From knowledge to meaningful action against climate change
[Music]
so
it was during my studies i came to
realize that i’m living at a time of
important change and i started to feel
responsibility to make sure this change
comes out well
i felt i wanted to do my best to
preserve our beautiful and vital cities
and landscapes
for the yet to be born so i began to
work hard
in research and consulting and
initiatives
to contribute to building a
climate-friendly society
in 2013 i was appointed to my current
position as a professor of sustainable
economics at the university of applied
science constance in the photo you can
see me with my
certificate of appointment i was more
than happy
about this new challenge from now on it
would be my job to provide my students
with the exact knowledge skills and
capabilities
they would need to build a
climate-friendly future
highly motivated i started to prepare my
courses
reflecting what should be the key
content of my teaching
i came up with five questions or topics
which i thought would prepare and
motivate my students
to take action those five questions were
first where are we
this describes reality as it is we are
dangerously heating our home planet by
burning the fossil fuels
oil gas and coal floods straws crab
failures wildfires
we can already observe the consequences
of the heating and they could change our
countryside forever
the climate crisis is a massive threat
to peaceful coexistence in
all our societies even the survival of
mankind itself may be at risk
how it hurts to face this reality
and this led to my second question how
could we end up like this
and here’s my answer here in germany
like in many other countries we are
enjoying a living standard unique in
human history
we owe this to the generation of our
parents
and grandparents how bitter it is to
realize today that many of the
technologies
manufacturing processes and daily habits
we adopted
are massively harming the climate and
how disillusioning to see how our laws
and regulations are not
preventing this the reason for this is
simple
those technologies manufacturing
processes
habits and regulations were made at a
time when oil gas and cold promise to be
a good choice
as cheap and infinite sources of energy
now that we know that these energies are
causing the climate crisis in the
tradition of previous generations we can
use our creative power
and decide to adapt to the new realities
the future now lies in our hands
and he followed my third question what
future would it be that we want to
create
where do we want to go
of course this is about ending our
dependence on dirty fossil fuels and
transferring to the clean energy from
sun
wind and water we know that these
renewable sources of energy not only
offer a reliable and secure energy
supply
but also through national prosperity and
secure
long-term jobs then producing less or no
harm to the nature is not enough
we owe it to our children and
grandchildren to even restore nature so
it’s also about healing and repairing
environments
to return them to their natural state
the fourth question would then be how
will we get there how can we possibly
achieve this prospering future
there’s a huge potential in people
taking responsibility
for where we are heading be it for our
personal ways of life our companies our
cities and our countries
we need a strong and decisive plan of
action
like u.s president kennedy’s plan in the
1960s to travel to the moon within less
than 10 years which then became a
national objective and was successfully
achieved
even before time today’s plans need to
be equally strong
they will provide for a new sense of
focus so that we can all pull together
and everybody contribute what we are
good at
my fifth and last question was who
are we or what are we here to do here
i would remind my students that we are
part of a story that started
long before we can remember and
continues long beyond anyone
will remember us well
personally this reminds me to appreciate
and enjoy life and its pleasures
more deeply but then it also makes clear
that it is our duty to safeguard our
world and conserve
the unique privilege of life on our
planet
i kind of dumped my students with
information on these five
questions and i kind of expected them to
come out of my course as little change
agents
longing to take action and yes students
had gained knowledge around the climate
crisis and the how-to
of climate protection that i’d been able
to check in the exam
but no there was no visible action being
triggered by this knowledge
instead of the dynamics i’d hoped to
create
i perceived a sense of despair and
helplessness in the face of today’s
reality
and the challenges lying ahead i was
devastated
there i was having the job i dreamt of
and what was i making of it
i had completely failed in empowering
these young people
to perceive themselves as potent
individuals
who can make a difference i was even
doubting whether
at all i could make a difference in this
world
being a scientist i decided to see
whether there was any research
that could help me understand what had
happened
it didn’t take me long to find out that
the thing
i had experienced is a common phenomenon
there’s even a term for it scientists
call it the
attitude behavior gap we know
what would be the right thing to do but
we still don’t do it
and thinking this through you probably
all have
an example for this in your mind so now
the problem had a name and i could
understand it
which left me with the next question how
can this
attitude behavior gap be overcome
we thought it might be a good idea to
add concrete student action to the peer
teaching of
information to base this action on facts
we would first analyze the climate
impact of
our everyday lives therefore each
student
would calculate his or her personal calm
footprint
in a second step students would then
choose one specific lifestyle change
experiment
that would really make a difference in
terms of reduced climate gases
the experience was to be run for four
weeks and we caught it
a climate challenge we found students
highly motivated and here’s a taste of
what they
engaged in four weeks on a vegetarian or
purely plant-based diet
or a car free month or consumption
relief four weeks without buying new
items and sorting out boxes of things
that are no longer loved and needed to
pass them on
four weeks proved to be a good duration
for the experiment
it was short enough to make it seem
possible and it was long enough for
students to start weaving new routines
into their lives
we also evaluated this scientifically
almost all students
met their objectives successfully and
most of them were happy and proud
about their achievements from psychology
i learned how precious
this experience is knowing that one’s
action has led to positive outcomes
is one of the key predictors for taking
action
in the future they call this concept
self-efficacy
we were happy that the test run had
turned out so well
on second thought we noticed that with
the definition of the task
