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.