Climate School Conference premiere led by students from four European countries 14. November 2023

Committed to climate protection
Pupils show solutions for climate change
What is the difference between weather and climate, what are the consequences of climate change and what could possible solutions look like? Over the past few weeks, pupils from Franz-Stock-Realschule in Hövelhof, together with three ERASMUS partner schools in Spain, Iceland and Denmark and experts, have been working intensively on the topic of climate protection. They have now presented the results to their fellow pupils at the first ClimateSchoolCongress. The premiere of the ClimateParentsEvening was followed by a presentation for parents, grandparents and all interested citizens.
The three pupils Erna Liekmeyer, Lorena Blome and Mia Mock moderated the programme.
Mr Welschmeier, headmaster of Franz-Stock-Realschule, began by welcoming all those present and thanked everyone involved for preparing the event. In particular, the teachers Christina Bömelburg, Britta Schindewolf and Anett von Gernet contributed significantly to the success of the event.
As an introduction, the trailer for the film Home illustrated the enormous impact of mankind on the earth. In just 50 years, mankind has changed the earth more than all previous generations put together.
Meteorologist Friedrich Föst explained the difference between climate and weather with vivid examples. While "weather" describes the fact that the sun shines or it rains, "climate" describes what the weather looks like over a long period of time. The expert also used local developments to illustrate climate change in Hövelhof. "Temperatures of well over 40 degrees will be normal for a summer in Hövelhof in 2050," he predicted during his presentation. Climate change has already led to the almost complete loss of the spruce forest and will pose particular challenges for agriculture in the future.
The students invited climate protection manager Moritz Pucker, an expert from the municipality, for an interview. He has been responsible for climate protection for two years now and has already noticed changes during this time. For example, cycling and e-mobility have increased and there has been a noticeable rise in demand for sustainable products. Pucker sees the greatest challenges in not losing sight of climate protection and integrating it into everyday activities. Measures from the climate protection concept should make an important contribution to climate protection in Hövelhof over the next few years. These include, in particular, the expansion of a safe everyday cycle network, municipal heat planning and the energy optimisation of municipal buildings, as Pucker explained.
The next item on the programme was an explanation of the carbon footprint by students Tristan Horthemke and Lars Plonka, who illustrated the impact of each individual's actions. We didn't realise how many emissions every German produces every year," said Lars Plonka. The CO2 footprint represents the total amount of CO2e emissions caused by a person, company or organisation, explains Tristan Horsthemke. The student foreign correspondents from the ERASMUS partner schools in Barcelona in Spain, Østbirk in Denmark and Reykjavik in Iceland then report on the different CO2 footprints. The partner schools also addressed the topic of climate protection and were thus able to report on the various local effects.
The young presenters asked Sascha Gödecke, Head of Municipal Consultancy at Westfalen Weser Energie, about climate protection in the region. He reported on Westfalen Weser Energie's activities in the area of climate protection and also on the challenges. In addition to the necessary investments, motivated specialists are needed above all to drive forward the energy transition.
Pupils Celina Schmidt and Hannah Klassen gave an insight into the topic of green architecture with a video they had made themselves and illustrated the influence of factory farming on climate change.
What could our school look like in 2030? Pupils Elias Hellmann, Maximilian Lutz and Steven Wins looked into this question. During a discussion, the pupils presented their ideas for more greenery on and around the building, improved public transport connections and waste avoidance.
+++ The original version of the interviews with the pupils from all three European schools can be found on RUclips @StreamForFuture here: (Click)
The company Get People Nachhaltige Kommunikation from Bad Salzuflen was responsible for the technical implementation and organisational preparation.
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The ElternKlimaAbend was streamed live. The recording can be found here • ElternKlimaAbend / Par...