we had directed the focus very much
towards private action
and changing one’s own behavior and
thereby we had missed an important point
from my previous work i knew that
historical transitions like the one we
are in
have usually been driven by changes on
two levels
firstly individuals deciding and acting
differently and
secondly a change in societal structures
and frameworks
that so strongly influence our
individual decisions
i will explain this bravely changing
behavior is what we had tried out
successfully with
our students a person decides to change
their lifestyle
in order to become more climate friendly
from our climate challenge i can say
that this can feel really cool and i
frequently observe
how it inspires others around you
besides our individual behavior there
are the societal structures in which we
live
this includes laws the range of products
offered to us by companies
or the prevailing social practices
these structures matter because we
normally stick to the law we can only
buy
products that aren’t awful and
affordable and we usually feel better if
our peer group
approves of our decisions
these structures somehow guide our
behavior
and unfortunately up to now in terms of
climate protection they often steers
in the wrong direction probably you have
also made such experiences for example
that it is often cheaper to take a plane
than to travel a certain distance by
train
or you won’t find a climate-friendly
opportunity like in my university’s
cafeteria
where they don’t offer a plant-based
dish each day
i guess you could continue this list
seems like due to those unsupportive
societal structures
and framework conditions it is not
always easy to do the right thing
the good news here is that today’s
framework conditions are not god given
they are human made
which makes them subject to human-driven
change
they date back to a time when the
climate crisis was not an
issue so it is only logical that
now that we face the transition to a
climate-friendly society as an ambitious
challenge
we refine those framework conditions
that includes politics to make sure that
the price for flying reflects the real
climate damage costs
caused by flying all my cafeteria
proudly advertising that its cheapest
choice is always a delicious plant-based
dish
i would be really happy about that
i guess you have an idea about these two
levels of change now
and having reflected on how both of them
matter it became clear to us
we had to further develop our climate
change
it should include starting points for
individual action
addressing both levels
and here is what we came up with
as before the climate challenge would
begin with a four week lifestyle
experiment to reduce one personal
carbon footprint we call this a
footprint
challenge as a new step we would then
ask students why most of society had not
already jumped in and joined in their
footprint challenged behavior
this question motivated students to
reflect on structural barriers
experienced
during their footprint challenge
following that we
asked them to develop and implement an
activity addressing this barrier
this activity we call their handprint
challenge
the results of running our first
combined footprint and handprint
challenge were amazing
so we continued with the concept and
have since been able
to accompany hundreds of young people
through their climate challenges
as a rule we find that taking action on
one’s own carbon footprint is virtually
self-driven once triggered
in contrast a handprint challenge seems
to be relatively unfamiliar
however once students get into this
handprint pattern of thinking
exciting results develop frequently
students serve their family or
friends delicious climate friendly meals
or they organize a closed exchange party
among fellow students where closers that
are not worn anymore
find new owners restaurant chefs
are encouraged to give away their
leftover foods for a small price instead
of throwing it away
or the manager of a supermarket has
shown how he could simplify shopping for
vegans
by including a vegan label on the price
tag or a student talks to the mayor of
her home village
and makes concrete suggestions how to
improve the cycling network
on the whole our challengers also like
to share their experiences via social
media
well it seems to work and just recently
students told me
that after the course they now feel well
prepared for their role as
powerful change agents for safe and
vital future
before i close i want to tell you how
working with the climate challenge
has changed my personal life for the
better
and i’m very grateful to my students for
that before we started the climate
challenge for a long time
i had directed my activities almost
completely to the handprint level
i thought if many people like me we hold
together we would finally succeed in
triggering
the necessary changes of our structural
framework
i believe behavior changes are not
important to look at
because ultimately they would come
automatically
because it’s just the new normal
but when i once again read the student’s
report of switching to a plant-based
diet i suddenly felt i should try this
out by myself
the result is that i am now a pragmatic
and pleasure first vegan which means
delicious continues to be my first
priority when eating
and when there’s no vegan food living up
to this i deliberately
turn a blind eye taking such a pragmatic
approach
turned out to be very helpful for my
evolving footprint activities
i accept i cannot do things perfectly
right
and i make myself aware that it is not
my
individual shortcoming but that the
structures are just not
so supportive yet
which is the reason why i continue to
vote
energy and time to my handprint
activities
and maybe my persuasiveness there has
increased as people
see that i try to walk the talk
and this last point links to what i
think is most important about the
changes
in my personal lifestyle they do not
only serve the climate
but somehow they also make me stronger
could it be narrowing down my attitude
behavior gap
releases energy my own behavior and
action have become
more integrated with my worldview and
somehow this proves to be
a continuous source of power in my life
so what could all of this mean for you
what if you let the facts about the
climate crisis reach your mind
and at the same time you do something
relevant about it
what would be a key climate affecting
behavior
among your habits and how could you
change this for the better
for a trial period of let’s say four
weeks and how will it feel having
succeeded
in beyond this private activity what
could be your handprint starting point
how could you maybe together with others
make a contribution however small
to improving our society structures so
that climate protection becomes
easier for all of us
i had the privilege to witness it
frequently
and i have experienced it in my own
personal life
there is an enormous power in letting
the reality of the climate crisis
touch you and stay brave and take
responsibility
the future lies in our hands