Sustainability News and Resources

New and resources on sustainability and climate change.
A lot of it is in German — please add similar resources in English.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

The Sixth Assessment Report consists of three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report

• Aug 2021: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis
• Feb 2022: Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
• Apr 2022: Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change

• monthly reports on climate change.

Since 1993, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), through the Commission for climatology and in cooperation with its Members, has issued annual statements on the status of the global climate to provide credible scientific information on climate and its variability.

• Provisional State of the Global Climate 2022
• State of the Global Climate 2021
• State of the Global Climate 2020
• State of the Global Climate 2019
• State of the Global Climate 2018

They also prepare reports for smaller regions, e.g.

• State of the Climate in Europe 2021

In cooperation with the WHO they prepared an

• Atlas of health and climate (2012).

“Durch die extreme Trockenheit ist einer der größten Flüsse Brasiliens fast ausgetrocknet.” This in nicely documented in this ARD news clip.

In the context of the ExtremWetterKongress the Tagesschau broadcasted this interview with Sven Plöger concerning “Wie Extrem ist das Wetter”.

Hamburg is presently hosting a congress addressing extreme weather events with an amazing program and a very nice YouTube channel.

Fast Fashion is causing considerable amounts of the global greenhouse gas emissions, waste water, and house-hold waste. Since years the UN Alliance aims to put fashion on path to sustainability. However, it is one of the most rapidly growing industries. Thus, it became the industry with the most severe environmental impacts after oil and mining, and severe social impact due to really bad employment standards. An overview of its present impact is given in the documentary Fast Fashion. Die dunkle Welt der Billigmode of ARTE investigation and reports.

For a long time the were little signs of climate change in Antactica. This has changed according to the ARTE report on Politics and Society on Panik in der Antarktis

If you still need inspiration for your essay I recommend the Danish documentation

• Solutions. Rethinking our World
  (available via ARTE in English with written summaries in French and German)

of the

• 2018 Santa Fe Institute workshop
  The Growing Gap Between Our Physical and Social Technologies

The participants provide a brilliant analysis of the Sustainability Crisis, and put forward very important ideas to address open problems. However, at times they dramatically go wrong, like in their expectation how a global pandemic might help() to solve problems.

Interview der Woche des DLF

Die Klima-Krise betrifft uns alle. Aber gerade die Ärmsten leiden unter den Folgen am meisten, während sie am wenigsten CO2 verursachen.
podcast and more information at Quarks Daily Spezial

Temperatures in Europe have increased at more than twice the global average over the past 30 years – the highest of any continent in the world. As the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other climate change impacts will affect society, economies and ecosystems, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
sources: WMO, ARD

What would modernity be without religion? Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa, director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg at the University of Erfurt, explores this question in his publication “Demokratie braucht Religion” (“Democracy Needs Religion”), which has just been published by Verlag Kösel.
remark: Gregor Gysi provided a very interesting foreword of the book.
sources: publisher, Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt, interview im DLF

Noch ist Deutschland mit reichlich Wasser gesegnet. Das gilt als selbstverständlich. Doch neue Daten zeigen: Der Wasserverlust ist beträchtlich - und das Ausmaß noch nicht abzusehen.
source: ARD/SWR

interviews in DW (English), tagesschau24