In the different sections of our event we will discuss or mention some great examples from climate fiction literature. Among others we will meet the Italian author Bruno Arpaia, the British writer Saci Lloyd and María Bonete Escoto, a young author from sunny Spain. Perhaps there is some inspiration for you here.
With FridaysForFuture, the currently loudest climate activist movement is a youth organization. Around 23% of adolescents and young adults in Germany stated that they had participated in the demonstrations at least once, and around 46% still planned to do so. In Germany, around 78% of 14-22 year olds consider climate protection to be one of the country's top priorities. However, with 95% of respondents of all ages starting from the age of 14, there is a generally high level of agreement with the goals and strategies of the energy transition towards renewable energy.
For example, the island state of Kiribati in the Pacific is endangered by climate change. The country is only slightly above sea level. Large-scale flooding is already occurring again and again. The result: Soils and groundwater are becoming increasingly saline, which makes agriculture more difficult and makes drinking water supply more and more complex and expensive. Another prominent example is the tropical rainforest in Latin America, the world's largest contiguous forest area. Here, too, the changes in temperature and precipitation associated with climate change are increasingly leading to extreme droughts and floods.
By the end of the century, around half of the world's sandy beaches could disappear due to climate change. With the help of the "CoastalDEM" programme, "Climate Central" has analysed 51 million data sets and used them to produce an interactive map showing which countries could completely disappear as a result of rising sea levels by 2050 or 2100. Many cities could be affected by the rising sea level including Amsterdam, London and Calcutta.
The Greenland ice sheet is shrinking by 250 to 300 billion tons a year, which contributes to the rise in global sea level by around 0.6 millimeters per year. The pace of ice loss has accelerated in recent years.
16 of the 17 warmest years since records started occurred after 2000, all five warmest since 2010. Since 1977 - for four decades now - there has been no year on Earth that was cooler than the average of the 20th century.
Between 1993 and 2017, according to NASA satellite measurements, the global sea level rose by around 85 millimeters. The sea level does not rise equally everywhere, there are regions with lower and those with higher values. The rate in the western Pacific is up to 12 mm per year. The greatest single effect is the thermal expansion of the ocean as a result of warming. The melting processes on Greenland, the glaciers and the Antarctic follow.
In Germany, around 39% of total CO2 emissions come from energy generation. The coal-fired power plants play a major role here. China is the world's largest CO2 emitter, with around 28% of global CO2 emissions. However, in terms of CO2 emissions per capita, China is behind Germany.
200% - This means that the number of climate-related disasters worldwide has tripled since 1980!
Please have a look at our digital essay on August 19th to find more answers to the last question.