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Maja Göpel steps on the feet of many.
No wonder, because the political economist can no longer do anything with scrapping bonuses, ever larger cars and the current banking system.
She calls the VAT relief in the corona pandemic "Porsche premium".
The 44-year-old scientist is a sought-after interview partner, especially during the Corona crisis, she thinks big and takes a clear position.
The main topic in her bestseller “Rethinking our world” is the current economic system and how it prevents sustainable development.
A typical provocative question is, for example, whether the social commitment of Microsoft founder Bill Gates “outweighs the exorbitant sum of his airline miles” per year.
In an interview at the New Institute in Hamburg, she says that the corona pandemic is against environmental destruction such as deforestation, the sinking of the water table or the rapid extinction of species.
Born in Bielefeld, of course, she takes the train when she commutes to the Alster, where, as scientific director, she is supposed to advance a huge project.
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The think tank financed by the Hamburg entrepreneur Erck Rickmers is being set up - from autumn onwards, the exchange on areas such as ecology and economy, the future of democracies and value systems will be promoted.
Another topic is: How can Hamburg become a model city in terms of digitization?
For this task, Göpel gave up her work for the German government's scientific advisory board on global environmental changes.
She herself lives with her family in the small town of Werder near Potsdam and drives a 22-year-old car: “It is mostly standing around, I only need it for the ride to the riding stables with my children and then shopping.” At Leuphana University in Lüneburg she got a teaching position - this year in a four-day summer workshop.
Together with the philosopher Richard David Precht, the transformation researcher is sounding out the post-corona society in a utopia conference.
The forum was already well received outside of the university in 2020: 800 interested people registered.
Göpel throws light on influencers, Facebook and Instagram and denounces unrestrained consumption: Germany’s plastic waste goes largely to Asia, the TV sets would be scrapped in Africa.
“Many feel that things cannot stay the way it used to be,” she says, referring to many areas in Germany: the health care system with a two-tier society, the low-wage sector and encrusted structures in agriculture.
Why are so many people unable to afford decent food for their families despite working alongside their rent? She asks.
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"I do think that Corona teaches to protect life.
So far we haven't done anything in the big cycles, ”says the scientist who co-founded Scientists for Future.
In 2008, after the banking crisis, a “rotten system” was rebuilt.
It usually takes “external shocks” to interrupt routines.
The mother of two primary school students also cares about the situation of the children and their often overburdened parents in homeschooling.
“We should take the pressure off school, education is something different than barking in and spitting out.
We should let go of the pressure of grades. ”Education is more than that, namely the ability to socialize, empathy and creativity.
“The first studies on the tablet classes turned out negative,” she says.
In the current situation, Göpel fears damage to children, but also to parents who are stressed to the maximum: “What does homeschooling do with a family in a two-room apartment in the city?
We can't pretend that is good for the family climate. ”Adolescents shouldn't feel like a disruptive factor or ballast.
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"That is absolutely correct," says the Hamburg futurologist Horst Opaschowski.
"The most important thing in upbringing is the development of personality and self-confidence. At the moment everything is reduced to technical questions, as if you were solving problems with tablets," emphasizes the 80-year-old.
The social togetherness is missing: "I would call it social malnutrition".
Opaschowski fears that this will have an impact on the ability to bond and on the reliability of the young generation.
At the same time, he found in his studies that the longing for the social is greater than the desire for the material.
“Less is more - now it's becoming a reality because people are rethinking.
The majority say I want to be more modest. ”Maja Göpel also relies on this.
Her highlight in the next few months is a planned riding holiday with the children on a farm near Berlin.