Austria climate activist aims to take fight to Brussels May 6, 2024
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- May 5, 2024
- 3 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Austria climate activist aims to take fight to Brussels
She started working with Greta Thunberg's Fridays For Future school protests and blocked bulldozers at construction sites near a national park. Now Austrian climate activist Lena Schilling has her sights set on Brussels.
The 23-year-old hopes to be elected to the European Parliament in June, as one of the first waves of young activists to enter the political mainstream.
Schilling said she wanted to “go where the laws are made” to try to keep the fight against climate change on the agenda as the backlash against the measures needed to save the planet grows.
“The climate crisis won't go away, even if you stop looking,” Schilling told AFP in the Lobau national park on the outskirts of Vienna, which she campaigned to save by camping out in tents for more than a year.
After Austria's longest blockade, the road project was suspended. Now another victory awaits Schilling.
As the leading candidate of the Austrian Greens, Schilling is almost guaranteed a parliamentary seat, despite an expected increase in conservative votes.
'Fighting for what's right'
In Brussels, she wants to ensure that the EU Green Deal - the ambitious plan to make the European Union carbon neutral by 2050 - is not undermined.
She also wants to push for more solar panels and wind turbines, as well as cheaper train fares between European capitals to encourage more train travel.
In March, a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned of “catastrophic” consequences if Europe does not take urgent action to adapt to the risks posed by climate change.
“We are living through a mass extinction event... And it doesn't affect everyone in the same way. People with lower incomes are much more affected,” said Schilling.
“We have to solve the problems we have in our society from the root,” he added.
Schilling - who wrote a book called “Radical Change” - grew up in Vienna in a family where political discussions were normal, with her mother a social worker and her father a banker.
“Even as a child, I couldn't stand injustice,” said the political science student and former dance teacher.
“My mother always said: 'Lena, you have to fight for what's right. You have to stand up when something isn't right.”
Although she is no stranger to street protests, Schilling distances herself from the most recent climate actions, in which activists have glued themselves to the roads, saying that this alienates commuters.
She won't be intimidated
In Austria's election race, Schilling is up against political veterans, all men and more than twice her age, and critics point to her political inexperience.
But Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler of the Greens - who govern Austria as junior partners in a coalition with the conservatives - described Schilling as a “committed fighter”.
Political analyst Thomas Hofer said Schilling is a “different candidate”.
“She knows how to communicate, how to get around critical issues,” Hofer told AFP.
Schilling said she is determined not to be intimidated, even in the face of hate speech, especially online.
“The attempts to discredit you all the time because you are a woman are extremely stressful and at the same time make me a little angry and this anger gives me strength,” she said.
She said she found strength in the fact that, although she will only be one MEP out of 705 if elected, “I am one of many who are protesting”.
“We all have the opportunity to change the world a little,” she said.
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