[zaarn]

>Germany wants to demolish ancient forest to mine more lignite for power stations.

It isn't Germany, the RWE corporation wants this because in the near future they will loose the ability to mine coal in that area, so they'll happily pay off politicians and raze the forest to get at whatever coal is down there until the time's up.

The easy and most efficient solution to all these problems it to outlaw oil and coal now. It would cause all kinds of auxiliary damage but it would likely be cheaper than continuing down the current path.

[NeedMoreTea]

Good point, though from memory of news reports the energy minister is in favour. I imagine it's far less popular with the public.

In light of this morning's IPCC report I think you are right with the second point. An outright ban may soon cause less auxiliary damage than trying to encourage economies (i.e. ignoring the issue)