The Future Starts Now. Anthropocene – the Age of Human Influence on Nature and Climate

The dramatic extinction of species around the world, the ineffectualness of the Paris Climate Agreement and not least the rolling...

The dramatic extinction of species around the world, the ineffectualness of the Paris Climate Agreement and not least the rolling back of US American climate policy prompt the question of how to deal in a philosophically appropriate way with the apparently unstoppable ecological disaster. Fuller‘s diagnosisis as decisive as it is provocative: It is too late. Only an acceptance of the irrevocable, a ”merry despair“, now befits the situation.

Do heatwaves, torrential rain falls and catastrophic storms already amount to climate change – or are they still ”only“ the...

Do heatwaves, torrential rain falls and catastrophic storms already amount to climate change – or are they still ”only“ the weather? The physicist Friederike Otto contributed to the development of ”Attribution Science“, a revolutionary method that helps us to calculate precisely when climate change is involved. It allows us to recognise and assign responsibility to specific causes of weather phenomena. And it prevents the misuse of climate change as an argument. Politicians can no longer blame climate change in order to hide mismanagement or their own or failures.

Climate change is happening now and it is everywhere. This book summarises the background information and core messages of the...

Climate change is happening now and it is everywhere. This book summarises the background information and core messages of the most important climate agreements. It explains the scientific context to the topic of climate change, presents the instruments of climate policy, and sets out the necessary institutional framework for keeping emissions to the threshold needed to avoid exceeding a 2° C temperature rise in the fight against climate change.

This book examines the cultural-historical context of the current upheavals in the human relationship with nature. It asks if today‘s...

This book examines the cultural-historical context of the current upheavals in the human relationship with nature. It asks if today‘s crisis makes it necessary to redefine conceptually the value of nature from an ethical-normative point of view, and what the legal consequences of such a new definition would be. Finally, it shines a light on the anthropological dimension of the human relationship with nature, which has changed in profound ways.

What does the future look like? Will the climate emergency overpower us? Or will we start moving in time and...

What does the future look like? Will the climate emergency overpower us? Or will we start moving in time and achieve the great changes? We are standing at the crossroads. Politics, economics, civil society: All the players need to get active. But how? The Fridays for Future activist, Luisa Neubauer, and the political economist, Alexander Repenning, bring together theory and practice. They explain the context of the climate crisis and chart a path towards the future. For the future is (still) in our hands.

Hanna Poddig, who describes herself as an anarchist who cannot be reconciled with the system, provides an introduction to different...

Hanna Poddig, who describes herself as an anarchist who cannot be reconciled with the system, provides an introduction to different aspects of the climate movement. After a brief look back at the Startbahnbewegung, a longstanding group that opposed a new runway at Frankfurt Airport, she analyses current topics, forms of action and strategies of resistance in more detail.

The forest is not just an ecosystem somewhere ”out there“. Through our evolution, we are psychologically, spiritually and intellectually linked...

The forest is not just an ecosystem somewhere ”out there“. Through our evolution, we are psychologically, spiritually and intellectually linked to it. However, today most people live in megacities, with concrete beneath their feet rather than moss and humus, and with the din of engines in their ears instead of humming insects. Real nature is becoming ever more distanced. Wolf-Dieter Storl wants to bring us closer to the forest again and he takes us on a journey to our true, traditional roots.

An aid for climate protection, provider of wood, place of yearning and a problem child: Like few other topics, the...

An aid for climate protection, provider of wood, place of yearning and a problem child: Like few other topics, the forest is the focus of attention today. But how is it really coping? Forests in Our World give us their answers. On a journey through the world‘s five basic forest forms – from the coniferous forests of the Far North to the rainforests of the Tropics – Gunther Willinger shows us the complex relationship between forests, nature and the climate, and he explains what we need to do in order to sustain this miracle.

As animal traction became increasingly superfluous with the rise of motorisation after 1945, horses lost their significance – but they...

As animal traction became increasingly superfluous with the rise of motorisation after 1945, horses lost their significance – but they didn‘t disappear. Not only did the heyday of equestrian sports arrive after 1945, but the horse itself also remained important as a leisure-time partner, an object of care and a symbol of freedom. De Kleijn‘s study of the varied, always emotional debate surrounding the role of horses in the ”post-horse age“ provides deep insights into a hitherto neglected field of German social history.

Droughts and heat waves, as well as cold snaps, flats and torrential rain: The climate crisis is now a global...

Droughts and heat waves, as well as cold snaps, flats and torrential rain: The climate crisis is now a global topic that none of us can ignore any longer. With help from numerous scientists, graphic designer, Esther Gonstalla, has turned the complex interactions and scientific data on global warming into easily understood info-graphics – for everyone who wants, not only to understand but also to act.

The soil beneath our feet is the source of our livelihoods. We live from the things it gives us. However,...

The soil beneath our feet is the source of our livelihoods. We live from the things it gives us. However, modern agriculture uses it simply as a growing medium, drenching valuable cultivable land in fertiliser, poison and liquid manure. The consequences are disastrous. Humus soils that have developed over millennia are being destroyed, despite the fact that adding just four parts per thousand of humus each year could sequester the world‘s annual emissions of carbon dioxide. It is high time to rethink this situation, in order to protect the climate and sustain species diversity.

Plants generate the air that we breathe, form the basis of our food chain and help us relax in the...

Plants generate the air that we breathe, form the basis of our food chain and help us relax in the oases of peace. More than that, plants are complex living beings that form extensive networks, and without them human cultures could not have emerged at all. This is made clear by the authors of this volume that accompanies the exhibition of the same name. A nuanced view of the biological and cultural dimensions of flora.