Minute by minute: Young people take to the streets to protest the climate around the world

From the rocky ledge of Sleeping Beauty Castle in central Germany, the countryside stretches out in a mosaic of light and dark green forests before stopping.

At the center of this lush landscape is a strip of dry, bare land. The ground is empty save for a few ghostly white logs pointing skyward.

Bark beetle infestations, exacerbated by drought and warmer weather caused by climate change, have weakened the trees in the Reinhardswald Nature Park, the setting for childhood favorite fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and The Red Riding Hood.

“Once the bark has come off, the trees look a bit like bones,” says Peter Meyer, head of forest nature conservation at the Northwest German Forest Research Institute in Göttingen and Hann Münden.

“Then the beetle can pierce the tree, lay eggs under the bark, and the larvae feed on the tree, disrupting the water supply, and that causes the tree to die,” Meyer explains.

“Drought is the trigger for bark beetle infestations.”

Germany has suffered a historic drought in recent years and 2018 was the warmest since records began 140 years ago. In other parts of the country, this summer the rain has fallen hard and fast, causing deadly floods.

All of these events have put the climate crisis squarely on the election campaign ahead of Sunday’s German federal elections. They are the first in 16 years that Chancellor Angela Merkel has not run, and all the candidates vying to replace her are presenting their climate credentials.