commitment contributed to the fact that the plans to phase out nuclear power became a reality between 1998 and 2005, when a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Greens led the Federal Government. In 2001 the law on the abandonment of nuclear energy came into effect. As State Minister of the Environment, Griefahn initiated new policies on waste management. Waste had usually been stored on disposal sites or burnt in incineration plants. Griefahn put her focus on products which could more easily been disassembled, on the separation of different waste types and on different waste treatments – such as composting or mechanical separation. Consequently, there was no longer a need to build about ten incineration plants, which had been planned before her time of office. Additionally she changed procurement directives for public offices in Lower Saxony in such a way as to make them become more ecological. She founded two national parks – Harz and (biosphere reserve). Member of the State Parliament, 1994–1998 From 1994 to 1998 Griefahn was a member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. Member of the German Parliament, 1998–2009 From 1998 to 2009 Griefahn was a Member of the German Parliament ("Bundestag") and served as chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Media from July 2000 to September 2005. From 1999 to 2000 and then from 2005 to 2009 she was also the spokesperson for the parliamentary group of the SPD for the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Media as well as for the Sub-Committee on Cultural Policy Abroad. Furthermore, she was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Sub-committees on Cultural Policy Abroad and New Media. Responsible for cultural policy, Griefahn initiated the founding of the German Games Award. She was also committed to the support of German films, strong copyright laws, and a decentralized structure of the book trade market by initiating a fixed bookprice law, cultural diversity and the expansion of Goethe-Institutes and German Schools abroad. In 2005 Griefahn was elected chair of the bilateral committee on cultural diversity, which was appointed by the German Parliament and the French Assemblée Nationale. In foreign policy her work focused on supporting renewable energy in German real estate all around the world (like German schools for example) as well as on the support of NGOs in the field of nature conservation and environmental protection. She was active in the