The Great Transformation: Climate Change – Can we beat the Heat?

The progressing climate change cannot be denied. If our societies are supposed to function smoothly in fifty years’ time, we have to learn and practice sustainable living and management. For this purpose scientists, politicans and citizens need to act jointly. This book illustrates the central ideas in the form of a comic. After all, everybody needs to know a thing or two about what can be done easily to stop the climate change!

In the face of climate change, species’ extinction and the shortage of resources awareness is growing that we simply cannot maintain our current lifestyle. We have to drastically reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and we have to learn a sustainable management. Nine independent scientists forming an advisory body appointed by the German federal Government have compiled how this is supposed to work. In the form of comic interviews with each expert, the great transformation is being described from completely different angles. Ultimately, earth and climate science, economy and technology, politics and everyday culture have to act in concert in order to accomplish the inevitable great transformation.

The experts

Nine scientists, all of them authorities on their particular field, form the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Interviews with these experts have been turned into comics that illustrate their core statements.

• The Physicist Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and chairman of the WBGU. Besides conducting and reviewing numerous international programmes, he has worked at Oxford University, the University of East Anglia, Norwich/UK as well as the Santa Fe Institute. He is a Research Fellow of the Royal Society and has been awarded the title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
• Prof. Dr. Reinhold Leinfelder is Full Professor, chair of Invertebrate Palaeontology and Geobiology, Working Group Geobiology and Anthropocene Research, Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität, Berlin. He is a member of the Working Group „Credible Biodiversity Targets“ of the European Academies Science Advisory Council and affilliated Carson Professor at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Ludwigs-Maximilians University, Munich.
• Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf, Professor for Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University, is also head of the ‪Earth System Analysis‬ Department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Furthermore he acted as Scientist at the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute and was conferred the 1 million dollar Centennial Fellowship Award of the James S. McDonnell foundation (USA) in 1999.
• The economist Prof. Dr. Renate Schubert lectures Economics at ETH Zurich and is Head of the Advisory Board of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. She holds memberships in various advisory councils in Switzerland, Germany and the USA, such as the Advisory Board of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions
 Columbia University, New York.
• The lawyer Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlacke lectures Public Law at Bremen University and is Executive Director of the Research Centre for European Environmental Law. She formerly worked as Visiting Scholar at the Duke University, School of Law, Durham, North Carolina (USA). Today she serves as scientific consultant and assessor for various committees.
• Prof. Dr. Nebojša Nakicenovic is Economist and Professor of Energy Economics at the Vienna University of Technology. He has been studying in Princeton University, New Jersey, USA and the University of Vienna.
• The solitical scientist Prof. Dr. Claus Leggewie lectures Political Science at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. His focus of research is Climate Culture. He formerly worked as visiting professor at the Université Paris-Nanterre and was first incumbent of the Max Weber Chair at New York University.
• The late Aerospace Engineer Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmid was the former director of Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES in Kassel. He was the founding president of the European Academy of Wind Energy and has been awarded the European Grand Prix Innovation Award 2006.
• Political scientist Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is director of the German Development Institute, Bonn and lectures at universities in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Honduras. In addition, he participates in numerous research activities in Latin America and Asia and is member of various international boards such as the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

The editors

Alexandra Hamann and Claudia Zea-Schmidt came up with the idea for this book. Together with Reinhold Leinfelder from the WBGU they developed the concept and wrote the scenarios.

• Media designer Alexandra Hamann runs an agency for educational media in Berlin.
• Communications scientist Claudia Zea-Schmidt conceives projects for print, radio and tv.
• Geologist and geobiologist Prof. Dr. Reinhold Leinfelder researches and lectures at the Earth Science Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin.

The illustrators

A selected team of gifted illustrators has come together to put the comics skilfully in scene.

• Jörg Hartmann studied illustration and graphic arts. Drawing comics belongs to his personal passions.
• Jörg Hülsmann studied illustration. He works in the same studio as Iris Ugurel. The artists frequently work together on projects.
• Studio Nippoldt: The illustrator Christine Goppel and the video artist Astrid Nippoldt work together with graphic artist Robert Nippoldt.

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