Can Art Make (Climate) Models Better?
How do we think about climate futures ahead of us? Different actors tend to use different tools for that. The stream of weather catastrophes in the news media suggests a rather gloomy future. Some recent novels try to paint a more optimistic picture of the decades ahead (see our post on this). International climate politics, […]
Why Don’t We Act Now? The discrepancy between climate change awareness and action
The 6th IPCC Report of Working Group 3 was published just about two months ago, on April 4, and stated once more and in further detail the urgency to mitigate climate change. As known, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consists of politicians and scientist of the United Nation, grouped in three working groups […]
Warum das Zwei-Grad-Ziel ein (Kommunikations-) Problem ist
In seinem Kommentar zur Klimapolitik hat sich der Innenpolitik-Chef der FAZ kürzlich schwer vertippt: Er schreibt, es gäbe „die Verpflichtung, bis 2050 die Erwärmung deutlich unter zwei Grad zu senken“. Dabei ist es natürlich so, dass sich die Zwei-Grad-Grenze, so wie sie die Staatengemeinschaft 2015 in Paris beschlossen hat, auf das Jahr 2100 bezieht. Fehler […]
Tag 1 des K3 Klimakongresses
Mit 500 TeilnehmerInnen eröffnete am 24. September 2019 der K3 Klimakongress in Karlsruhe. Ohne Zweifel ist die Klimakommunikation ein Thema, welches viele verschiedene AkteurInnen betrifft. Die Organisatoren des K3 Kongresses können es also als Erfolg verbuchen, eine sehr bunte Mischung an AkteurInnen angelockt zu haben: 29% stammen aus der Wissenschaft, 19% aus der Politik & […]
Lost on the Road to Paris? The Framing of a 2 degree warming limit 2009-2014
As the climate negotiations in Paris near their final rounds, some might be surprised by rather contradictory developments, which relate to the much discussed 2 degree threshold. This limit aims to keep warming within 2°C of the pre-industrial average.While the emissions reduction pledges put forward by the countries ahead of COP 21 in Paris were not sufficiently ambitious to […]
Was the “failure” of the Copenhagen climate summit key to expected “success” in Paris?
Recently, a journalist asked me in passing – which was the best COP so far, which the worst? Honestly, I have not been a good observer of these meetings. All I know there were many and the next is #21. There was Copenhagen, sometimes labelled Hopenhagen by enthusiasts. It was COP15 and the year was […]
Paris rises after attacks while some pacific islands are going under
The Paris climate protests on Sunday 30 November were largely silent. After the 13 November terror attacks and the state of emergency introduced by President Hollande, demonstrations are banned. At Place de la République, where the monument is still surrounded by messages of grief and the scent of roses, activists gathered in the morning. Several thousand […]