01. Interview

Our Question: a) Ask ten people what they think about: 1.The climate change 2.The possible consequences for your country – and take note of the answers. b) What do yout think about these answers?

02. Search the local newspapers of your country for articles about climate change.

Our Question: a) What kind of direct problems have been mentioned? b) What solutions have been proposed? c) What priority have these reports about climate change been given in the newspapers in your country? d) Which headline caught your eye and impressed you the most? Explain the reason why. e) Which headline would you give an article about climat change?

03. The topic of climate change arouses a number of strong emotions in people.

Our Question: a) Write down your emotional feelings for the words “anger, responsibility, hope and indifference” in connection with the topic of climate change. b) Which kind of emotion do you feel most strongly in connection with the topic of climate change? (This does not have to be one of the four mentioned above). Explain the reasons why.

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01. Interview

Our Answer: Our climate survey: We went in town, looking for people to ask our questions. So we spotted these guys, hanging around and giving us a quite uneducaed impression. We wondered what they think about the subject. Although we weren’t expecting that much, their answers were quite shocking: “I will drive a car, smoke and do whatever I want- the consequences of climatic change won’t bother me. I will already be dead when the world will get in trouble”, said one of them. Some other disappointing answers were: “I like warm temperatures” or “I know one should do something, but I didn’t really think about what exactly…” So we think, young people who are not that educated and have to work all day are not aware of the consequences, because they can’t feel them at the moment and aren’t very well informed. If we asked the same questions in our school, the answers would have been more satisfying, because we treat this matter very intensive here. But luckily, we found some others who care too: Some older persons (and at least a few teenagers too) could think about the problems caused by climatic change. “It’s something that makes me worry. And it should bother especially younger generations as well.” And what are the concrete consequences for Switzerland? “It will get warmer, so glaciers will melt. First we will have floods, and later on there will be a lack of water. We will lose some of our ski regions and a lot of tourists.”-“I think farmers will have problems because the climate will be dryer.” Now we know: It’s important to inform people, who don’t have the ability to discuss climatic change at school, about it’s consequences and that they will occur sooner as they might imagine- and that it needs everybody to decrease the damage. Désirée

02. Search the local newspapers of your country for articles about climate change.

Our Answer: a.) The climate protecting organisation thinks that we're not doing enough for our climate. But Switzerland has quite a good record in comparison to some other countries. The main problem is, that the glaciers and the permafrost in our Alps are melting. The glaciers melting leads to a loss of drinking water supply and the production of clean energy with this water decreases as well. the melting of the permafrost is dangerous for the towns and the roads which are in the valleys because they could be hit by falling rocks. Land slides have become a problem, too, with whole mountain sides turning into a mud avalanche. Burying farmland and houses. b.) We should reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 to 2020 and not allow the global warming to raise by more than 2°C. There should be taxes for gas and the taxes for heating fuel and CO2 emissions should be higher. c.) Unforunately th priority for climate change topics is not the first. There are articles from time to time but we had to search for quite a while until we found something. d.) An article about an experiment with a huge icecube was very impressive. An icecube which is 730 kilograms heavy has been situated besides to a glacier which is melting quickly. The experment is to show how quickly the glacier is actually melting. It's impressive to see this and it hopefully catches the attention of the people. e.) Do you really want to have a green Matterhorn?!

03. The topic of climate change arouses a number of strong emotions in people.

Our Answer: 3.a. I feel anger if people negotiate the problems and if they don’t want to do something because they think it’s stupid to retrenche. I also feel anger if people say things like „I don’t care about the earth in 100 years, I won’t be there anymore.“. Conclusion: The thing that annoys me the most is indifference. I feel responsible fort he marks I leave and i try to keep them as small as possible. But I also feel a responsiblity for myself and that means that I don’t want to go back to stone age. I hope we arrive to pick up the pieces. I know that the world won’t become perfect, but I hope that it becomes the best that is possible. 3.b I fear the consequences of a huge increase of temperature. I have a worst-case-image of a world very hot, dry and dusty where you never know where to get water or food. from. I feel a bit helpless but also motivated to do something. Helpless because there’s always the feeling that your doings is just a drop on a hot stone and motivated because it can just get better. Rachel

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