated shift. The German Advisory Council on Global Change, which I chair, will soon unveil a master plan for a transformation of society. Precisely because of Fukushima, we believe that a new basis of our coexistence is needed.

SPIEGEL: What does that mean?

Schellnhuber: We need a social contract for the 21st century that seals the common desire to create a sustainable industrial metabolism. We must resolve, once and for all, to leave our descendants more than a legacy of nuclear hazards and climate change. This requires empathy across space and time. To promote this, the rights of future generations should be enshrined in the German constitution.

SPIEGEL: And specifically?

Schellnhuber: For example, we have to stabilize energy consumption at a reasonable level. If we would finally start exploiting the full potential for energy efficiency in Germany, we could get by with at least 30 percent less energy input — without being materially worse off.

SPIEGEL: How do you intend to convince society of the need for an upper limit to energy consumption?

Schellnhuber: It can only be achieved with cultural change. To that end, society needs to have an entirely different discussion than before. This sort of change is one of the most difficult things I can imagine.

SPIEGEL: Belt-tightening hasn’t exactly been popular in the past.

Schellnhuber: All it costs is a few percentage points of economic output to turn away from the dangerous path that would otherwise lead to more nuclear accidents and unchecked climate change. Green investments would only delay the growth of affluence between now and the year 2100 by six to nine months. Is that really too high a price to pay?

SPIEGEL: Why is it that your messages haven’t been all that well received until now?

Schellnhuber: I’m neither a psychologist nor a sociologist. But my life experiences have shown that the love of convenience and ignorance are man’s biggest character flaws. It’s a potentially deadly mixture.

Interview conducted by Katrin Elger and Christian Schwägerl.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,752474,00.html

……………..

Diktatur des Jetzt

Von Elger, Katrin und Schwägerl, Christian

Der Physiker und Klimaforscher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber über die Ursachen des Reaktorunfalls und eine Obergrenze für den Energieverbrauch

by Dmitry Orlov

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dtxqwqr_199c8zm6gf6

“A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbor.” — Carl Jung: “The Philosophical Tree” (1945). In CW 13: Alchemical Studies. P.335

　　　　　　　　　　　　　
ＯＦＵＤＥＳＡＫＩ

Nao Deguchi

January 1892

__The Greater World shall burst into full bloom like plum-

blossoms do – simultaneously. The time for Me, Ushitora-

no-KOnjin, to reign has come at last! This means the world

opened like plum-blossoms shall be Heaven-ruled as ever-

green pine trees; this is the world where things shall never go

well without Kami ‘s care. Know you, the world has hitherto

been and is that of_beasts ,_the stronger preying upon the

weaker-quite devilish. Alas, the world of beasts! You are so

cheated by the Devil as to be quite unconscious of the truth;

a dark age._If things are left as they stand, order shall not be

kept. Therefore, through the manifestation of_Divine Power,

the Greater World shall be reconstructed and transformed into

an entirely New World. After going through an over-all cleans-

ing, the Greater World shall be changed into the Kingdom of

Heaven where peace will reign through all ages to come._Be

prepared for peace to reign through all ages coming._Prepare

yourself for that, humanity!_Never shall the world of Kami fail;

there shall be nothing that comes untrue even by the breadth

of a single hair. Know that should Kami err, He would be non-

existent.

_ All churches in the world are the forerunners of Oomoto, for

Oomoto is the last one. It has come to give the finish to the re-

construction of the world. All the pillars of the Sprit1 in the past

were aware of something of the reconstruction, but they knew

not how to carry it out._They knew not the vital point for the

success of Kami ‘s plan._But I know everything in the Greater

World. Should you feel forlorn and cheerless, come to Oomoto

in Ayabe to hear the Teaching, and you shall be given Divine

Virtue with which to see everything at a glance and to see all

that shall happen in the world hereafter.

1Seers, prophets, gurus, priests

_________________________________*

__People nowadays are all, as it were, simply deaf and blind;

they are in a very dangerous state, in the sight of_Kami , like

cups and glasses put on the edge of a well.

_ Directly will leaves sprout from the roots of a creeping saxi-

frage; unless both the governing and governed flower, peace

shall never reign. If only the `former’ prospers, that will not do;

if only the `latter’ thrives, this world will not be peaceful, either.

__Demons in this world must be vanquished and devils chas-

tised with shocks of earthquakes and thunder, or showers of

fireballs; otherwise, it shall not turn into the Kingdom of Heav-

en. But lo!_The time has come round when Kami ‘s plan shall

be realized, so everything will be carried out rapidly, though

not without trials.

__Any soul who knows how things came to such a pass,

please hasten, even a single one, to Oomoto and serve Kami.2

In exchange, thanks shall be given to anyone who has really

fulfilled his mission; for he is a Pillar of the Spirit forever. Being

about the whole world’s affairs: this is beyond the comprehen-

sion of people however intelligent and learned they may be.

This_Plan should not be detected, (but then, people could not

repent for their ignorance). Because this is the one reconstruc-

tion for all time to come, well it may be that the Scheme is very

difficult to understand, except for those who renounce worldly

learning and sagacity to be returned to baby’s heart. Only

such shall be made to judge correctly. Kami ‘s Plan is such a

great enterprise that you shall not be able to begin to under-

stand the truth until you have thoroughly purified your defiled

hearts.

.

___________________*

_In every country and place in the world shall appear numer-

ous_Pillars of the Spirit who are to announce the reconstruc-

tion of the world: they are all working through the Plan of Me,

Ushitora-no-Konjin or Kunitokotachi-no-Mikoto.

__Each one of them may think he is doing something, but is

only being guided by Me, Ushitora-no-konjin, because every-

thing is involved in My Plan. This Kami is not one who delights

in His own merits. I want to let any soul take part in the fun-

damental work, if he understands the Plan. Change the way

you have used your mind and heart, and come to Oomoto and

hear the vital points, to be of Divine service.

__ Beware, every angel and entity in greater world! As

streams and brooks babbling down valleys never fail to join a

greater river till at last they are united into one, so is this place

the pivot where the True Kami resides.