July 04, 2023
UfU has been running the project(KlimaGesichter) together with the German Climate Foundation since 2019. For many people, especially in wealthy Western countries, the phenomenon of climate change is still an abstract phenomenon that will happen in the future and only affects them indirectly. Even though we are now also feeling the direct consequences of climate change in Europe, climate change often still seems too far away to really generate emotions and motivate people to take action. This is problematic in that we should act before the effects of climate change are so severe that they force us to act quickly. There is still some time to plan the transformation in the long term and without major systemic disruptions. However, there are countries around the world that are already feeling the consequences of climate change to an extent that is leading to the loss of their homes and subsequent displacement. In our ClimateFaces project, we work with people who have felt the effects of climate change in their home country and have left their homeland due to the direct or indirect impact. By training these people to become qualified climate ambassadors, climate change can be communicated in a new way, making it understandable for people who have previously felt little or no impact from climate change. As part of the project, our deputy head of department Dr. Christoph Herrler was interviewed to tell us more about the project.