Mr. President
dr Alexander van der Bellen
Ballhausplatz
1010 Vienna
alexander.vanderbellen@hofburg.at
Dear Mr. Federal President
dr Alexander van der Bellen!
There has been talk of the so-called energy transition for a long time... now the time has come. The dramatic events of the last few weeks in Ukraine are now showing everyone the actual reality.
But what happened?
It happened what hardly anyone would have thought possible - it's war!
It's war in the middle of Europe!
.. in the granary of the world.
In Ukraine.
And again it's about power, and about the fossil oil and gas reserves.
We had trusted far too much that the so-called energy transition, which has been talked about so much, will be completed and that there will be peace and prosperity.
Prosperity was achieved - but with what and at what price...
Today we are facing the greatest challenge facing humanity - climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels!
Indescribable catastrophes have already been triggered and it is rapidly getting worse.
Nature is being systematically destroyed, habitats for humans, animals and plants are inevitably lost. Man eludes his own basis of existence - the earth and nature, to which we owe gratitude and humility!
And if the destruction is still too slow, everything will be destroyed, people will just be slaughtered like today in Mariupol and all over Ukraine. By a cruel and merciless dictator. We have just received new images of incredible atrocities from Bucha... Civilians were tied up, tortured and then shot in the back of the head, women were desecrated and murdered along with children by the Russian army.
The images are unbearable and surpass any horror film in their cruelty!
It's war again in Europe... with unspeakable horror.
In the year 2022 AD. Nobody would have expected it, but it was invested.!
In pipelines for a lot of gas that comes from the earth, that comes from Russia, gas that comes from the decomposition processes of many many dead animals and dead plants and has been stored in the earth for millions of years.
And since the beginning of the technical revolution, it has been continuously burned in gigantic quantities, and the atmosphere is increasingly enriched with the resulting greenhouse gases.
And it goes on - good deals have been made and deals made...
And great economic powers were established like today's Russia. And built nuclear bombs.
And again it's about gas and oil.
And suddenly it's war - in the middle of Europe - in the year 2022 AD.
On February 24, 2022, Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Thousands of innocent people, women and children have already died. In the hail of bombs and rockets. Buried under rubble - kindergartens, schools, hospitals, a maternity ward!
Images will never be forgotten when a heavily pregnant woman giving birth and many other women and children were hit by bombs and rockets at the Mariupol clinic. The images of how this woman, covered in blood, was rescued from the rubble and the helpers fought for her and the life of her newborn child at the risk of their lives will never be forgotten.
It was in vain!
Both died in Mariupol - a bright and lively city by the sea.
Over 5000 innocent people, women and children have already died there in a smoking desert of rubble! And still thousands upon thousands have been waiting there for weeks. With no water, no electricity, no food, and no warmth in the cold amidst rubble and desolation.
And everyone, whether old, woman or child, who ventures out there and tries to escape with his last strength will be shot at!
And what are we going to do, Mr. Federal President?
You are the highest representative of the Republic of Austria, elected by us - what do we do? We watch on our TV screens and cell phones. We have enough to eat, we have clean water to drink, the shelves in our supermarkets are overflowing. It is advertised - buy buys! We have a roof over our heads and it's warm in our houses - with the gas from Russia!
In Germany, every second house is heated with gas from Russia, with us there are even more. Investments were made in gas heating with gas from Russia. And this gas and oil continues to flow to us from Russia. And so we finance this terrible war with the money for gas and oil.
This gas and oil is funding this war!
Where is it, the energy transition and the abandonment of fossil fuels such as gas and oil? It has been talked about for so many years - but investments and construction have been based on gas and oil. Technologies that have been around since the late 1950s - e.g. the fuel cell (energy from hydrogen) were totally neglected.
Research for new salt or magnesium storage batteries has been neglected.
But good deals were made with dictator Putin - in gas and oil. And now this terrible war - Putin's war - is being financed by us by continuing to buy gas and oil from Russia!
By far the largest buyers of gas and oil from Russia in the EU are Germany and especially Austria!
Dear Federal President Dr. Alexander van der Bellen!
You were born at the beginning of 1944 in our federal capital, Vienna. When they were born, their parents were fleeing from the Russian troops. Her parents were able to get themselves and her to safety.
