Too many people buy too many things, with money they have not earned, to impress people they do not like.
– Dr. Maja Göpel

Eleven GCE students participated and volunteered at the Impacts World Conference in Potsdam, Germany on the impacts of Climate Change, here their reflections on Day 3.

The talks of the last conference day at the Impacts World 2017, organized by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), were probably the most inspiring ones, encouraging the audience to engage even more in climate action – by educating the public, informing policy-makers or investigating knowledge gaps in climate impact research.

Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, who invented the Planetary Boundaries Concept, informed the audience about tipping points in the Earth system and advertised for the inclusion of social, ecological and economic dimensions when trying to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Throughout the conference, many speakers have criticized the current economic system, arguing that the focus on economic growth limits the possibilities to solve global problems.

Dr. Maja Göpel, author of the book The Great Mindshift, outlined how a transformation towards a sustainable future can be achieved – one that would secure the livelihoods and the dignity of the next generations. She explained in more detail that

(…) we need the contribution of everyone for a transformation, for positive narratives, for a strong vision and for the braveness to try things humans have never done before.

If you ask yourself how a positive narrative of combating climate change could look like, think about how many co-benefits a sustainable, green future would provide. Already today, the renewable energy sector in Germany offers more jobs to people than traditional sources of energy. But the vision of such a transformation is much bigger and could also open the door towards greater happiness and more stability. Buying things we don´t need to impress people we don´t like simply doesn’t lead to greater happiness. Would it be better if we consumed less, paid attention towards more life quality, and spent more time doing things that actually make us happy?

How does it come that we know so much and act so little.
–Prof. Dr. David N. Bresch

For us students of Global Change Ecology M.Sc it is frustrating to see, how little we do in times, when climate action is so urgently needed. When we look at ourselves and our daily behavior, the one of our families and friends, of communities, companies and industries, of national and international politics, so much change is needed to reduce our carbon footprint. But the knowledge-behavior gap remains. And time really matters! Statistically everyone needs to half their emissions within a decade.

At the same time, development especially in the economic poor countries is demanded. Within Germany for instance, developments towards a more sustainable vegetarian diet are visible and low prices for renewable energy, which we already see today, will certainly help us. But this is not enough and we need to re-think our consumption, behavior and choices. With this in mind, we leave the Impacts World Conference 2017 after three inspiring days full of talks, workshops and poster sessions and are motivated to convince stakeholders from different sectors at different scales to transform our human activities in a way that we limit global warming to maximum 2°C. Because as we learned, every degree matters!

See previous Articles → Day 1 and Day 2

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We have entered a stage of post-truth politics. We need trust in science and facts.
– Prof. Dr. Klaus von Klitzing

Eleven GCE students participated and volunteered at the Impacts World Conference in Potsdam, Germany on the impacts of Climate Change, here their impressions on Day  2 on Climate migration, the PIK’s 25th Anniversary and meeting a Nobel Laureate.

Climate Change and Migration

Consequences of climate change on humans and climate change adaptation were additional topics covered during the Impacts World conference 2017 . We live and will live in a warmer world with new challenges that we need to prepare for. Especially the poor and most vulnerable people will be most affected by expected changes in regional climates, due to decreased food security, livelihood losses and health impacts.

The war in Syria is just one example of how conflicts around the world are fueled by rising food prices caused by drought. Prof. Dr. Jacqueline McGlade, scientist at the Massai Mara University in Kenya, showed us the connection between malnutrition and the degree of conflict in African countries.

Malnutrition of children was shown to lead to brain atrophy, which results in a lower capability to deal peacefully with times of high variability and uncertainty. Without action, malnutrition will likely increase in a warmer world due to drought and other extreme events.

The higher variability and uncertainty caused by climate change will be another factor contributing to critical situations in many economic poor countries. In the extreme case of the pacific island states like Tuvalu, which are projected to disappear due to rising sea levels, questions arise about where its citizens can find refuge, how their legal status will be and if developed countries have to take responsibility according to their greenhouse gas emissions? Until now, climate extremes like drought were usually shown to be a contributor but not the only cause for migration. Interestingly, climate change can also improve cooperation instead of fueling conflicts in periods of drought and other extreme events. Understanding the circumstances in which even extremer conditions lead to cooperation instead of violence is an interesting research field.

