Environmental Institute Munich
| Environmental Institute Munich e. V. (registered association) |
|
|---|---|
| legal form | Association of persons |
| founding | 1986 |
| Seat | Munich , Germany |
| purpose | Research into and reduction of environmental pollution |
| Chair | Martin Bauhof, Franziska Buch, Karin Fischer, Fabian Holzheid and Jurek Vengels |
| Members | over 9,000 (as of 2020) |
| Website | www.umweltinstitut.org |
The Environmental Institute Munich e. V. is a registered association with the aim of "researching and reducing environmental pollution". The environmental institute is committed against nuclear power , for the energy transition , for organic farming and consumer protection .
Working method
The environmental institute pursues its goals through research and monitoring, public relations, environmental education and campaigns with which it wants to influence political decisions in the environmental field. The environmental institute is non-party and recognized as a non-profit organization. The association is mainly financed by donations and the contributions of the more than 8,000 supporting members.
Founding history
The environmental institute was founded in 1986 immediately after the Chernobyl reactor disaster . Citizens and scientists from the Munich area founded the association because they were disappointed with the information policy of the German authorities, which they perceived as trivializing. Together with the environmental institute, they created the prerequisites for carrying out their own independent measurements of radioactive pollution and making recommendations for action for the public. Over time, other focal points were added, so that the Environmental Institute is now active on a variety of environmental issues.
Current work areas
Radioactivity and nuclear power
The Munich Environmental Institute regularly measures the Munich outside air for radioactivity with the help of a probe and examines food for its radioactive contamination. Even now - more than 30 years after Chernobyl - mushrooms and, above all, wild boars from certain regions of southern Germany are still so radioactively contaminated that they are not allowed to be consumed. The environmental institute publishes the results of its investigations on its website.
The employees of the Environmental Institute in Munich provide professional advice and provide information about radioactive contamination of food and the health effects of radioactivity. You are also available as an expert in nuclear licensing procedures. As part of its public relations work, the Munich Environmental Institute provides information about the risks of nuclear technology and shows the connection between civil and military use. The association is committed to the fastest possible shutdown of all nuclear power plants (e.g. through online campaigns and publicity campaigns) .
Energy and climate
The Munich Environmental Institute takes the position that a comprehensive energy transition is required to combat climate change . The association advocates decentralized energy supply in the hands of the citizen. The Environment Institute therefore rejects subsidies for climate-damaging energy sources. After campaigns on the topics of agroenergy and fracking have been completed , the environmental institute has recently been increasingly committed to a quick phase-out of coal. In 2017, the Environmental Institute was one of the supporters of the successful citizens' initiative for the early closure of the Munich coal-fired power plant. In 2018 it supported the protests against the deforestation of the Hambach Forest for an open-cast brown coal mine by RWE . The association has also been part of the Climate Alliance since 2018 .
Trade policy and consumer protection
The Munich Environmental Institute is committed to preventive consumer protection and the greatest possible minimization of exposure to pollutants and radiation. The environmental institute saw the European standards in environmental and consumer protection at risk through the planned free trade agreements TTIP and CETA . As one of the first organizations in Germany, the environmental institute warned of the agreement with leaflets in millions.
The Environment Institute was one of the sponsors of the self-organized European citizens' initiative “Stop TTIP”, which received more than 3 million signatures across Europe. The environmental institute was also one of the organizers of the large-scale demonstrations against TTIP and CETA in Berlin on October 10, 2015 with up to 250,000 participants and on September 17, 2016 in seven German cities with a total of up to 320,000 participants.
Together with other organizations, the environmental institute wanted to get a referendum against CETA in order for the Bavarian state government to say no to the ratification of CETA in the Federal Council. 85,000 signatures for a referendum were collected within a few days in summer 2016 and handed over to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. The approval of the referendum was rejected by the Bavarian Constitutional Court.
Genetic engineering
The Environmental Institute was one of the first environmental organizations in Germany to organize campaigns against the release of genetically modified organisms . Even today, the association is committed to GMO-free production of food and feed and criticizes in particular new methods of genetic engineering , such as CRISPR-CAS .
Agriculture
The environmental institute rejects industrial agriculture and advocates a comprehensive turnaround in agriculture with the goal of rural, 100% ecological agriculture . It is one of the sponsors of the large demonstrations that take place annually during Green Week in Berlin under the motto “ We're fed up! ". Current focus in agriculture is on pesticides and their impact on human health and biodiversity .
In February 2016, the environmental institute received great media attention by publishing a test on 14 German beer brands for residues of the herbicide glyphosate . On the morning of the publication, the then Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt (CSU) put the dangerousness of the values found into perspective on television. Schmidt relied on a statement from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The BfR was also the lead national assessment authority for the re-authorization of glyphosate. For its part, the environmental institute accused the BfR of playing down the dangers of glyphosate and systematic errors in the assessment process.
In addition to glyphosate, the environmental institute also advocates banning other pesticides. These include in particular insecticides from the group of neonicotinoids , which are associated with insect death , as well as possible substitutes such as sulfoxaflor .
Environmental education project organic farming
The Munich Environmental Institute offers trips to organic farms for school classes in Munich, as well as days of action on the subject of organic farming and healthy eating. In addition, once or twice a year further training courses are held for educators on the above-mentioned topics.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.umweltinstitut.org/ueber-uns/umweltinstitut-muenchen.html
- ^ Environmental Institute Munich: About us. In: Umweltinstitut München - About us. Umweltinstitut München, November 30, 2018, accessed on November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Umweltinstitut München: Radioactivity measurements outside air in Munich. In: Environmental Institute Munich. Retrieved November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ brk / dpa: TTIP opponents collect more than three million signatures. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ dpa: Around 250,000 demonstrators in Berlin. In: Economic Week. October 10, 2015, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ^ Steven Norton: Hundreds of Thousands in Germany March Against Trade Deals With US, Canada. In: The Wall Street Journal. September 18, 2016, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Off for referendum against Ceta. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. February 15, 2017, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Glyphosate in beer: How great is the danger really? In: AZ. February 25, 2016, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Kathrin Zinkant: Environmental Institute accuses the authorities of glyphosate "forgery". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. May 4, 2016, accessed November 30, 2018 .