The heavily pregnant woman in Mariupol was less fortunate. She and her newborn child could no longer be saved.
Now it's that time again - many innocent people are fleeing from the Russian aggressors, from the bombs and rockets, which do not serve to liberate the country but to destroy the entire civilian infrastructure and result in the deaths of thousands of civilians, especially women and children have.
Dear Federal President Dr. Alexander van der Bellen!
You studied economics in Innsbruck, you were federal spokesman for the Austrian Green Party and are now our Federal President!
Many Austrians are now asking themselves - what can we do?
How can we help? Appeal? Judged? Threaten? sanctions? Donate? Don't eat meat? Separating waste?
The answer is very simple:
Let's stop buying gas and oil from Russia!
Because that's how this war is financed!
There are mainly from Germany and Austriastill transfers around 700 million euros a day to Putin's Russia for gas and oil.
Ascending trend..
Now that you've read that number - it's not a fallacy of zeros!
Almost a billion euros are transferred to Putin's Russia every day for gas and oil. Unbelievable!
And that's how this war is financed!
But if this money stops flowing, then war can no longer be waged, because it costs a lot of money.
The war in Ukraine costs Putin at least one billion euros every day.
It is precisely this revenue from the gas and oil sales that this war needs to be sustained at all.
Let's immediately stop gas and oil purchases from Russia!
Because if you have no more money, you can no longer wage war!
Can it really be that simple?
No - of course it's not!
Because we continue to buy the gas and oil from Russia!
But why does Putin make his threat to stop supplying gas if we don't pay in rubles, why doesn't Putin actually make that threat come true?
The answer is also simple: Because he needs this money to finance his war. And vice versa - we continue to pay for it. Our Chancellor Nehammer from the Austrian People's Party recently put it this way in front of the camera:
"Stopping gas and oil purchases from Russia would be like shooting yourself in the left and right leg at the same time."
Of course he has to know, because he comes from the army...
But, is that really the case?
Where is the inventive spirit, where is our empathy, and Compassion for our neighbors in a brave new Europe?..with green gas, with green oil and green electricity. Where has it gone, the energy transition?..in a brave new world?..with hydropower, with solar systems, with wind and biogas plants.
Where, where have they gone? Would we rather spend many billions on upgrading than invest in the energy transition?
Well, have we all gone crazy now - do we really want to continue to help finance a war?
A war that has by far triggered the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the Second World War.. a war in our midst - in the middle of Europe!
Now where is this energy transition that has been talked about so much?
In Vienna alone there are half a million gas heaters - how should that work now?
Should half of all Viennese get cold feet in their apartments now? Or even have to take a cold shower? Or should all sectors of the economy that consume a lot of gas, e.g. the metal and plastics industry, have to shut down?
Or the crematoria?
Or how should the district authorities and city and tax offices work now?
After all, many of them have just installed new gas heating systems in recent years. Should people now sit in front of the computer in a kind of "Russian look" with hat, jacket and fur boots?
Let's look again at the news from March 17, 2022 on ORF 1.
Those tidings that are still surpassed in horror every other day of this war!
Let's see how children bleed to death and die, how the helpers in the bombed-out hospitals desperately fight for the lives of the many, many seriously injured - covered in blood and bombed by a ruthless dictator who lies to the world and plunges people into suffering and misery.
Let's look at them, those pictures, and now ask ourselves the previous question again:
roll back industry,? Put on warm clothes? Or even have to take a cold shower?
The answer should also be clear here:why not?
How much renunciation are we
human lives! - our neighbors - our fellow human beings in a brave new Europe worth?
What is this Europe that Otto von Habsburg was talking about and who warned urgently about Putin and the dependence on fossil fuels more than 20 years ago.
We had 20 years - and now? When it comes to showing empathy, humanity and actual solidarity - do we all get cold feet?
The answer is again very simple: no, of course not!
Nobody has to get cold feet - there are also warm slippers for cold feet!
Most apartments and houses have chimney connections. Most of the wood-burning stoves and fireplaces that have been moved to the basement or attic in recent years are still available. These can all be reused and modernized until green biogas is finally available.
Infrared panels can be installed to bridge the gap in a very short time.
In our forests - above all in Styria (the green heart of Austria) - millions of cubic meters of wood rot every year.
