John Schellnhuber - Urban Talk at Camp

transferred from squarespace

15th Novemeber 2024

I attended a talk with John Schellnhuber at CAMP, not knowing who he was, only enticed by the description of the talk:

What are the biggest challenges in the fight against climate change that affect the way we live in cities? And how can science and diplomacy bridge political divides and accelerate global transformation? John Schellnhuber, world-renowned climate scientist and pioneer of interdisciplinary research, will offer answers. As IIASA's new Director General, he will present his vision for a sustainable future that focuses on innovative solutions to environmental challenges and transformative change towards a more just and sustainable society.

John starts off with a slide with a picture of Albert Einstein’s summer house in Caputh, built with a simple timber modular structure and then proceeds to talk about his admiration for the Bauhaus movement, already alluding to the potential solution of the problem and his career progression slowly moving towards the built environment. Bauhaus emerged in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century; it marries aesthetic design and functionality. I personally am a big fan of modern architecture for its simple forms and high functionality, effective use of materials, and simple design, which to me is aesthetically pleasing.

Concrete has been used in construction since ancient times, but its use has surged with the beginning of industrialisation. It became an essential material used in the Bauhaus movement, for its versatility, strength, and again, aesthetic. Historically, concrete was a big contributor and, in the most literal sense, the foundation of buildings and large-scale infrastructure, and its use has been transformative in many positive ways. However, today we know that the production and use of concrete is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions. The built environment itself is responsible for 40% of global emissions, makes up 55% of waste in developed countries, and uses 90% of mineral resources in Germany. Recent studies also show that concrete is the largest anthropogenic (man-made) mass.

These figures suggest that there is a big opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint in this sector, as John argues as well. The solution presented is to focus on removing carbon from the atmosphere in the next 200 years by leaning in on the solar energy transition momentum, reforesting areas of the world, and re-timbering the city, avoiding robust geo-engineering and further R&D. By “re-organifying” the built environment, buildings can become a living part of the ecosystem. Inspiration can be drawn from vernacular architecture; industrialization and globalisation have homogenised buildings and taken away many elements of passed-on knowledge.

Climate scientists often talk about mitigation, not that it is not important, but adaptation is a more pressing issue, as the global mean temperature is already approaching the critical 1.5°C threshold outlined that we should not cross in the Paris Agreement. John goes on and presents how extreme weather conditions are created, how some sort of stream has increased the level of precipitation, to which I am making as many notes as possible to wrap my head around it. (Leaving all details that I do not feel qualified to explain, perhaps another time). The point is climate change is not an isolated issue and it still baffles me how its impact is still minimised and underestimated. To many, climate change still feels like an abstract concept that might happen in the future. This year has recorded another set of record-breaking temperature levels AGAIN and has impacted many European regions. Most recently, floods in Valencia, where floods were recorded in the past. However, the issue with climate change is, in fact, the lack of predictability of change in weather and the magnitude that our cities are not adapted to. Valencia was prepared to some extent, they moved their entire river away from the city center to the south, therefore mostly the suburbs were damaged. However, this does not seem like a viable solution to many cities.

My assumption was that western governments did not care enough because it is known that LEDCs will be impacted first. Now that Spain and many countries in Central Europe have experienced these floods, the threats are closer than we might think. Resilience measures might include making cities more porous or upgrading sewage systems, yet no single solution can address the complexities of climate change. As a result of climate change, we will experience more extreme weather changes. Longer summers and warmer months feel great, but how about food shortages due to agricultural disruptions, water scarcity? Water, the essential element we need to survive, the molecule that makes up 70% of our bodies? What about air quality? And while climate disruptions might feel abstract to some, their cascading effects will become inescapable.

One set of data that should be highlighted is that Africa is expected to experience the biggest population growth in the upcoming decades, due to high birth rates and young demographics. Currently, many of the metropoles in Africa have not gone through major infrastructural transformation, which leaves a lot of opportunities to build these cities sustainably with the current knowledge that we have. In contrast, retrofitting infrastructure in developed nations involves higher costs and bureaucratic hurdles.

My follow-up thoughts on this:

Climate change is first and foremost a humanity and human-induced problem as we are dependent on a stable climate. The world without humans would restore back to its natural state eventually. As someone who is interested in sustainability, climate change, and the built environment, I have created a small bubble consisting of like-minded individuals who do understand the impact and potential threats. On the other hand, I have another bubble where I have yet to convince everyone to start recycling and not buy a new gadget each year right after the release date. This disparity fascinates me—why do people differ so much in their awareness and comfort with such a pressing issue? While most acknowledge climate change’s implications, it’s human nature to avoid uncomfortable truths and defer hard decisions. The same way I am still refusing to believe that Donald Trump has become the US president—again.

When asked about practical solutions, John proposed establishing a parallel network of professionals, independent of governments, to spearhead meaningful action. So what do we do about this as individuals, as a community, as a nation, as humanity? I think people who are deep into this topic have very idealistic ideas of how we can slow down climate change and even revert back to pre-industrial levels. The status quo is not good enough; do we fight the system or work alongside it? Does change come bottom-up or top-down? Can we expect an average person to shift to a more sustainable lifestyle that is currently not quite accessible? Being green is to some extent still a privilege. Can we expect corporations to slow down their growth and reduce their revenues and expect the government to impose stricter policies, sanctions when a lot of the money does come from companies that drive the economy, which have a large carbon footprint, whether it's because of their practices, their product, or actual size? How do you incentivise cities and local governments to choose accordingly? What careers can we pick to drive the world to a better change yet live a life that is comfortable to us? These are the questions I find myself grappling with, striving to balance realism with the ideals necessary for transformative change.