W_Lucht

W_Lucht, 11 days ago to random

Consider coming out to join your local climate strike event today, May 31!

#KlimaStreik #FridaysForFuture

W_Lucht, 11 days ago to random

CNN posted a great summary.
#BewareOligarchs #BewareAutocrats

17 lines listing the verdict from "Count 18" to "Count 34", all say: "Guilty"

W_Lucht, 11 days ago to random

So wow - I turned 60 today. I really don't know how that happened. Or maybe I do.

I must say, I've enjoyed every decade of my life just as it is, for what it is.

W_Lucht, 12 days ago to random

Don't know whom to vote for in the upcoming EU elections?

Well, I just saw this poster (file under: no limit to the craziness):

"Where do you want to live in 800 years?

For more rapid development of medicine with which humans can live healthily for a thousand years.

Party for Medical Academic Research on Rejuvenation.

Vote for us!"

Ermmmm ... errrrmmm ... no!

W_Lucht, 12 days ago to random

💥 Against the roll-back of critical environmental regulation in the EU that business interests and conservative politicians are lobbying for.

A coalition of organisations - incl. the Scientists for Future's Interdisciplinary Scientific Panel - have published a letter:

"Expression of Concern by Scientists: Rollback of EU environmental legislation and policies jeopardises the future of EU citizens"

Read the text here: https://zenodo.org/records/11373475
And the press release:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rtpsGRY7FpuWAbMY_dPK37Bar5aii4ha_CECBfyQV64

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W_Lucht, 14 days ago to random

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Tonight, German investigative journalism will uncover what they call one of the largest consumer and climate frauds involving the German fossil fuel industry: green washing of fossil emissions, defrauding paying consumers.

👉 from around 18:00
👉 on ZDFheute and investigative show "frontal" (21:00)

#Klimabetrug #Climatefraud
@S4F @fff
@parents4future

W_Lucht, 16 days ago to random

Care for the future? I find it telling how totally normalized flying has again become, as if there's no tomorrow. Nobody seems to think it's a problem anymore. But it is.

Influencers have no qualms posting about flying out for weekends, events, drop-ins. Friends and their neighbours fly for distant vacations, concerts, quick visits.

The spirit of 2019, a hope of turning the tide, is gone.

Let's travel sustainably. Let's sense distance again. Let's celebrate the act of truly travelling again.

W_Lucht, 23 days ago to random

After having been in danger of losing his life, the first of the hunger strikers for climate in Berlin has decided to now end his hunger strike, in hospital, in a critical state, and not die. I support this personal decision and am relieved it was made.

And no, we're NOT on track.
And yes, public and politics are still NOT awake.
We need to work hard - building coalitions, finding solutions - arguing wherever we stand.

W_Lucht, 25 days ago to random

Johan Rockström at the Tyler Prize conversation.
Some (remembered) quotes from his contribution:

"Temperature heating to 2.7°C is nothing but disaster."

"Some overshoot of 1.5°C is inevitable now - but we can still and should hold that line in the longer term - and that is possible only if we return Earth's biosphere to within safe boundaries."

"One of the biggest mistakes we made when going to the Paris Agreement on Climate was to bet on voluntary contributions being sufficient."

W_Lucht, 25 days ago to random

Today: Our director Johan Rockström will receive the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement "for his pioneering work on the Planetary Boundaries framework".

There will be a conversation, an award ceremony and a luncheon at Potsdam University in his honour.

It's been a privilege to work with Johan since we first met in 2009 - and since he came to PIK in 2018.

The Tyler Prize was established in 1973.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Prize_for_Environmental_Achievement

W_Lucht, 25 days ago to random

In the style of autocrats everywhere, Trnmp is playing the judicial system. While one side proceeds with impartiality and decency, the other misses no opportunity to lie, obstruct and delay. Yesterday, an entourage of Republicans united to attack the criminal trial of Trnmp in NY.

The rule of law depends on people not supporting such attacks on a free society. But too many do, it seems.

Democracy needs to be able to vigorously defend against strongmen with autocratic, oligarchic minds.

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W_Lucht, 25 days ago to random

The current issue of liberal The New Republic magazine in the US has this cover today - "American Fascism. What it would look like".

They warn: "... anyone transported back to 1932 Germany could very, very easily have explained away Herr Hitler’s excesses and been persuaded that his critics were going overboard".

And ask: "Yes, That’s Right: American Fascism. Why waste time debating the extent of Trump’s fascism when we ought to be fighting it instead?"

https://newrepublic.com/

W_Lucht, 27 days ago to random

Last week the university course I teach was on the topic of: "What does it mean - for politics - to be in the Anthropocene!?"

But in light of the recent developments it had to be renamed, of course: "Are we in the Anthropocene? And if not, where are we? Or are we?"

Thanks, geologists.
(For nothing, actually.)
But we had a really good discussion of the complexities and issues involved.

Today's topic was: How and why are transformative environmental policies legitimate in a democratic state?

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

"I went back to warn them, but they already knew and didn't seem to care."

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

Just found my first #cornflower of the year.
Some things I never get tired of 😀.

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

Thread on the hunger strike for climate action in Berlin and my reaction to being mentioned in today's press release by the group.

