Transatlantic Breakfast: Right-wing opposition to environmental protection in the U.S.A.

We are pleased to invite you once again to our Transatlantic Breakfast, where guest speakers discuss their theses and expertise on transatlantic topics over breakfast and coffee or tea.

Climate crisis denial is now a fixture of Republican politics, and partisan polarization on environmental policy is well advanced. The issue seems firmly embedded in the culture wars. Yet this was not always the case: For a long time, nature conservation was a policy area on which both parties could agree.

In Germany, too, the political and societal debate about climate and environmental protection policy is coming to a head, and resistance to individual measures such as the Building Energy Act is enormous. Inflation, fear of financial or cultural decline, economic interests –  how can this development be explained? Do these dynamics affect German and European environmental policy? And what lessons can we learn from these developments in the U.S.?

Dr. Ella Müller, director of the Transatlantic Democracy Program at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Washington, D.C. and author of the book "The American Right and Environmentalism: History of a Radicalization", joins us together with further experts to discuss contemporary right-wing conservative movements and their campaigns against environmental protection and a just green transition.

Welcome address: Jan Philipp Albrecht, Executive Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

Moderation: Bastian Hermisson, Head of the Domestic Department, Heinrich Böll Foundation Berlin

Speakers:

• Dr. Ella Müller, Director of the Transatlantic Democracy Program at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Washington, D.C.
• Dr. Bernd Sommer, Professor in Environmental Sociology with a focus on Transformation Research at the TU Dortmund University

Contact: Deitra Myers, Project Management EU/North America (myers@boell.de)