GLOBUS student days: Think global, act local?
University of Tübingen hosted a student event on climate justice and its consequences on 28 January 2020.
Climate change has strong implications for global justice in direct and immediate ways. While it impacts all parts of the globe, it affects those already most vulnerable considerably more. At the same time, this is a challenge where individual action is often futile. We have to act collectively in order to resolve the problem.
Moreover, climate change is probably the clearest example of how the global and the local are mutually dependent on each other. It is not possible to find just solutions without taking into consideration the interests and values of communities beyond one's own borders. The GLOBUS student day brought together voices from academia, politics, civil society and local businesses to discuss what it means to think global and act local.
Programme
16:15 | Keynote speech
- Chukwumerije Okereke, Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Development in Nigeria and member of the IPCC
17:00 | Discussion and Q&A
17:30 | Ceremony for the best poster award
17:45 | Reception
18:15 Roundtable discussion
Chair: Thomas Diez, GLOBUS
- Silian Frische, FridaysforFuture
- Jessica Maudrich, myclimate Deutschland
- Boris Palmer, Mayor, Tübingen
- Thomas Potthast, International Center for Ethicsin the Sciences and Humanities
- Walter Schoefer, Stuttgart Airport
19:30 | End of programme
Event summary
After a brief welcome and introduction by Dr. Franz von Lucke, the event commenced with a keynote lecture by Professor Chukwumerije Okereke on the ‘Global South and Climate Justice’. A member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Development (Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria), Okereke argued that the global South and African countries in particular are disproportionately affected by the consequences of climate change. He also pointed to procedural injustices in international negotiations and urged European countries to keep their pledges to the Green Climate Fund.
Watch a video of the keynote speech (www.uni-tuebingen.de)
During the subsequent reception, students presented posters, which they had developed as part of a seminar on climate justice. Topics ranged from air flight taxation over food security to discussions of the effort sharing approach. Four students were awarded prizes for their posters and are invited to take part in the final GLOBUS student day in Bologna in May 2020. The winners eere: Tayla Jansen, Moritz Kollmer, Toni Mey and Theresa Ogando.
The day ended with a panel discussion by local actors on what it means to 'think global and act local'. The panellists were Silian Frische (Fridays for Future Tübingen), Jessica Maudrich (myclimate Deutschland, carbon offsetting firm), Boris Palmer (Mayor, Tübingen), Thomas Potthast (Professor at the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities) and Walter Schoefer (Stuttgart Airport). Chaired by Professor Thomas Diez (GLOBUS), the discussion addressed various issues, such as the opportunities and limitations of individual and local action for climate justice, local climate protection measures in Tübingen and the prospects of democratic climate politics in times of crisis.
GLOBUS student days
This event is a part of the GLOBUS student days, a series of events that will take place at five of the GLOBUS partner universities throughout 2019 and 2020. The events will bring up questions about the EU's global role in the fields migration, climate change, trade and development, cooperation and conflict, and gender issues.
Upcoming events as well as event summaries will be posted on the event website in due time.
