Heidelberg (dpa / lsw) – From the point of view of an expert, the drastic warning from UN Secretary-General António Guterres of a “climate hell” should not be dismissed as alarmism. “The formulation makes a reversal seem possible and calls for action,” said Philipp Schrögel from the Heidelberg Käte Hamburger College for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies.
Guterres said at the World Climate Conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt: “We’re on the highway to climate hell – with our foot on the accelerator.” Schrögel emphasized: “So we can still take our foot off the gas, even if some groups are talking about scaremongering and using this as an excuse for doing nothing.”
Guterres, for example, called for a “climate solidarity pact” between wealthy countries and emerging and developing countries. He does not see a fatalism along the lines of “it’s all too late anyway” as a logical consequence of the Secretary General’s statements, said the researcher in the field of science communication.
The metaphor “Kimahölle” stands in the tradition of the term “Hothouse Earth” which was coined by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Schrögel cannot imagine a fight against global warming without criticizing capitalism with its belief in unlimited growth and inexhaustible prosperity and the ruthless exploitation of natural resources. “Social and ecological steps are inseparable and must not be played off against each other.”
At the Heidelberg institute, ten permanent researchers and just as many guest scientists from all over the world are working on the apocalypse in literature, astronomy, history and film.
