Again, taking the corona crisis as an example, what we are doing now is trying different available antiviral drugs, convalescent plasma therapy and undertaking vaccine trials. In our hypothetical scenario with forest and climate change, the Klimawald (“Climate forest”) concept is like a combination of two methods: antiviral drugs and convalescent plasma therapy. Wherein the former is about using a certain combination of existing drugs to treat the disease, and, the latter involves transfusion of plasma from a COVID-19 recovered patient into an infected patient. Thereby, the antibodies present in the plasma of the recovered patient helps to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the infected patient. Similarly, in our climate forest, a species is selected to be planted for its ability to tolerate drought or the ability to enhance the resilience of the forest in future climatic conditions. We planted 11 species of conifers and broad-leaved trees; 7 of them are native; 4 come either from Southern Europe, the Mediterranean mountains or from North America.

Now, let us move on to the real world, where things are more complex and challenging. Just like it is not easy to convince people to adopt social distancing, it is not easy to bring people from diverse backgrounds and different interests for a common cause. “Why did we build Klimawald?”, “What was the need?” and “How far we have succeeded?” were some questions we asked ourselves. We acknowledge the responsibility of maintaining the beauty of this planet in a way that it was given to us. Centuries ago, Ludwig van Beethoven said, “How happy I am to be able to walk among the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass, and the rocks! For the woods, the trees and the rocks give man the resonance he needs.” We hope our future generations will be able to describe the beauty of forests as he did.

The project Klimawald began under the title “Carbon Offset Week” in which we – the initiators –  wanted to organize a planting campaign for people who wish to offset their carbon emissions. When the Office of Land, Forest, and Agriculture (AELF) and Hospitalstift willingly offered a hectare of land for plantation, the concept of “Carbon Offset Week” was revised. Now, the aim was not only to plant trees, but also to restore a damaged forest, and, therefore, with Dr. Gregor Aas and Dr. Birgit Thies we developed the concept of Klimawald (“Klima” meaning climate and “wald” meaning forest in German). We identified four major threats to German forests: low species diversity, long and intensive droughts, the velocity of climate change and the dispersal rate of trees. Klimawald model suggests thinning, planting diverse species, and selecting future-oriented species. We built Klimawald to acknowledge our carbon footprints, take responsibility for the impact of human-induced climate change and contribute to prepare forests for future scenarios.

Ecologist Eugene P Odum once said, “The future belongs, not to those who have the most, but to those who do the most with what they have”. In our case, we had one hectare of forest land which was converted from spruce-pine forest to mixed forest with the help of scientists, forestry practitioners, students, and citizens. Apart from the human resources, the financial resources for the project were covered through donations and support from our partners. The success of a project depends on how an action is followed up by another. In the case of Klimawald, the planting event in spring was followed by two watering events in summer. The average survival rate was about 90% at the end of August 2019.

What we learned from this project is that the knowledge can be translated into action when individual interests synergize. Klimawald also showed us a way to hold dialogue with different sections of our civil society. Some of our partners and supporters who had never worked together found common grounds to cooperate. The idea of Klimawald not only generated interest among the citizens of Bayreuth, but it has moved beyond its borders and motivated students from Höxter to develop their own Klimawald Höxter. It also led to the development of a similar project by our team members in South Korea. In the meantime, the Klimawald site has become a spot for excursion and environmental education. The project also stirred a debate on the model of climate forests. In the forthcoming year, we want to improve the project, build close networks and take further actions.

Overall, the experience of developing an idea of Carbon Offset Week into a Klimawald project was very enriching. According to a Korean proverb, “고생 끝에 낙이 온다 (gosaeng kkeute nagi onda)”, delights come at the end of hardship (English translation), and a delightful moment has arrived in the journey of Klimawald. Out of 160 projects in Germany, Klimawald is now nominated for the award “Blauer Kompass 2020” of the German Federal Environment Agency. Apart from three jury awards, there is an audience award for which the voting has already begun, and we are in the second spot as of April 15, 2020. Global Change Ecology (GCE) is an international study program and so is our team. The diversity of nationalities is a strength of GCE students. And to confront a global problem like COVID-19 or climate change, we need this strength!

We hope that the help and support received during the planting and the watering event will be showered on us again for the “Blauer Kompass 2020” competition. Klimawald was built with your participation and will stand the test of time with your participation. Because the story has just begun…

On this link, you click,

Klimawald you select,

While you press Abstimmen

Remember this simple request,

Same time again tomorrow,

On the same address,

You can vote for us,

Till 20 April.

