One day, while scrolling through a streaming service catalogue looking for something to watch, I came across this documentary, the name of which caught my attention: “Kiss the Ground.” I was promptly intrigued by the beautiful symbology. It made me think about gratitude for the planet, for the fact that I breathe, for the food […]
Poverty eradication has always been at the core front of the United Nations. In the year 2000, in the Millenium Declaration, 189 countries agreed to devote themselves to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty”. By setting the “International Poverty Line”, the […]
Leading conversations about climate change and sharing personal stories allows not only for supporting a social mandate for climate policies, but also creates an opportunity for you to learn something new from a stranger, friend, or relative.
This past Autumn I had the opportunity to take part in the EcoSum Initiative Science School. This autumn school is organised by PhD ecology students from the Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine (LECA) – a joint research unit that gathers researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Université Grenoble Alpes and Université Savoie […]
The master´s programme “Global Change Ecology” (GCE) started in 2006. Since that time, some GCE students have already completed their Master´s degree.We are interested to know what has been happening in the lives of our former GCE students. A few GCE alumni told us about GCE and how their careers have continued after they had […]
Students of Global Change Ecology have a reputation for being creatively engaged citizens and Steffen Schwardmann is no exception. Having just completed his second semester at the University of Bayreuth, he has also launched a podcast, Stories of Climate Change Hope. I invited Steffen to an interview to better understand where he’s coming from with the […]
The consequences of climate change can no longer be overlooked in some of Germany’s forests. To address this, three students from the international master’s program “Global Change Ecology” (GCE) in the Elite Network of Bavaria initiated the “Klimawald” project. Together with around 250 helpers, they planted seedlings of climate-tolerant tree species in a forest area […]
German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Dr. Gerd Müller, in the German Action Plan titled “The world needs forests”, described forests as the lungs of the earth. Ironically, today coronavirus is attacking the lungs of a human body. If we compare the corona crisis to climate change, hypothetically, we find that just […]
COVID-19 has been valuable in showing us that nothing stays the same. The background atmosphere of calm, of largely well-functioning societies, of peace and safety is not guaranteed to us because of advances in democracy, the economy, ‘civilisation’ or technology. As far out of our control as the virus may seem, it is inherently more […]
Take the acronym of Coronavirus Disease 2019, COVID-19, drop the 19, and attach an abbreviation of the word ‘attitude’ to create a portmanteau – covid-tude. It could refer to the attitude we are adopting during the COVID-19 crisis, one of sacrifice, resilience and dedication to our own and the greater good. While it is natural […]