Why?
Because oil and gas used to be cheaper!
Austria alone has an annual increase in wood of 30 million cubic meters, which is far from being used!
Why don't we finally build the district heating heating plants to use our own renewable energies?
A paper factory in Styria with 450 employees turned off the gas from Russia, with which the entire plant was operated, in February of this year.
What happened?
Has everyone become unemployed now? No, the majority of the employees were asked to take vacation... in the meantime, in March, the factory was converted to generate heat using its own alternative fuels, which can be used thermally in a sensible way, and has thus become completely independent of Russian gas. And no one has been fired - on the contrary! We are urgently looking for another twenty employees!
What is it called: nothing is too sworn for the engineer! Or: where there's a will, there's a way!
Conversions and expansions of renewable energies would under no circumstances result in jobs being lost. On the contrary, many new jobs would be created!
jobs for the future. Energy for the future.
And not war and ruin. There are countless examples and also possibilities which are far from exhausted. A young man who no longer wanted to run the gas heating in his office had ordered two small infrared modules over the Internet. The two modules were attached and ready for use in one day. The warmth in the office is now much more pleasant and the energy costs have even been reduced as a result. Cost of the infrared modules - 250 €...
A hobby electrician has removed the burner of his old gas boiler for hot water preparation and installed an electric heating element and fastened it with thermal tiles. Result: hot water on the same day - without any gas.
Austria has a tremendous number of opportunities for renewable energy production.
The many valleys in the Alps alone, with their steep southern slopes, are enormously beneficial for the expansion of solar energy. Austria has the largest water reserves in all of Europe. The Schladminger Tauern alone are the mountains with the most water in all of Europe. Wild water thunders through the gorges and into the valley. Energy in its purest form - all still unused because too heavy?
Because gas was so cheap - not anymore!
Austrians who share the opinion of the author of this letter 100% appeal to you, President Dr. Alexander van der Bellen:
speak a word -
ask our government to stop buying gas and oil from Russia immediately!
Show courage and determination to actually do this. And pass on your strength, your courage and the trust that is inherent in you to the government, to all people in Austria, the EU and show them to the whole world that we dare not continue to stand idly by - without rearmament and threatening gestures, in a peaceful way, without continuing to rely on fossil fuels from Russia, now actually implement the long-awaited energy transition.
For a healthy environment without war and destruction, for renewable energy, for our children, for the future!
Nobody will have to suffer from the cold here - on the contrary! Warmth in the heart is worth a thousand times more than the heating turned down 1 or 2 degrees.
A roll from the day before is worth no less than a freshly baked one.
Because more bread is still thrown away every day worldwide than the needs of the entire world population.
Even with only 7 liters of hot water, complete body care, including hair washing, can be carried out. In addition, our gas storage facilities are full and we will get beyond the spring and Mr. Putin will quickly run out of money for his war.
And if we don't dare to get away from oil and gas in Russia now, when will we?
Nobody will have to suffer from the cold here. No one will have to suffer thirst or hunger.
On the contrary, the restructuring of the economy will experience an unexpected upswing and Austria in the heart of Europe can now emerge as a role model for the whole world!
Mr. Federal President Alexander van der Bellen! Let's do it, show the guts and courage you have and call on the government to stop buying gas and oil from Russia immediately!
Looking forward to your valued feedback with great interest
kind regards
Josef Paul Pichler, entrepreneur
8903 Lassing
+436644081000
Liezen, April 4, 2022
it's war! it's war! O God's angels forbid
And speak into it!
Unfortunately it is war - and I desire
Not to blame!
What should I do if I'm asleep with grief
And bloody, pale and pale,
The spirits of the slain would come to me,
And cried in front of me, huh?
If worthy men seeking honor
Mutilated and half dead
Rolling in the dust in front of me and swearing at me
In her mortal agony?
When a thousand thousand fathers, mothers, brides
So happy before the war
Now all miserable, all poor people,
lamented for me?
When hunger, evil plague and their needs
Friend, friend and foe to the grave
assembled, and crowed in my honor
From a corpse?
What use is crown and land and gold and honor to me?
They couldn't make me happy!
Unfortunately it is war - and I desire
Not to blame!
(Matthias Claudius 1740 - 1815)