For more information visit: https://en.klimawaldbayreuth.com/

Blauer Kompass 2020: www.uba.de/tatenbank

(written by: Nikunj Pathak on behalf of Kun Ro, Ahram Chae, Theresa Landwehr, Steffen Schwardmann and the Klimawald team)

References: https://www.bmz.de/en/publications/topics/climate/Materialie283_forest_action_plan.pdf

The post From Carbon Offset Week to COVID-19: The story of Klimawald appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Next, we are walking into the “cloud forest greenhouse”. Compared to the previous greenhouse, it is becoming cooler. Here, we have a look on Chlorophytum comosum, one of the most commonly used house plants. Because it is so simple to propagate the plant, which has its origin in Africa, market gardens usually do not try to sell them. Chlorophytum comosum is very effective in reducing formaldehyde concentrations indoors.

Photo: Chlorophytum comosum is a popular house plant

The next stop is in the “dry forest greenhouse”. Here, the air is comparatively warm and dry (at that time, the dry season is simulated in the greenhouse). Plants from those climatic regions can cope with little water and dry air which means that such house plants also survive close to heating installations in rooms. In the greenhouse, Mr. Aas shows us a species of the genus Sansevieria. Species of this genus are mainly growing in Africa, in particular in Kenya and Tanzania, but also on the Arabian Peninsula. They are helpful to “clean” the room air in flats where residents are smoking (mainly benzene and trichloroethane).

Photo: Species of the genus Sansevieria filter toxic substances out of the room air

In the “Mediterranean and Subtropical greenhouse” the air is cooler and smells pleasant. House plants which have their origin in such climatic regions have a difficult life in houses in Germany. They would need colder winters than the temperature in rooms usually is and it would be better to put them out during summer. Euphorbia pulcherrima, better known as “poinsettia”, is a popular house plant during the Advent season. The natural wild plant grows along the Pacific coast of Central America. In nature, the species blossoms and develops its characteristic intensive coloured bracts during the dry period in winter when the sun is shining less than 12 hours/day. That is why poinsettias are artificially darkened in greenhouses in market gardens in Central Europe from October to make sure that the plants have intensive coloured bracts when the Advent season starts. The plants are usually thrown away when they are wilting although they could be cultivated further.

Photo: “Poinsettia” is a popular house plant during the Advent season

Finally, Mr. Aas guides us into the “Mangrove greenhouse”. Here, he talks about Monstera deliciosa which originally comes from tropical regions in America. It is one of the typical house plants and “hip” again these days. After that, the tour ends where it started: in the “tropical forest greenhouse”.

Photo: Monstera deliciosa is a “hip” house plant these days

The botanical guided tour was very enlightening and Mr. Aas had interesting stories to tell about every plant he showed to us.
Next time I am visiting a garden centre, I will not focus on the beauty of the house plants only but also on the functions which the respective plant on our health and well-being has. As a result of the tour, I want to make sure that my first office will be green with the aid of house plants and I recommend others to do the same. House plants are beautiful, motivating and healthy.

The post Beautiful, Motivating and Healthy: House Plants appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“In those three days, 245 people have helped us to plant 4719 saplings”, Kun says. The 28-year old GCE student from South Korea had the idea for Klimawald already last year. “I wanted to something on the ground together with my fellow students. To have a good time and plant trees somewhere in Bavaria.” As trees (and plants in general) work as carbon sinks, because they absorb CO2 through their leaves, this would contribute to reducing our carbon footprints. As GCE students travel quite a lot due to conferences, internships and science schools, Klimawald was intended as a compensation measure for this study programme.

He proposed his idea in a project management seminar. First, Nikunj Pathak from India and study colleague of him, wanted to help in the project. “He suggested Bayreuth as a suitable location for this project. Seminar leader Birgit Thies suggested us to have at least one German speaking student in the group as this would make communication with local authorities easier.” At this point, GCE student Theresa Landwehr joined the team for the Klimawald project. Gregor Aas, head of the Ecological-Botanical Garden in Bayreuth (ÖBG) also supported the students with his knowledge.

After various attempts to contact different city departments of Bayreuth, finally the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Bayreuth (AELF Bayreuth) and the City Forestry Bayreuth (Stadtförsterei Bayreuth) showed interest in participating. “Before our first meeting with them, we were not sure how much land we would get. Normally, the landowners use it for timber production and other forestry activities”, Kun, who is originally coming from South Korea, says. The experts from AELF and Stadtförsterei proposed a forested area of one hectare and thousands of saplings. “This was very unexpected, and we were really happy about it. From this point on, there was no way back, we had to do it”, Kun says and laughs. The landowner of the forest area, Hospitalstiftung, agreed with the plans to plant species adapted to climate change.

