Just in the week that I was informed about an e-bike for longer distances – I had planned to cycle quickly from Wormer to Amsterdam from now on – ‘theatre technician and bicycle enthusiast’ Erik Koletzki wrote a speech against e-bikers NRC† His closing sentence said it all: “So, dear e-biker, you will soon be deeply ashamed.”
“Shame on you,” haha.
Like Erik, I’m also concerned about the environment, and I’d like to do my part, but I’m not going to be ashamed of everything because he wants to. Erik Koletzki is one of the many whiners who thinks he can contribute to solving the climate problem by targeting the small fish.
The whining citizen loses sight of the big picture and projects the climate problem onto his fellow citizens. He likes to point out their shortcomings.
We should be ashamed of meat, of our vacations, of the clothes we buy, of the packages we order, of the way we travel, even of having children. Everything can be better and different and they know how.
I do not feel at all in the mood for people like Erik Koletzki who talk to me in a pedantic manner that I don’t have a heat pump yet, that I have to shower less and shorter, whose heating I have to switch off in the autumn and who ring the bell in a quasi-informative way because they notice that against the trend in no solar panels on our roof yet. Will we soon no longer be able to use kitchen appliances because you can beat batter manually just like in the past?
The Paris climate goals can easily be achieved if we stand together against the real polluters. The solution is so simple: downsize Schiphol, no cruise ships in Dutch ports, tax driving more heavily and reduce intensive livestock farming. Especially that last one.
Chain yourself to a barn door, block a runway, sit on the highway, do anything but spare me your own superior way of life.
No more barbecuing, in front of the fireplace or on an e-bike.
Not allowed by Erik Koletzki.
Because: “That is not always necessary and costs energy.”
Everything costs energy, especially the searching gaze of the fellow citizen.
Get in the groove with your whining.
Marcel van Roosmalen writes an exchange column with Ellen Deckwitz here.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 11 May 2022