Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Campus Magazin 23/24
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“We must finally realize that<br />
climate protection, nature<br />
conservation and environmental<br />
protection are synonymous with<br />
the protection of humankind“<br />
A conversation with Dr. Udo Engelhardt<br />
ON 4 JULY 20<strong>23</strong>, THE<br />
RENOWNED MARINE<br />
BIOLOGIST AND CLIMATE<br />
IMPACT RESEARCHER DR. UDO<br />
ENGELHARDT GAVE A PUBLIC<br />
LECTURE ON THE TOPIC "ONE<br />
WORLD, ONE CLIMATE AND<br />
ONE (LAST) CHANCE - WELCO-<br />
ME TO THE DECADE OF DECI-<br />
SION" AT THE FILMAKADEMIE<br />
BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG. THE<br />
ORGANIZERS WERE FABW<br />
AND CAMPUS FOR FUTURE<br />
LUDWIGSBURG. WE WERE<br />
ABLE TO TALK TO HIM BEFORE<br />
THE EVENT.<br />
Dear Udo, what exactly are<br />
the „climatic tipping points“<br />
you keep referring to?<br />
Tipping points are irreversible matters.<br />
If, for example, the entire ice<br />
sheet that lies on Greenland were to<br />
melt, then this volume of ice alone<br />
would cause the sea level worldwide<br />
to rise by six to seven metres.<br />
That would take many years,<br />
but the melting process has already<br />
begun on a large scale. In addition,<br />
the white armour of ice and snow<br />
would then be missing. It ensures<br />
that solar energy is reflected back<br />
into space, especially in the summer<br />
months, and is not stored in<br />
our atmosphere. This factor alone<br />
can cause 0.2-0.3 degrees of additional<br />
warming.<br />
It is true that such processes have<br />
existed in the past. But we have<br />
turned on the turbo, no one can<br />
keep up. The warming and all the<br />
mechanisms we are pushing right<br />
now are going about 10-20 times<br />
faster than in the past. That‘s what<br />
makes it so hard to adapt to this<br />
change.<br />
Another example is permafrost.<br />
Due to warming, this upper frozen<br />
layer of soil in the Arctic has<br />
already partially thawed. The oxygen<br />
allows water to penetrate into<br />
the deeper layers, and underneath<br />
lies pure carbon, fossil remains of<br />
forests millions of years old. These<br />
are now beginning to thaw. Methane,<br />
CO2 and other climate-damaging<br />
gases are also released in the<br />
process. When this melting process<br />
has progressed too far, we can<br />
no longer stop it. The same applies<br />
to ocean currents like the Gulf<br />
Stream, which can no longer flow<br />
in the same direction or come to a<br />
standstill. All these things would be<br />
catastrophic tipping points in the<br />
system.<br />
Maybe not globally yet, but on a<br />
regional level all these processes<br />
have already started. This is a really<br />
stark warning signal. Within the<br />
next few years we will exceed 1.5<br />
degrees of warming, that is already<br />
certain. Most global tipping points<br />
are between 1.5 and 2 degrees average<br />
warming. So we will get into<br />
that danger zone in the foreseeable<br />
future. And if we don‘t massively<br />
reduce emissions, we will exceed it,<br />
and this will be a point of no return.<br />
Then all we can do is watch the system<br />
drive itself further and further<br />
into extreme temperature ranges to<br />
which humans cannot adapt. So tipping<br />
points are an extremely important<br />
issue.<br />
How did the system get so out<br />
of balance?<br />
The best way to explain it is through<br />
the concept of the carbon budget:<br />
Around our planet there is a closed<br />
cycle of carbon and water, a fixed<br />
amount that has been in constant<br />
exchange between living and dead<br />
elements for millions of years. We<br />
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