PIK’s 25th Year Anniversary

At the evening of the second Impacts World conference day, a remarkable moment was created. After spending already two days with the world’s leading climate scientists, listening to extraordinary speakers, it was then time to celebrate the 25 year anniversary of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), host of the Impacts World Conference 2017.

It took a while for the applause to cease, after the Orchestra of Change, an initiative of the Berlin State Opera, stopped playing.

It took the audience on a journey through space and time, presenting the threats of climate change in a very personal and touching way, and thus the Orchestra of Change left an impression that will last.

The music the audience just heard was especially composed for the occasion of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the PIK.

GCE meets a Nobel Laureate

All leading politicians should be sent on the moon before taking office.
–Prof. Dr. Klaus von Klitzing

There were many remarkable speakers who congratulated PIK to its 25 years of existence, but one of the most remarkable was surely Prof. Dr. Klaus von Klitzing, who received the Nobel Prize in 1985 for his discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect, and who has by now also his own constant. And to prove that he is really a Nobel Laureate, he carries his Medal in the inner pocket of his jacket – and is happy to show it to everyone who is interested. He and the other guests passionately talked about the importance of climate change, the achievements of the PIK and directly addressed us, as young scientists, to continue the great efforts needed to deal with the challenges related to climate change.

See previous article → Day 1
See next article → Day 3

The post Impacts World Conference – Potsdam (October 11th to 13th, 2017) PART II appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

By: Katharina Funk, Anna-Lena Hendel, Claudia Steinacker

On October 11^th, 2017 Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK opened the Impacts World International conference on the impacts of climate change by outlining what needs to be achieved to avoid the unmanageable and to manage the unavoidable.

Eleven Global Change Ecology students had the opportunity to join this conference (October 11th to 13th, 2017), as student helpers to support the organization team, as observers to learn more about the world that climate change will create and as presenters during the poster session.

Why Climate Impacts research?

When asked about founding the PIK, Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber explained that back then he wasn´t sure whether the PIK would actually still exist in the next 25 years. By then – he said – either humanity would have found out that climate change is not a as pressing issue, or the problem would have been already solved. As we know now, neither of the two happened. Climate change became the most pressing issue in the 21th Century and there is still a long way to go to solve it. For this reason, more than 450 scientists, politicians, economists and journalists from all over the World came together to exchange knowledge, discuss on controversial topics and shape new ideas at the Impacts World Conference 2017. Some of the pressing questions discussed were:

– How will climate change affect humanity?
– What impact will it have on human health and migration?
– Can we quantify the economic costs of climate change?
– What can the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achieve in this area?

During the opening plenary, five outstanding scientists (Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Prof. Dr. Rainer Sauerborn, Prof. Dr. Jacqueline McGlade and Dr. Stephane Hallegatte) talked about climate-related migration, the vanishing sea ice, sea level rise, human vulnerability, health impacts, food security and the true human cost of climate change.

This was the outline of topics to be covered in the following days and each of the topics illustrated the daunting projections for our planet. It seems humanity will face many unprecedented problems in the next centuries. But there is also hope. As many of the conference speakers emphasized, we already know a lot about the future that we are facing and research continues to investigate in that field.

The graph above was highlighted several times throughout the conference, as an example of the state of the art in climate-impacts research. Fig. 1 shows different tipping elements in the context of global mean temperature. Today, we live in an approximately 1°C warmer world due to the human influence and we are just starting to see the impacts: droughts, melting arctic ice, bleaching of coral reefs and more frequent extreme events. With the Paris Agreement more than 190 countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

Here, what does it mean to live in a 2°C warmer world?
What if the global community fails the Paris Goal and humanity has to deal with  associated climate changes and risks?

Conference participants discussed these concerns and called out for more research dedicated to the potential impacts of extreme climate scenarios, in order to prepare communities for a global mean temperature increase of – in worst case scenario – 4°C.

According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in a 2°C warmer world, coral reefs and alpine glaciers are projected to disappear. In a 4°C warmer world, global temperatures will thaw permafrost, alter global ocean currents, worldwide climate regulation and massively release Carbon stocks from boreal forests as well as from rainforests.

It is clear that climate inaction can only exacerbate human and ecological costs. It is time to realize that global climate action is instead now needed to keep temperature rises well below 2°C and avoid the harmful effects on  Nature and on us, embedded in it.

See next Articles → Day 2

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