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The scientific advisory board of the Open Academy supports the call by various scientists, environmental activists and representatives of the labour movement for a strategy conference in 2024 to save the foundations of human life. It calls for broad participation. Information on this can be found at www.umweltstrategiekonferenz.org

The scientific advisory board is calling for this by name:

• Prof Dr Helga Baumgarten, political scientist, Jerusalem,
• Bernd Bittenbinder, dentist, Herdorf
• Dr Colin Goldner, qualified psychologist, Landau
• Dr Maria Grein, engineer, Bochum
• Lucien Holzner, qualified psychologist – psychotherapist in training. Berlin
• Prof Dr Christian Jooß, physicist, Göttingen
• Dr Peter Kaiser, biochemist and political scientist, Hamelin
• Christoph Klug, qualified psychologist and science journalist, Recklinghausen
• Prof Dr Josef Lutz, electrical engineer, Chemnitz
• Traugott Nassauer, qualified psychologist and child and adolescent psychotherapist, Daaden
• Marleen Pfeiffer, student of social work, Berlin
• Prof Dr Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake, physicist, Hanover
• Dr Rainer Werning, political and social scientist
• Ahmad Yacob, engineer, Ilmenau
• Prof Dr Jean Ziegler, sociologist, member of the advisory committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Back in December 2020, the Open Academy published the statement “Objection: There is no more residual budget!” with 150 signatories. Following the Paris Climate Agreement, various governments and institutions spoke of a “residual budget” of CO2 that countries were still allowed to emit. We proved that this residual budget no longer exists. The policy of announcing targets without taking effective action has made things worse since then. At the COP 28 world climate conference, the goal of “climate neutrality” for 2050 was announced – far too late. The term “neutrality” is used for greenwashing. Global warming has already reached 1.5 degrees. This will trigger processes that are irreversible on the time scales of human history, have a tendency to mutually reinforce each other and will have catastrophic consequences for humanity. Assessing the development and discussing the conclusions requires the kind of strategic discussion that will be held in Berlin on 20 and 21 April.

The topic of the existentially threatening development of the environment will also play an important role at the Open Academy’s weekly conference from 23 March to 29 March. The Open Academy would like to contribute to the preparation of this strategy conference with the discussion at its conference. On Tuesday 26 March in particular, various contributions will shed light on the status of the development of a global environmental catastrophe and the question of what needs to be done.

Prof Dr Jürgen Scheffran, for example, will give a lecture on war and the environment: from ecocide to sustainable peacekeeping. Or the pioneer of renewable energies Hans-Josef Fell (Green Party), who exposed climate deniers and greenwashers alike. The former scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Prof Dr Victor Smetacek, will examine the question of whether algae cultivation in the open ocean can stop climate change. In his lecture “Jetzt wird’s richtig ernst” (Now it’s getting really serious), Werner Engelhardt will substantiate the thesis of the environmental catastrophe that has begun in his recently published book with the same title. On Monday 25 March, Prof. Dr Jutta Weber will address the anti-democratic features of the current ‘adaptation debate’ in her lecture and contrast it with concepts and narratives of a participatory democratic ecological transformation. The full programme can be found at www.offene-akademie.org.

Since its foundation in 2004, the Open Academy has been associated with both the labour and environmental movements. The basic idea of the conference, the unity of the labour and environmental movements, corresponds to our concerns. It practises a free, open, broad debate about different perspectives, strategies and forms of action. Right-wing fascist circles are not tolerated.

Dear colleagues,
Dear friends!

I wholeheartedly support your plan to organise the “Strategy Conference to Save the Livelihoods of Mankind”! The outbreak of the global environmental catastrophe is jeopardising the survival of mankind. I am familiar with Stefan Engel’s book on the subject. It is excellent. If it is not stopped or contained, it will be devastating for billions of people. Then humanity will descend into barbarism. This is a very serious matter.

We must discuss how this can be prevented. Your idea of bringing labour, scientists and the environmental movement together is an excellent idea. That is a powerful force. I support that. You also have to get to the bottom of things. I am convinced that the exploitation of people and nature must be overcome. Unfortunately, I can’t be at the conference in person. I am glad that you exist and that you are doing such important work. I sincerely wish you all every success! I send you my warmest greetings full of solidarity and admiration.

Your Jean Ziegler

Dear friends,

Another very constructive preparatory meeting for the strategy conference on 20 – 21 April in Berlin took place on 3 March. We would like to inform you about the results and what follows from them:

1. Discussions centred on the character of the conference as a strategy conference, that the conference should focus particularly on strategic issues and be less one-sidedly tactical. The first block will focus on the dimension of environmental destruction, but also its causes and the general conclusions to be drawn from it. In the second block, the resulting questions, the forces for the struggle to save humanity, the connection to the anti-fascist struggle, especially since forces such as the AfD or Trump, Erdogan… are the number one climate deniers and declare any environmental protection measures superfluous; the role of the working class and the trade unions, the need for a universal right to strike, debate about the need for a socially transformative struggle and the perspective with which it is waged. Both in the labour movement and in the environmental movement, the strategic discussion on the environment is already in full swing. We also want to come to appropriate conclusions beyond the conference on how to organise a superior force in the struggle to save humanity. Please let us know if you would like to make a contribution or what kind of contribution you would like to make. There are already some registrations for keynote speeches, by our next meeting on 24 March we want to have an overview and also discuss the content of the conference.

