Come on! What we need to change if we want to stay.

This is what the lecture is about:
“We have enough knowledge to make the necessary changes to preserve the world.”
In its first, globally acclaimed report on the state of humanity (“The Limits to Growth”, 1972), the Club of Rome predicted that the world system would collapse in the next 50 years if no action was taken. The new major report (“It’s our turn”, 2018) offers a radical update. Ernst von Weizsäcker provided the architecture of the book and edited the bold texts of over thirty Club of Rome members. Part 1 of the book diagnoses that today’s trends are anything but sustainable. Part 2 calls for a profound rethink, beyond short-term optimization. Part 3 then invites us on an exciting journey into the future: regenerative economy instead of resource guzzling, climate-neutral energy economy, agriculture with nature instead of against it, ecological urban development and redevelopment, regulation of the financial markets, circular economy, participation of civil society, new benchmarks for success instead of a mere turnover race. And everywhere the necessary policy corrections. The report is written in English (“Come On!”, 2018), but has been translated into Chinese, German, Spanish and Japanese. It’s our turn means: it’s our turn, but if we do badly, then “it’s our turn”!

The world needs a new enlightenment!

More prosperity and much less consumption of nature are compatible!

There are great opportunities for a recovering environment!

This is what the lecture is about:
The technology of the recovering world will be very different from that of yesterday. First of all, efficiency. Weizsäcker’s book “Factor Five” – written with Australian co-authors – shows how the four major economic sectors of industry, buildings, transportation and agriculture can become five times more efficient in their use of energy, water and raw materials. The required climate neutrality by 2050 suddenly becomes feasible – without any loss of prosperity. Of course, the political framework must be designed in such a way that profits are made with the right things, not the destructive ones. The “passive house” invented in Germany is a prime example: with additional solar energy on the roof, it produces more energy than it consumes. Soils rich in humus make small-scale agriculture a friend of nature and the climate again. And digitalization can help to recover raw materials almost completely. With this strategy, Europe can once again become a world leader in technology. This is how Ursula von der Leyen’s Green New Deal should be understood.

This is what the lecture is about:
Sustainable energy policy in a crowded world – can our planet still be saved? Yes, if we learn to use energy, raw materials and land efficiently and frugally and finally stabilize the population. This is not possible with the old ways of thinking of overexploitation, avarice, short-term utility and merciless competition. Pope Francis also says something like this.

Today’s world needs nothing less than a new enlightenment. It is not yet too late. Long-term thinking, balance instead of dogmatism, ecologically honest prices are part of it. The new major Club of Rome report edited by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker entitled “It’s our turn” devotes the central section to this new enlightenment. However, half of the book is then full of political and practical proposals on how to use the new ways of thinking to avoid the great collapse of the world.