Catastrophe with good impact

Values and norms! They are the most basic institutions which run our society. Values and norms have influence how we see things and what decisions we make. It can be everything from religion over a politic view up to how you greet somebody. Values and norms depend on where you from and what experiences you made in your life. Usually those non written rules of society evolve real slowly. Women rights for example started to change 50 years ago and men and women are still not treated equally everywhere or in every situation. So in order to change them a lot of effort and time is needed. But there are exceptions. Really big events, most of the time catastrophes’, can change those values very fast.

A good example of such a case is the nuclear plant catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan on 11th of March 2011. This catastrophic event did not just have direct influence on the country of Japan and it´s people but it changed the way people think in Germany. It changed the opinion, the norms and values, of people in case of the energy supply of Germany. Back then 40% of the German electricity was produced by nuclear power plants. The German government already planned to shut down all nuclear power plants by 2050 and replace them with renewable energy. After Fukushima that was not enough for the German population. They wanted a more extreme and a faster change in energy supply. Faster shut down of the nuclear power plants and a faster increase of renewable energy. With the population in revolt and Fukushima as catastrophic example which shows the risk of nuclear power, the German government had no choice but reconsider their plan. The result of that reconsideration was that a few nuclear power plants were shut down immediately and the goal of shutting them all down by 2050 was changed to 2030. All experts shook their heads back than because such a fast shift was not considered possible. They did not take into account that it was not a just a governmental decision but a change initiated by the people. Fukushima showed them what the risks and possible outcomes of nuclear power can be. It changed their norms and values from one day to another. That’s why they not only pressured the government to change their plans but tried to make a difference them self’s. Lots of people started installing solar panels and looking for possibility’s to produce their own electricity to make the shift possible. The shift from nuclear energy to green and renewable energy. A shift in norms and values.