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: Elderly woman: Climate change is shocking; the media makes such a big fuss about it, maybe they are exaggeratting a little; However, I do what I can (recycling, low-energy-bulbs, no car,...) I'm a bit sceptical because I've heard that low-energy-bulbs release toxic emissions (too much mercury in them). In my opinion cars aren't as bad as everybody says either. Just one person can't decrease the release of CO2 so that it would make a difference. There have always been changes in our environment, so one should just leave it at that. The next generation will simply have to adapt to their changes. A man who sells hats: I don't like the winter because I injured my back when I went snowboarding so I don't care if it gets warmer. But i don't drive a car. (From then on he just joked about the climate change and said: We should live in the mountains because there would be more space and the environment could recreate again) Finnish hockey fans: Last summer was quite hot, which is quite unusal (One of the fans made a joke: We can also feel the climate change in our saunas, there it's not only 120°C but 130°C) But the winter before it was really cold, we had snow the whole summer. And as long as we can watch hockey the world is okay. (Then they have to leave the train) young man (20): We have to be carful with our CO2-emissions, but since Switzerland ist such a small country, we can't change much anyway. But the industrialized countries should reduce their CO2-emissions. Fish, trees and animals are endangered. elderly couple (70): We are afraid of the future and hope that the predicitions won't come true. Possible consequences could be storms, strong winds and a higher sealevel (not in Switzerland =)). woman (50): The climate change is a terrible thing but at the moment I'm not really thinking about it. young man (20): Shit, we should protect the natural world we live in! There will be storms, the glaciers will melt and the treeline will rise. woman (35): It's terrible and I'm shocked that the predictions are about to come true. the glaciers will melt and it's already getting hotter. Lena, Simone, Martina and Lukas

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

Our Answer: a) The article says that the climate change is almost irreversible - no matter how much we reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide. b) According to the article, there is no solution. c) It was only a small article. d) and e) see Gian's articles a) The main problem that the article mentions are that there will be more droughts, storms and floods. In the following six years, about 375 million people will be endangered. b) Especially the rich countries now have to solve the climate problem. The international help system that is provided when there is a natural disaster should be organized differently. In addition, the help organisation Oxfam wants the money that is given for the international help system per year to be risen from 14.2 billion dollars to 41 billion dollars. c) It was a quite long article. d) and e) see Gian's articles a) Due to the rising temperatures, the harvest of corn and rice in tropic areas will decrease and will be decreased further by the drought and by the water shortage. This will lead to a massive food shortage for half of the world. c) They wanted to shock the people so that they would change something. a) Soot and sulfate aerosols have an impact on the climate in the arctic regions. The sulfate content in the air has been decreasing which has lead to higher temperatures, because the sulfate particles would reflect the sun rays. The temperatures have been increasing further because of the larger soot content in the air. b) The soot emissions should be lowered by means of soot filters. The sulfate emissions have already been decreased which had negative consequences on the temperature. That’s why some scientists proposed to increase the sulfate emissions again. However, that’s dangerous because sulfate has a certain toxicity. c) The aim of that article wasn’t in the first place to shock people, but to inform them about the fact that emissions have a direct impact on the temperature. a) Too much CO2 is emitted per person in the city of Zurich. One of the reasons is the amount of traffic. b) The percentage of renewable energy is supposed to increase to lower the CO2 emissions. (Annually one ton per person) c) Too much CO2 is emitted but we can change that. a) Coral reef and rain forests react more sensitively than assumed at first. b) The government has to introduce new programs. c) We have to react. If not, nature will be destroyed forever. Eric, Mattia, Gian and Joey

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

Our Answer: Our emotions We have different feelings about the topic climate change, anger, responsibility, hope, indifference and sadness. In a way we are angry because part of it is our fault, but we know that we cannot change a lot as a little dot on this earth. We feel responsibility towards our world and we are absolutely aware of the fact that change is necessary. Some people should change their way of living and not just say „devil-may-care“. Our hope is that we can find an alternative energy source without any emissions and bad effects and that this can be converted in all countries. We think indifference with regard to climate change is a very bad attitude and everybody should feel responsible for what is being done to our environment. We are sad about the situation we are in and about the bad future prospects as far as this topic is concerned. Lara, Yuri, Sophie

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