As a next step, the team had to agree on a date when the Klimawald project should take place. “We had to make sure that students would be back from the semester break. Also, we had to take into account a suitable time for planting. Late April was not ideal, but students were back then”, Kun says. On the site, some older trees got cut down in order to lower competition for the new saplings. “Normally, the most common tree species to be found in this region are pine and spruce. Both species have suffered during the last years due to heat stress, bark beetle outbreaks, storms and droughts”, Kun says. Also, a fence was set up around the site to prevent wildlife from eating the saplings.

When it came to decide which species to plant, the opinions of experts from the city and the county were different from the students’ ones: “They wanted to stay at a scenario with 2°C warming and plant beeches and oaks, which are local native species. But we from the university thought a bit differently, as the average temperature in Bayreuth has already risen by 2°C. Gregor Aas therefore suggested some non-native species which we could merge with the ones proposed by AELF and Stadtförsterei. For example, Turkish hazel and Douglas fir, Turkish and Sicilian firs, and Lebanon cedar as they are more drought tolerant as well as adapted to extreme winters.”

A little smile hushes over Kun’s face as he remembers the workload of the project. “There was so much work involved I hadn’t even thought of. We had to design a website, a logo, organize drinks and food to give to the volunteers. Thankfully, my girlfriend Ahram Chae (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) joined our team at some point as the designer for the website.” Such projects often bring unexpected turns: During Klimawald, various media teams arrived, interviewing the students – most of all focussing on Theresa as she is the only German speaking team member. “This was really hard for her and we hadn’t thought of this problem before”, Kun says.

In the end, it was worth the effort. People with very different backgrounds and from all age groups participated: high school students, students from various departments of the University of Bayreuth, parents with kids, some professors, parents without their kids. “Even high school students from Bamberg came to plant trees, I heard that the Fridays for Future movement is quite strong there.” Another interesting side fact: around two thirds of the volunteers were women. “This is something, I see often in this field. More women are involved in environmental issues”, Kun says.

What is preoccupying Kun now, one month after the event, is the impact of the planting. “One hectare is nothing.” The forest area in Germany is around 11.4 million hectares and stores 52 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Therefore, the one hectare used for Klimawald accounts for around 4.5 tonnes of stored CO2 annually. Just to compare: Germany emitted 905 million tonnes of CO2 in the year 2017.

“I would like to extend the project, maybe introducing it in other cities, other universities as well”, Kun says. For the next five years, the Klimawald project is going to be continued in Bayreuth. “There will be a planting phase next spring. If it is needed due to droughts, the new trees will be watered once in summer. This is something new in forestry, normally, the plants are let alone.” Probably a “gap filling” is needed in October this year, as the beech saplings were of bad quality and some are likely going to die. This means, that new trees will be planted to replace the dead ones.

Is the result of Klimawald satisfying? Kun thinks for some moments and answers: “My character does not allow me to feel too much self-esteem, but with Klimawald, I was really happy and satisfied. It was a big dream of mine to plant trees for a long time.” His decision to study ecology was inspired when he read a book with the title “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Jean Giono some years ago. “This was something so simple: To plant trees and see change”, he says. And yet, Kun was not satisfied with just leaning over science books, reading through scientific papers and similar aspects of academia. “I started to lose the simplicity of action. Obviously, studying and gaining knowledge is important but I didn’t actually do anything with it yet.” Therefore, Kun decided to plant trees.

The post Klimawald Bayreuth: About planting trees and seeing change appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

… and why it helps to reduce waste.

It is April the 14th. I’m returning from my two-week holiday break, coming home exhausted from a long train ride. I’m tired and all I want is to get in my bed quickly. But wait, I haven’t checked my letter box yet. There might be some important letters or the new magazine I’ve ordered. But when I open my letter box, a pile of paper falls out. And even more flyers, advertising magazines and leaflets, some even coated with plastic, are cramped in the small space. Annoyed, I take the whole bundle, and throw it in the bin, without another look. This small incident was certainly not helping to improve my mood.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? I am sure, almost everyone of us has gotten a bunch of advertising magazines without wanting them, and throwing them away without looking at them. In Germany, every household receives up to 33 kg of unaddressed advertising every year! This equals 2,8 million trees that are cut down every single year. But that is not all: The production of the advertisement costs energy, releases CO2 and pollutes water. Resources are wasted and waste is produced. And it is not only paper, but plastic coats as well. And to be honest: Who takes time to remove them, before throwing everything in the trash?

