Louisa Neubauer & Helena Marschall Visit

Please join the CGES  for a presentation and discussion with Luisa Neubauer and Helena Marschall, two of Germany’s most prominent and involved climate activists and movement builders. Luisa and Helena are coming to Minnesota, after traveling along the East Coast to share lessons learned from climate and democracy organizing in Germany and across Europe. 

Their presentation will explore opportunities to foster dialogue and collaboration between activists in both countries, emphasizing the interconnectedness of climate action and social justice and seeking to find mutual inspiration. 

They are particularly excited to engage with the audience and discuss: 

● stopping fossil fuel extraction and LNG exports

● how the fights for democracy and climate justice can be fought and won together 

● movement-building and community organizing strategies

● coalition-building between climate, social justice, and labor movements

Luisa Neubauer is the leading voice on the climate crisis in Germany and the climate justice movement's most prominent representative. The TIMES listed her on the 2022 list of the 100next. In 2021, she and others sued the German government for its lack of climate action in a landmark constitutional court ruling „Neubauer vs. Germany“ - and won. She has met with multiple heads of state including Barack Obama, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, and published three best-selling books on the climate crisis. She is also host of the Spotify Original Podcast "1.5 degrees" and is a frequent speaker, columnist and contributor for large outlets and events.

Helena Marschall is a 21-year-old climate activist and one of the key organizers behind Germany's largest climate and democracy mobilizations and protests in recent years. At 16, Helena organized school walkouts for climate with tens of thousands of participants in her city. Since then, she has coordinated dozens of national and European campaigns targeting big corporations, pushing for a coal phase-out in Germany, stopping LNG expansion, or taking back TikTok from the far right. Though born in Germany, Helena grew up partly in Massachusetts, where she attended elementary and middle school. Transatlantic dialogue has deeply shaped her activism and convinced her that learning the stories of movements around the world is necessary to inspire action at home.  

We thank supporters including the Heinrich Böll Foundation (boell.de), the Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis, and the Environment and Engagement Resource Hub (www.carleton.edu/german/sustainability/).