1. a)
1: Most of the people we asked, answered, that we should take the climate change really seriously. Although we can’t see the consequences right now, it’s very important, that people take counter measures against the climate change right now, because later it might be too late. The climate change is clearly caused by human beings and not only by cows or termites. We think that every country should work against it and we are really disappointed by the USA and China, that they didn’t join the Kyoto-Protocol.
2. The consequences would affect our agriculture and our economy. The climate change would impair the tourism in our plenty ski-regions.
⇒ The glaciers are already melting
⇒ There will be more floods
⇒ Fewer tourists, which come for skiing or snowboarding, because the snowline will rise.
⇒ The Permafrost disappears more and more and the consequences are stone pits and things in the stone (like elevators) will loosen.
⇒ In the winter there will be more precipitations → more erosion
⇒ Ticks are going to spread in the whole country.
1. b) In our opinion, all these answers are correct. And we see that people deal with the climate change.
2.
a) The flora and fauna will be affected – and it is already. The people who will suffer most from the climate change will be the poor of the world. Loss of property caused by natural catastrophes will be huge and the costs will be enormous. China, India and Bangladesh will be flooded and millions of people will lose their home and death will appear. Because of the floods in coastal areas the crops will drop out and many people will suffer from hunger. It’s possible that illnesses will spread, for example Malaria.
b) We should save on crude oil as good as we can, and we should use renewable energies (like wind, water, sun, tide, geothermic warmth, and so on..). All the people should use the car less often and it’s useful to separate the garbage.
c) It’s constantly mentioned in newspapers and on television but it’s not the number one priority.
d) None
e) “It’s important to act.” The message is short and precise.
3a)
Anger:
• We get less snow, but nobody does anything against it.
• We are angry about the USA and China, because they don‘t do anything against the climate change.
• We are angry about the people who don’t want to accept the climate change and don’t do anything against it.
• I’m angry when I think about the people who don’t care of their children’s future. These people think that they are already dead when the climate change is extreme and that the world disappears and so they don’t worry about that.
• Nobody seems to be willing to start improving the situation.
Responsibility:
• We feel responsible for our planet. It’s our responsibility to care for this world so that the next 100 generations can live here too.
• Many people think that changes of their habits won‘t change anything, because they seem to be the only ones that do so.
• I think everyone should feel responsible for the climate change and not just say: "Why should I care about the people in other countries?"
• We have to take responsibility about the consequences of the climate change.
• If we don’t do anything, there will be no improvement.
Hope:
• We hope that we can do something, we hope that we don’t destroy this planet, we hope that all countries realize how bad the situation is and what we have to do about it. But if every person changes some habits, it will have a significant influence on the climate change, which then raises hope for other people.
• We hope that we can stop the climate change, but we know that hope isn’t enough and we should do something.
• We hope that everybody will contribute to stop climate change. And that everybody will start to think about the consequences.
Indifference:
• We don’t like the people who don’t care about the climate change.
• Some people don’t care about the climate change, because they think that this topic is used by the mass media for scaring the people.
• We should forget the differences between the nations and really try to preserve our climate.
• There exists indifference because nobody does something. And nobody is aware about the consequences.
3b)
We feel responsibility, we feel consternation (girls) and indifference (boys). We feel helplessness because we don’t know what to do and we can’t change anything on our own.
The emotion of “I have to do something” or fear of the uncertainty about what will happen in the future appears.
Responsibility, even if we don’t do much to improve the situation. We think everybody should take responsibility now.
4. Everybody knows that the climate is changing and this is a very serious problem. We have to act right now. Because if we don’t change this now, the situation will become worse and it could be too late. Every single one of us can help to rescue life on earth, it’s everybody’s business.
Now it is your turn to compile the questions 5 until 8. Carefully consider the best way of posing the questions in order to gain the best possible insight into the everyday views of your partner class.
There are so many good ideas but most of them are really expensive. We have heard of an idea to absorb the CO2 like the plants do this and then to save it in e.g. stones. But we don’t know if this would really work. And what is when the storage is full?
The wind turbine which you want to have is probably the best idea we think of.
We could also drive less with cars and use more public transports. Or we could use more of environment-friendly electric bulbs. We think that we can do a lot of small things, which may change something. But it’s difficult if not everyone participates, that these actions function.
On the one hand, we think it’s perfectly sensible, because Switzerland isn’t a big country and wind energy could power big parts of it. On the other hand, in many regions of Switzerland there is not so much wind to actuate windmills. The Swiss would invest more money into it than they would get back.
Of course it’s also sensible because of the fact that it’s alternative energy, but that should be promoted in every country, not only in Switzerland.
Basically, only a few parts of Switzerland could be used for wind power stations. In Switzerland, we already have got 23 small and three big windmill-powered plants. We also have got a wind farm, which produces a lot of energy.
Some wind power stations are in the region of the Jura (western part of Switzerland) and some projects are in the high Alps as well, but some landscape protection organizations fight against it. Because Switzerland is so densely populated, it is difficult to find a suitable area for wind power stations. In general, we think, the idea of producing electricity by wind energy could still be further developed and be applied much more often.