But what to do? How can everyone of us avoid to get all this unwanted stuff? You don’t have to start a petition, or fight the postman. You don’t even have to invest a lot of money. It’s the easiest environmental action in the world, promised. You only need a piece of paper and a pen.

In Germany the legal situation is clear: If you put a sticker, or a sign, or even just a piece of paper on your letterbox with the words “No advertising”, in German “Bitte keine Werbung”, then the postmen (or whoever brings the advertisement) are legally obliged not to put any unaddressed advertising into your letterbox! That’s it. You won’t get any advertisement anymore! And congratulations: You’ve just saved 2,8 Million trees. Every year!

But why are there still so many letter boxes without a sticker? In Germany, one in ten households has a sticker. (By the way, Bayreuth is with a 40% “sticker-coverage” way above average and a good example.) But does everyone else simply want the advertisement? Surely not! Unawareness and laziness are often the cause. And a small association in Berlin wants to change that! Their aim is to raise awareness and make sure every sticker-less household in Germany (33 730 300 households, state: march 2018) can get a sticker. This makes it very easy to say “No” to advertisement. They call themselves “Letzte Werbung”  (“Last advertisement”) and have already started last year: 40 000 stickers have been sent to Olpe and Hamburg, making it easy for people to get rid of unwanted advertisement. And more is yet to come!

But until then, it is up to you. If you are annoyed by all the advertisement, make a sticker yourself (you can download the sticker here). It is a simple act – with an enormous impact.

More information:
www.letzte-werbung.de

Read also the article in the Nordbayrischer Kurier about the campaign in Bayreuth (German only):
https://www.nordbayerischer-kurier.de/inhalt.studentin-will-prospekte-abschaffen-eine-letzte-werbung-noch.1f1a9c4a-4e4a-45e3-96f5-f830da222f49.html

Title image: Letzte Werbung

The post The easiest environmental action in the world appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

The Classic – Reusable Drinking Bottle:

In Germany, 43 million non-reusable plastic bottles are used every day. (1) This means that everyone in Germany uses on average 192 plastic bottles per year. But there is a simple way to reduce this to only one plastic bottle: Using a reusable drinking bottle.

You can take it anywhere and as Germany has high quality tab water, you can simply refill it. Thus, you can even safe money, as tab water is usually free. There are many different types of reusable drinking bottles: Some made of plastic (make sure that they are BPA free as BPA can be harmful to one’s health), some made of glass, some made of steel. Every type has its pros and cons, so you should have a look at them and figure out what works best for you. For me, it was a reusable, BPA free plastic bottle, as it is light and cannot break.

A little side remark: You should never use single-use plastic bottles more than once, as potential toxic chemicals are seeping from many disposable plastic bottles when used more often or after contact with hot liquids. (2)

Fruit, vegetables and bread bags:

In many supermarkets, you’ll find these thin plastic bags in which you can pack your fruits and vegetables. For a long time now, I’ve tried to use them as little as possible, putting individual vegetables in my shopping cart without any bags. But it is nearly impossible not to use these plastic bags, when you are buying for example lots of small tomatoes or a lot of vegetables. An easy solution for this dilemma is to use bags made from cotton or tulle (so you can see what’s inside). Many come with a sewed in information about their weight, so it can be subtracted at the checkout. Another great way is to use them when you are buying rolls at the bakery or if you go to the weekly marked. There are many options to buy these bags e.g. on amazon, but it is also really easy to make them by yourself. If you google “diy fruit and vegetables bags” you can find many tutorials, e.g. this one. Now the only thing left is to to take the little bags with you. You could place them next to your shopping list or within the bag you usually use for shopping. As I usually go groceries shopping spontaneously after my classes, I simply keep one or two of those in the bag I take to uni.

Buying vegetables and bread with reusable cotton bags. (Photos: Katharina Funk)

Bee’s wrap:

Have you ever heard of Bee’s wrap? Bee’s wraps are cotton cloths covered with beeswax and jojoba oil, which makes them the perfect alternative to plastic wrap and tinfoil – and you can use them many times. You can wrap in you sandwich, pack a snack for the next lecture or cover a bowl in your fridge. To keep the wrap in place, you simply warm the beeswax with your hands and shape the wrap the way you like. If the Bee’s wrap gets dirty, just clean it with cold water. Easy, isn’t it? You can find the original store here but if you want to save money you can also make them yourself, check out e.g. this tutorial here.

Bee’s wrap. (Photos: Katharina Funk)

Silicone Baking Mat:

One thing I never liked about backing was that I had to use and throw away the baking paper every single time. Especially when you roast vegetables with oil – one of my favourite dishes. But then my flatmate came up with this incredible silicone baking mat. You simply use is as you would use baking paper and clean it afterwards. That’s it. One bonus: It is non-sticky, so you can remove everything very easily from it.

Different kinds of baking mats. (Photos: Katharina Funk)

Reusable Cotton pads:

When you need to remove make-up, it can easily happen that you’ll use 3-5 cotton pads per day (depending on the amount of make-up of course ?). One possibility to reduce waste here is to use reusable cotton pads or little sponges. You can wash these in your washing machine and they are as good as new. When I used sponges, I had to buy new ones every two month or so, and my (newly purchased) reusable cotton pads are said to be able to be used 100 times per piece. They came even with a little cotton bag in which you can store and wash them. I bought them at the shop where I bought my shampoo bars and my deodorant as well: Wolkenseifen.de. But you can get them from Amazon, too.

Shampoo bars:

I used to use shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, all of them neatly stored in plastic containers. This meant I would produce a lot of plastic waste during the year. To avoid this, I recently started to use shampoo bars. Shampoo bars look like common soap bars but are specifically produced to wash your hair with. Note that there is a difference between solid shampoo e.g. from lush, which you can use like any other shampoo, and shampoo bars. It takes a little time to adjust to shampoo bars, as the hair will go through a transition phase and it might be harder to untangle. To avoid this and to add shine you can also rinse your hair with apple vinegar afterwards (don’t wash it out though). Your hair will not smell like vinegar as soon as it is dry, but this might still not be for everyone. I seldom use the vinegar rinse as I don’t like the smell and use common conditioner instead. I still have to work something out there. Nevertheless, it is worth trying it out in order to avoid waste. Additionally, there are many benefits for your hair when you are using shampoo bars. Bloggers write about how much stronger their hair feels, that they have to wash it less often or how their dandruff has vanished. It is also quite easy to travel with shampoo bars: You simply cut off a small piece and put it in a little container. It is super small and handy if you don’t have a lot space in your luggage. You can order them at various online-shops (Wolkenseifen.de, Amazon…) but you can usually buy them in organic supermarktes, too. I’ve seen very recently that Cafe Freundenherz in Bayreuth offers shampoo bars as well.

Deodorant:

I was looking for a good, ecological deodorant for a long time. I felt that the natural deodorants I could buy in the drugstore where less effective than “normal” ones. So, I kept using the normal ones for a long time, until my flatmate let me try out her deodorant – might sound weird but it is not a roll-on as you will see. Coming in a little aluminium container it was a deodorant lotion, which you can simply apply with you finger just as any other lotion. When using enough (and you don’t need much) it was for me just as effective as any other deodorant. And it is free from aluminium salts and palm oil! (Read more about palm oil here.)Two little flaws: Until it is absorbed by the skin it looks white, but it won’t colour you clothing at all. And it “melts” if the temperature outside is too high. So you cannot use it when traveling in warm countries. It is a bit more expensive than common deodorants but keep in mind that one container will last for several months. We bought this deo at Wolkenseifen, a German natural cosmetics store.

How are you avoiding waste? Is there anything we could add to this article? Tell us in a comment!

The post How we avoid waste in our shared flat appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Last year in December I walked around in the Ecological-Botanical Garden (ÖBG) in Bayreuth and was surprised to find a variety of plants already being in their full bloom. It has been a mild winter since, but it still seemed odd to me to find daisies and snowdrops at that time of the year. While we were waiting for the snow to fall for Christmas, nature seemed to have decided that spring was already there. I wondered whether this was just an ecological curiosity, caused by an exceptionally warm winter. Could this be the new normality?

My first guess was that climate change might be the cause of this early flowering. A global temperature rise of roughly 1°C is already affecting the change of seasons and in some parts of the world winter will be even warmer and spring will come even earlier. Plants that orientate their life cycle according to temperatures might start to behave differently. I asked the director of the Ecological-Botanical garden, Dr. Gregor Aas, whether he did experience any changes in plant behavior over the last decades.

Dr. Aas is a tall, energetic man, with grey hair and a firm handshake. The 61-year old dendrologist invited me into his wood-paneled office to talk with me about the impacts of climate change. He explained to me that a weather station in the center of the ÖBG has been measuring the local climate for 25 years now, combined with a phenological garden where changes in plant appearance were recorded since 2004.

“Our phenological garden is just one amongst many in Europe”, explains Dr. Aas, “And we can observe everywhere the same: The vegetation period starts earlier and earlier, in fact, it has shifted around two weeks over the last 30 years.” Phenological gardens are used to observe changes in plant behavior, for example, the start of leaf sprouting or the time of flowering. As plants are often responding sensitively to changes in climatic patterns, phenological observations are good indicators to see how plants are reacting to increasing temperatures.

The early start of the growing season causes an extension of the vegetation period, says Dr. Aas. In combination with unchanged amounts of precipitation and higher temperatures this often means increased drought- and heat-stress for the plants.

Another issue is the increased sensitivity to late frost events. If plants are sprouting too early they might be in a critical phase of leaf development. This is especially precarious in viticulture, where late frost events can destroy whole vintages.

In May 2011 Bayreuth experienced an extreme late frost event with temperatures of -4.3°C when all species had already unfolded their leaves. “The reaction of the plants varies from extinction to the development of coping strategies, depending on their late frost sensibility”, says Dr. Aas about the reaction of plants in the ÖGB to additional stress factors.

The most striking factor to me, however, is Dr. Aas’ observation that former not-hardy plants can now be cultivated in the ÖGB during the whole year. “We used to grow the Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica) in our greenhouses before planting them out in spring. Now they are flowering outside.”Dr. Aas explains that there are so-called Winter Hardiness Zones which are defined by the minimum range of temperatures a plant can tolerate. Bayreuth used to be in the zone 6b, but due to climate change these zones had to be adapted and Bayreuth has changed from 6b to 5.

After all the information Dr. Aas has given, it seems to me we have to get used to daisies in December. But most of all we must prepare for a change in the vegetation period with all its consequences: Extreme precipitation, drought events, and late frost will affect our plants. Dr. Aas looks out of the window, in direction of the garden. Out there, we can see a new normality.

The post Daisies in December appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” – who hasn’t heard Bill Cosby’s song and dreamt of a snowy landscape for Christmas? Wouldn’t you like to go skiing in an idyllic, snow-covered landscape in the Fichtel Mountains, just a stone’s throw away from your doorstep? And doesn’t taste mulled wine in the Winterdorf even better when snowflakes are spinning around you?

Well, there’s bad news: This is getting more and more illusive. Bayreuth will have to face the fact that winter might not be coming.

The culprit is climate change heating up the atmosphere in Bayreuth as well as in the rest of the world. As we are already facing a global temperature rise of roughly 1°C, the impacts of climate change are becoming noticeable even in Franconia. Worldwide, climate change shows its different faces: droughts, hurricanes, sea level rise. I asked myself: How do these faces look like in Bayreuth?

Ferdinand Reb, manager of the Tourist Authority Fichtelgebirge e.V., is on his way to Berlin when I call him. He is a busy man, using the time when he is stuck in the traffic anyway to talk to me. Are there any effects on tourism and winter sports, I ask. Mr. Reb answers in a well-versed way, and I get the feeling that he has already thought a lot about this topic. “You can observe increased temperatures, missing snowfall, changes in precipitation”, he explains – indicators that climate change has eventually found its way to the Fichtel Mountains.

According to Mr. Reb, there are two different ways for the alpine tourism to respond to the changes. First of all, there is a need for new infrastructure to ensure reliability when winter is not reliable anymore. Snow-making facilities have to be present in case the snow fails to appear, cross-country skiing trails are established in higher altitudes where snow is still falling.

Second, new marketing strategies need to be established. The Tourist Authority Fichtelgebirge is working already on offering new types of winter sports that can be done without snow, such as hiking or mountain biking or the visiting a thermal bath. Of equal importance is flexible communication to inform tourists about activities according to the weather conditions. These might change fast, so the tourist agencies need to provide them with adequate options. “Winter must work out without snow”, Reb says.

However, the new strategies seem to work: The number of tourists in the Fichtel Mountains has been increasing for the last eight years. It is clear to me: The Tourist Authority Fichtelgebirge e.V. has acknowledged the ongoing changes and they have adapted their strategy to the new circumstances. “We cannot avoid starting with ourselves developing sustainable strategies to cope with climate change”, Reb says.

“We won’t stop glaciers from melting or sea levels to rise, but we must do our part and hope that we all together can ensure a positive change in the end.”

The post Brace yourself – Winter is not coming! appeared first on Global Change Ecology.