Green Originals

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Green Originals: Petra Kelly

Petra Kelly

BBC Radio 4 - Green Originals, Petra Kelly

Reflections on the modern pioneers of the environmental movement. Today - Petra Kelly.

Caroline Lucas explores the impact of the radical German politician Petra Kelly who founded Die Grünen and inspired a generation of European Green politicians.

Petra Kelly did more than perhaps anyone else to raise the profile of green politics. As the most prominent member of West Germany’s Green Party, Die Grünen, Kelly’s energetic campaigning played a critical role in catapulting her party to electoral success in the 1983 Bundestag elections, where they won 27 seats.

Outside Germany, Kelly was an internationally famous campaigner against nuclear weapons and nuclear power, issues which galvanised the early green movement. But in 1992, at the age of just 44, Kelly was found dead in mysterious circumstances, alongside her lover Gert Bastian.

The Green Party MP Caroline Lucas looks back on the career of a politician who inspired her and considers Petra Kelly’s relevance to the environmental movement today. 

“For Petra Kelly, green politics was never confined to Parliament,” she says, “it happened out on the streets, embracing non-violent protest and direct action.” 

Producer: Dan Hardoon
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown Production in association with The Open University.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Reflections on the pioneers of the environmental movement over the last sixty years.

Reflections on the pioneering scientists, campaigners and communicators of the last 60 years who've swum against the tide to influence our opinion and behaviour on the environment.

The series which assesses the work and impact of the pioneering scientists, campaigners and communicators of the last 60 years who've swum against the tide to influence our opinion and behaviour on the environment.

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