(no answer yet)
9a)
We think they wouldn’t do anything different, because the human race is too lazy to change anything. And most people aren’t changing anything now, so why would they do it in the past if they knew what would happen?
But if we could decide what to do, we would probably save on crude oil as good as we can, and we would use renewable energies (like wind, water, sun, tide, geothermic warmth, and so on) as much as we can.
9b)
Nature gives us everything we have, therefore we really should care about what’s good for the nature and shouldn’t exploit it.
a) We’d like to have a happy life with a lot of friends and a good education.
b) If we take a look at the problems from the whole world (oil, forest, wildlife, nature) then all people are responsible for the future. We can’t choose it.
But in our situation we think the answer is yes, but just because we have got a good education because we’re at college, we can do every job.
c) The world takes lot of decisions for us, so we think that there are mostly other people who influence us.
a) We like doing sports everyone to his or her own taste. We also like to read a good book or watch a movie. Some of us really enjoy fishing. This is how we get in balance with our everyday life. The nature gives us power and a kind of happiness, which we don’t find somewhere else. Because of the climate change many fishes will die and this hobby will become history. We absolutely detest this imagination.
b) We try to do them in our free time every day because we would miss it. Sometimes we have to pay for it. So, if we don’t have money, we won’t do it.
Now it’s your turn to compile the questions 12 until 16. Carefully consider the best way of posing questions in order to gain the best possible insight into the everyday views and lifestyle of society around you, and what is changing.
No, of course not! Especially now we can’t relax! It’s a good signal that the emissions dropped back half in 2008, but if they dropped in such a short time, they can also grow fast and we are on the same point again. We think that it’s easier to continue the dropping than to relax now and later have to solve very big problems. There are still many things, which need to be done. If we would sit back and relax, we would loose, what we love: our nature.
(no answer yet)
In Switzerland we have about 40’000 native animals, of which 30’000 are insects. There are only 83 mammals. For example lynxes, badgers, marmots, wolves and red foxes. We also have many birds and some owls. There are snakes as well. For example the common viper or the grass snake. Because Switzerland is an inland there aren’t any animals that only occur here. We presume, New Zealand as an island must have more specific animals, than we have here.
Yes there are endangered animals. We know that the beavers, lynxes, some kind of birds for example the little owl and a lot of bats are threatened with extinction. Many predators and many raptors disappeared from Switzerland’s forests. Back in the days they were domestic all over Switzerland. Because of the deforestation and other factors caused by human beings they totally disappeared. Nowadays there are again, for instance, some lynxes and wolves in Switzerland.
We have to change our way of living totally. Big industries or even whole countries would be ruined, for example oil refinery or Iran. Mainly poor countries, which produce oil, would be ruined. We are afraid, it woud be a great mess, because the oil wouldn’t run out in all countries at the same time, so it’s possible that there would be an „Oil War“. Many things wouldn’t work without oil and the sciences had really to work hard in order to find alternatives to oil.
a) This place is next to our school. There is simply a lot of grass, but in the summer when it’s warm, you can sit there, eat something and just enjoy the nature and the sun!
b) You certainly know Roger Federer, no? He impresses us, because he is still down-to-earth, although he is a tennis-champion.
a) When the water flooded over the bank of a river near our house, there were a lot of people who helped the victims to tidy up their houses after the flooding. And before the flooding they helped stopping the water as well as it was possible.
b) It means that the people's solidarity is important for climate protection. Everyone should help protect the climate, as they would help other people in their surrounding.
Once again, it’s your turn to present the questions 19 until 23: Compile 5 additional questions, suitable for people in your partner class to use, for example, in an interview with people on the street or people they know. Questions you really want to learn more about in order to get a good overall picture of the situation in your partner class.
(no answer yet)
Of course it would be a problem, but not such a huge one, because we think our country would be perfectly able to nourish itself. We have a lot of resources, which assure us enough food, but we would have to do without some goods, such as sea-fish or exotic fruits for example.
We would get much less fruits, though. Because Switzerland itself only produces apples, pears, cherries, the supply season would be shorter than now. There would also be a smaller variety of vegetables. We would be dependent on our own farmers and if we had a longer period of bad weather for our fields, the harvest wouldn’t leave much to eat.
After all, we would have a more one-sided nutrition.
We think the world is similar to an island because it’s limited.
You can have an own, isolated ecosystem on an island with different species like on a continent. There can be a whole civilization on an island which functions without any help from outside. For them, their island may be all they know, so it's their "world".
If we would use more natural forces (sun, wind, water), then the world wouldn’t break down as fast as it does now. We should respect nature and wildlife and not destroy them!
We think that it’s really important to go to elections, so we can decide which direction of politics will go on. It’s also essential that we try to raise our awareness of the nature and we respect the environment as a thing which won’t exists for ever if we don’t change. Just then we can start changing the right way and leave our cars in garage and take the bicycle to school.
© Copyright 2012 myclimate - All rights reserved - hotstuff.chillout
myclimate.org
A project by myclimate – The Climate Protection Partnership
More information on www.myclimate.org