For the past 61 days, a climate activist, Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick, has been on ("wet") hunger strike in central Berlin. He was subsequently joined by now three others. One activist's medical condition is reported to be critical now. The public has not taken very much notice.

Reports are that he is determined to die, if need be.

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https://hungern-bis-ihr-ehrlich-seid.de/

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

A week has passed already since our online event on #sufficiency as a "Strategy of the Enough".

We were about 340 participants all told, with many prominent actors and engaged citizens participating. Feedback was very positive. Thank you to all who joined!

#Sufficiency is a deeply meaningful challenge. It is urgently necessary for making social democracy ecological and achieving more justice. It is not an affront to our values but an expression of our values. #EcologicalDemocraticCivilisation

An illustrative graphic of injustice on a global scale: 10% of humans cause half of all household-related CO2 emissions, the least-emitting half of humanity less than 8%. Also, material consumption rises with wealth not just a bit, but multifold. The environmental crisis is due to the consuming to rich.

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

‼️ Today is 🇩🇪's widely reported "overshoot day" - and it's true: we overuse natural resources, substantially. Six of nine planetary boundaries are transgressed, some by a lot. This endangers planetary stability, as numerous indicators with strongly negative trends show.

But what most don't know (but @christianschwaegerl investigated and highlighted last year) are some important shortcomings of this popular metric ...

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W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

It's absurd: The G7 declare their intent to end coal by 2035 (too late, but ...)

And the head of my coal-producing state of Brandenburg, a social democrat, declares - and is cited with this nonsense in the news media - that there is no factual basis for this date, he's opposed.

Never heard of the CO2 budget? That every ton of CO2 matters? Of not being on track?

He says he cares for the people - in the coal regions. All the young and future people of Earth obviously aren't his concern.

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

This is not the Europe I want to belong to.
This is not the Europe of the Enlightenment and the Common Good.

Even here in Germany it's being discussed as "a model". We're the rich part of the world - what do you expect to happen? That we don't face our obligations to justice and humanity?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/28/home-office-to-detain-asylum-seekers-across-uk-in-shock-rwanda-operation

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

The German parliament has decided to "update" the German Climate Law, as proposed by the government.

It's a case of ignoring scientific advice in the name of political expediency.

👉 It is not good to diffuse responsibility for effective CO2 reduction policies by making sectoral reduction objectives less binding.

👉 Requiring stringent action only when targets are being missed for two years in projections opens opportunities for green washing.

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W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

It is really frustrating. Another evening, another talkshow on German TV where rather than analyzing the right-wing, a rightwing demagogue is invited to spew fact-free attacks on decency and democracy - as an attempt to "confront them", to "not be biased", to "counter what they say". The mainstream media helplessly misunderstand the neofascist strategy. It's about enraging others, about generating sound bites and clips for social media, about playing the system - not about convincing anyone.

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

My talk yesterday on #sufficiency as a programme of advancing responsible democracy, followed by an exchange of thoughts with the Environmental Protection Agency's president Dirk Messner and the Protestant Academy's Jörg Göpfert, was at the agency's headquarters in Dessau. It is a fascinating meandering building full of interior spaces that support the human dimension, fostering the agency's important analytical work, and reflect the meandering Elbe river nearby, the surrounding city and parks.

One end of the main building, which has four stories and a meandering form, shows multicoloured panels mounted between the windows and horizontal wooden elements of an earthly colour. Behind some greenery the more modern main entrance complex is visible, made largely of glass and steel.
The inside has large open atriums bridged by a high, structured glass and steel ceiling making the sky fully visible. The floor is off bright, slightly reflective stone and quite large living greenery forms islands. The 4-story offices on both sides have large window fronts separated by warm horizontal wood panelling, and the two sides are connected by lofty foot bridges spanning the interior courtyard space.
The Environmental Protection Agency's name is written in large letters onto the glass facade at the entrance, which reflects the space and trees in front of it. The wording "Umweltbundesamt" is associated with the agency's logo, a stylized human with outstretched arms in a filled circle.

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

Want to join our team in a key position?

We're looking to hire a

👉 scientific project coordinator 👈

for a new major undertaking currently ramping up across the board: the "Planetary Boundaries Science Initiative", which will publish an annual Planetary Health Check starting later this year.

You'd work on support of a team of top scientists in an international network and at the Potsdam Institute to deliver key science for the planet.

Potsdam, Berlin.

More here:
https://potsdam.pi-asp.de/bewerber-web/?xsrf=220FE50E5D4B76FFC90F4304FCA9933A&company=PIK-FIRMA-ID&tenant=&lang=E&jobdesign=#position,id=f4eb1e6d-844d-4831-aa78-6a5c7f876485

W_Lucht, 1 month ago to random

#EarthDay 🌏: here's the state today of ... no, not Earth, but our societies, stuck in myopic evasion, denial.

1. CNN: brazenly suggests to celebrate Earth Day by consuming some more 🤯 (use their codes! ☠️)

2. The Guardian: spending on the military has risen to $2443 billion in 2023, a new record 🤯 (based on SIPRI analysis: https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2024/global-military-spending-surges-amid-war-rising-tensions-and-insecurity )

🤔 Just imagine if we were to actually do something useful - such as safeguarding our ecological foundations. At least on Earth Day.

A Guardian news report is entitled "Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn"