goethe.de/climate - Magazine - Humanities

“We do not need high growth rates” – Martin Jänicke talks about environmental policy in the financial crisis

The financial and sovereign debt crises appear to be pushing environmental, climate and energy policy to the bottom of the political agenda.More ...

The forest as mother; © Wofgang Kapfhammer

The Amazonian Relationship between Man and Nature

Could animist indigenous peoples show us the way out of the climate crisis as a crisis of man?More ...

The Future of the Climate – Geoengineering as Plan B?

To keep the increase in global warming under two degrees, world-wide greenhouse gas emissions will have to be radically reduced in the medium term. Geoengineering is being discussed as an option to slow down global warming. But what does it involve?More ...

Professor Claus Leggewie; Photo: Volker Wiciok, © Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (KWI)

From Social Science of Climate Culture to an Interdisciplinary Transformation Research

The call has become louder for input from the social and cultural sciences and the humanities, especially with respect to coping with the man-made risks and “natural” disasters.More ...

“Future Perfect” – Blueprints for the Good Life

Instead of lamenting over climate change, growth and consumer madness, it wants to narrate the lived alternatives for tomorrow and embolden people to make changes.More ...

Summer University event in Germany; © Internationale Universität

Learning to Communicate Environmental Issues: The International University

The International University provides training in audio-visual communication to those working in environmental professions and the media.More ...

Iceberg in Greenland; © Martin Schwan / Fotolia.com

Morality as a Question of Survival – Bernward Gesang’s climate ethics

In his book Klimaethik, Bernward Gesang wants to find a solution to the climate crisis.More ...

Cover of the book “Die Ära der Ökologie”; © C. H. Beck

Environmental History as a “Great Story” – Joachim Radkau Sums Up the “Era of Ecology”

A story with many changes of scene, full of drama and suspense.More ...

At the Mercy of the Climate? Nico Stehr and Hans von Storch in an Interview

Nico Stehr and Hans von Storch are talking about the socially constructed perception of our climate.More ...

“Climate models reflect environmental behaviour”. An Interview with Gabriele Gramelsberger

High performance computers are leading to entirely new forms of knowledge production in climate research.More ...

“Geo-engineering only provides an excuse” – Joachim Radkau in an Interview

Should we spray sulphur dioxide in the stratosphere against the climate change?More ...

Green University students discuss at grass-roots level what life might be like without oil; photo: Thomas Finger

Environmental Idealists – Students and the Green University

German students look for ways out of the environmental crisis.More ...

Biodiversity: The Miracle of Nagoya

The “International Year of Biodiversity” ends with a surprising success!More ...

Climate Change – The Revolution In Our Daily Lives Is A Long Time Coming

What problems will people be confronted with in the future? This was the question at the congress entitled “Our Common Future”.More ...

“Women Are More Vulnerable” – Marion Rolle on Gender and Climate Change

Climate change affects women to a much greater extent than men, yet their needs often go unnoticed.More ...

The Shift from a “Restructuring of Industrial Society” to Socio-Ecological Research

Since the year 2000 the funding priority at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has been on socio-ecological research.More ...

The Concept of Vulnerability – A Theory for the Problems of Tomorrow

When a society proves itself to be incapable of recognising its own vulnerability, the way is paved for natural phenomena to unleash their destructive force.More ...

Thomas Saretzki; © Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

“De-Democratization Is No Solution” – An Interview With Thomas Saretzki

The ecological crisis is plunging the constitutional democracy into a growing legitimacy crisis – but this should not be seen as grounds for authoritarian mind games.More ...

“This crisis has most certainly changed the world.” Photo: Sabine Braun

“We can’t afford another crisis” – an interview with Claudia Kemfert

Professor Claudia Kemfert is Germany’s leading economics expert in the areas of energy research and climate protection. Her second book, “Jetzt die Krise nutzen” (lit. “Exploit the crisis now”), was published in 2009.More ...

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) “Das Eismeer”, ca.1823/24 © picture-alliance / akg-images

On a Contemporary Aesthetics of Nature

For a long time, aesthetic experience played an almost equally important role as scientific experience in the understanding and shaping of the natural world.More ...

© Laleh Torabi. The illustration was published for the first time in „Bessere Zukunft? Auf der Suche nach den Räumen von Morgen“ by Friedrich von Borries, Matthias Böttger and Florian Heilmeyer (raumtaktik, Berlin), Merve publishing, Berlin 2008.

Climate of the Future

Questions concerning the cultural assumptions about and the consequences of climate change are currently being discussed in a wide variety of contexts. Yet also at issue is what each of us can do to counter impending disasters.More ...

The Culture of Ecological Responsibility – An Interview with Ludger Heidbrink

Can climate change stimulate a cultural reconstruction of industrial societies? An interview on the culture of responsibility with philosopher Ludger Heidbrink.More ...

Takashi Horisaki “Social Dress New Orleans – 730 days after”, 2007; Installation, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York © Takashi Horisaki, courtesy of the artist

Borderless Inequality

Who is on the way up, and who is on the way down in this era of globalization and climate change? A sociological view from the author of The World Risk Society.More ...

Culture and Climate Change – Humanities and Social Sciences