On the world climate report: listen to science!

The confidence of the next generation in science and climate protection as a business model – therein lie hopes for the future. Because the world climate report has made it clear: Time is really running away.

A joker published the world climate report in advance on the weekend – allegedly. And supposedly it should only consist of a single paragraph – abbreviated: “We have been telling you for decades that all of this is going to happen. You haven’t listened and now it’s just happening. We hope you enjoy the heat waves, heavy rain, the rise in sea levels and everything else, you damned… “That’s where it gets insulting.

But basically there is a lot of truth in there. The figures are clear and sober and in many cases have been almost the same for 20 years. The only thing that has really changed: Time is running out because nothing has changed during that time.

Good data for scientists

On the contrary: reality has still exceeded the most pessimistic assumptions. It is correct: The last doubts – if there were any – have been dispelled and the data situation is so good that the scientists have the courage to make statements about extreme weather events and regional effects. This is where we are most likely to feel what “climate change” means.

So far it has mostly affected “the others”. That’s why an emotional outcry is going through the country again. But so far it has ebbed away quickly.

Occupy future fields

Sad as it is, hope rests on a new generation that is on the move with the cry of “Listen to science”. And I hope even more that climate protection will become a business model. You can earn money with renewable energies, with e-cars you can just see how an industry is changing and “green steel” and a chemical industry without petroleum products are slowly becoming conceivable.

A country like Germany can cause an international sensation and at the same time occupy the future fields for itself, in competition with others. China is more likely to be willing to accept that than any political commitments. That gives me hope that in the end it doesn’t have to be as bad as it is sometimes rumored to be.

Fear doesn’t help anyone anyway. We rather need courage to find new solutions. Sometimes that just comes off a bit.