2. We have discussed the mobilisation and publicity to date and made numerous decisions to develop this further and to recruit additional forces and prominent multipliers. We now have 226 signatories from a broader spectrum. At the FfF demonstrations and rallies, the Environmental Strategy Conference was publicised with the flyer that was published shortly beforehand. A great deal of interest was shown in publicity campaigns. The UN human rights activist Jean Ziegler welcomed the strategy conference, as did the advisory board of the Open Academy with numerous scientists. We are delighted that environmental activists from the Netherlands, Surinam, France, England (Europ Unite of Climate Justice), Malawi and Yemen have confirmed their participation. Representatives of the 3rd International Miners’ Conference have announced an impulse contribution on the situation in Congo and the work with their important environmental resolution among miners worldwide. Various environmental initiatives from Germany have also approached the conference organisers and made contact. At the same time, the focus is on intensive advertising and publicising among the people, in companies and trade unions, among young people, environmentalists, etc. in conjunction with fundraising for the costs. A press release will be issued this week and the national press will be contacted. To this end, a new edition of the (updated) flyer with the venue and conference contribution will be published during the week (11-14 March) with a circulation of 30,000 as well as a poster (A 3- 3000 copies). The homepage will also be given a new look.

3. The venue has now been finalised and the contract has been signed. It is a former AEG turbine hall, which is now rented out for large events under the name “MaHalla”.
   Address: Wilhelminenhofstrasse 76, 12459 Berlin. The location itself symbolises the unity of the environmental movement with the labour movement. We thus have a popular and beautiful location with space for 1000 participants, with the possibility for the evening event and enough space for information stands as well as a food supply in the courtyard and inside. The University of Applied Sciences is right next door, where we want to advertise intensively among the students and will have some walk-in visitors. And it is well connected to public transport. …

How do we finance the strategy conference?

We are promoting a broad fundraising campaign among the population. We want to issue a call for donations in the workforces: “An hourly wage for saving humanity”. We have set up a Paypal payment option (on the homepage, on the flyer) so that people can also donate directly to the strategy conference from demos or actions.

We also see the donation as a way of supporting the conference for many people who may not be travelling themselves.

We also call on all organisations and supporters to take part in the fundraising, the fundraising should be an integral part of the advertising.

The participation fee is 10€ and 5€ reduced and we call for a solidarity contribution of 10€ + X.

For the evening festival, we will advertise for donations, but will refrain from charging an entrance fee.

We are utilising the possibility of crowdfunding.

We will also approach foundations, but will not become dependent on them. We are asking supporting organisations that are able to make advance payments or provide guarantees for the conference. We need advance payment for the
down payment for the room, advertising, hire of technical equipment, etc.

4. Extensive organisational tasks were dealt with. The organising committee, which now has 5 members, has begun intensive organisational work. Other people have been recruited as team leaders for individual areas such as alliance work, catering or coordinating the keynote speeches. But some are still missing.
   A number of issues such as registration and the procedure have been discussed and defined, and some task packages have now also been taken on by participating organisations. (drinks supply, evening event, finance team, stewarding etc.) There are further suggestions. We are sending out these proposals as an attachment to this info letter

What happens next with the preparation:

1. We suggest coordinating the preparation at the local level. Individual local organising groups can and should take the initiative. If possible, make collective registrations and, as far as possible, donate time or work in teams – see the list of collective registrations in the appendix. Organise ecological travel and accommodation. We also ask for one cake per 6 people as a donation. If some of you want to and can volunteer for a specific team, you can do so immediately at orgteam@umweltstrategiekonferenz.org We are still urgently looking for people for the social media team, which unfortunately does not yet exist.

2. Everyone is called upon to publicise and promote the strategy conference widely. This includes liaising with the media (see also trade union newspapers etc.), inviting international participants and recruiting prominent multipliers.
   We will be happy to send you advertising material for widespread use among the people. If you do not yet have a “source” for this, please contact us at post@umweltstrategiekonferenz.org with your order. For the time being, we are pre-financing this, but of course we ask for donations. You are also welcome to write short reports about your advertising, we will publish them. Keep collecting signatories and donations.

3. We are looking forward to receiving the first applications for cultural contributions from creative artists from Berlin. More are welcome – it’s a great opportunity for bands to perform with us.

4. The next preparatory meeting will take place at 3 pm on 24 March in the Ruhr area. We will inform you about this in more detail. The concepts for the individual tasks should be finalised by then. (Catering, content, evening event/party; finances, technology, proposal for keynote speeches etc).

We wish you and us every success with the further preparations.

Your coordination group