Wolfgang Gründinger

Wolfgang Gründinger (2010)

Wolfgang Gründinger (born June 11, 1984 in Tirschenreuth ) is a democracy researcher and journalist specializing in energy policy , lobbying , intergenerational equity and sustainability . He is spokesman for the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations and a member of Think Tank 30 , the young think tank of the Club of Rome .

Career

Gründinger was born as the second son of a single vegetable seller. He received a bachelor's degree in political science and social sciences from the University of Regensburg and a master's degree in democracy research from the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of California in Santa Cruz and completed the Internet Leadership Academy at Oxford University .

His political engagement began at the age of 16 when he joined the SPD and its youth organization, the Jusos , and founded the non-partisan international youth network Youth for Intergenerational Justice and Sustainability. At the age of 17 he was a delegate to the UN climate summit in Bonn, and the following year he traveled to the UN world summit on sustainability in Johannesburg . From 2004 to 2007 he was the only German delegate to the International Youth Parliament and a member of an international six-person team that coordinated global youth work for the UN Millennium Development Goals on behalf of the world's largest youth activist network Taking IT Global in 2005/2006 . At the same time, he worked as an expert on international relations on the children and youth report on the Federal Government's National Action Plan for a Germany Appropriate for Children .

In 2007/2008 he initiated the climate-neutral Bundestag campaign, with the aim of making the Bundestag a model for climate-friendly action in buildings, offices, vehicle fleets, business trips and canteens, and was partially successful.

In 2009, Handelsblatt magazine counted him among “Germany's young elite”. According to Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, his early political commitment to the rights and interests of today's youth and future generations earned him the reputation of being a “youth advocate”. In 2009, Der Spiegel described him as “Germany's flagship mid-twenties”. The Zeit Campus counts him among the "100 students we will hear from."

Political positions

As his three most radical political positions, Gründinger mentioned to the Spiegel :

1. a complete change of the energy system away from fossil and nuclear energies towards 100% renewable energies
2. the abolition of the age limit for the right to vote (introduction of the right to vote for children )
3. the complete elimination of elderly privileges in the labor market.

In an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel , who in the time Campus was published Gründinger presented four demands:

1. Reduction of environmentally harmful subsidies , abandonment of actionist consumer injections, more money for education, research and renewable energies;
2. better social security for young families, more investments in public childcare, family-friendly businesses;
3. binding rules for fair internships , abolition of unjust elderly privileges;
4. Introduction of citizens' insurance in the pension system.

In 2012 he started an online petition against the EU surveillance program INDECT on change.org to protest against the degradation of privacy.

He was also a co-signer of the non-partisan future manifesto of eleven young people under 30 from six parties, which was published in ZEIT in November 2012 .

During the “outcry” debate about everyday sexism in Germany that sparked off in January 2013, he sympathized with the cause of the appeal and turned against attempts to belittle sexual harassment of women. However, the socially shaped male and female roles would have to be examined as a whole in order to use the debate successfully for feminism .

Awards

• "Young Elite: 40 under 40", ranking of the 40 top talents in the field of state and society, capital
• Student award from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (2012 and 2005)
• “Leader of Tomorrow” - Knowledge Pool St. Gallen Symposium (2012)
• “100 students, from whom we will still hear”, ZEIT CAMPUS (2010)
• Awarded “Leading Changemaker” by Ashoka Youth Venture (2009)
• Winner of the creative competition for renewable energies (2009)
• “30 under 30 - Germany's young elite”, Handelsblatt Junge Karriere (2008)
• Generational Justice Prize (2007/08 and 2005/2006)
• Book Prize of the German Environmental Foundation (2006/07)
• Demography Prize (2006/07)
• German Study Award (2006)
• The political book of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for old sacks of politics (2017)

Honorary positions

• Member of Think Tank 30 of the Club of Rome
• Spokesman for the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations
• Member of the State Council for Digital Development and Culture of the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate
• Advisory board of the German Environmental Foundation

Books

• Drivers of Energy Transition: How Interest Groups Influenced Energy Politics in Germany. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN 978-3-658-17691-4 .
• Old sacks of politics. How we gamble away our future. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2016, ISBN 978-3-579-08626-2 .
• My little people's party: From a soci who purposely became a pirate . Eichborn , Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-8479-0524-0 .
• We seekers of the future. How Germany becomes suitable for grandchildren . Körber , Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-89684-092-9 .
• Lobbying in climate protection. The influence of interest groups on the national structure of the EU emissions trading . Springer VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-18348-0 .
• Young Revolt - How We Can Avoid Generational War . CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58685-9 .
• The energy trap. Review of the petroleum age . CH Beck , Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54098-8 .
• Eco realism. The environmental crisis and the solar revolution. With a foreword from EU by Weizsäcker . Schardt , Oldenburg 2002, ISBN 3-89841-066-8 .

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Gründinger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of Wolfgang Gründinger
• "The free radical", portrait in the magazine "neue energie" (PDF; 298 kB)
• Without stopping to the executive floor , portrait in the FAZ
• Wolfgang Gründinger in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sandra Schulz: Throwing stones is simply not our style. In: Spiegel online. June 17, 2009.
2. ↑ For a Germany Appropriate for Children 2005–2010. Children and youth report on the National Action Plan. (PDF; 675 kB)
3. ^ Club of Rome: Invitation to the press conference. “Climate-neutral Bundestag” initiative. ( Memento of February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) December 2007.
4. ↑ Homepage "Climate-neutral Bundestag"
5. ^ Page of the initiative at Think Tank 30 of the Club of Rome ( Memento from May 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ In: Young career . December 27, 2008.
7. ↑ Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker: Foreword. In: Wolfgang Gründinger: Eco-Realism . Oldenburg 2002, p. 5.
8. ↑ Justus Bender: The list of the 100th on: Time Campus. April 20, 2010.
9. ↑ The crisis professionals. In: Der Spiegel. 25, 2009, p. 48ff. (PDF; 1.4 MB)
10. ↑ Ms. Merkel, why are you giving up the generation contract? Open letter to Angela Merkel. on: time campus. April 15, 2009.
11. ↑ Stop #INDECT and surveillance state now! Petition at change.org
12. ↑ Our future sounds like a catastrophe. on: Zeit Online.
13. ↑ heute.de: “How should men be now?” ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), conversation with Anke Domscheit-Berg
14. ↑ wolfgang-gruendinger.de (PDF; 210 kB)
15. ↑ As a soci with the pirates. on: time online. February 15, 2013.