The biggest problem facing our civilisation

Berlin. The change in the world’s climate, which is constantly becoming clearer, “is the biggest problem that our civilization has ever been confronted with,” said Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the British Government, in an “urgent call” that is now being published. A collective international reaction is required immediately, in order to prevent the catastrophic consequences of this disastrous development. If no consistent action is taken right away, said King, “then it will have an effect lasting several centuries.”

King, whose main task for many years has been slowing down climate change, will be one of the keynote speakers at the conference “The Climate is Changing – Facts, Consequences, Perspectives”, which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in Berlin. In addition to King, there will be, among others, the international best-selling author Tim Flannery from Australia (“The Weather Makers“), the climate researcher Mojib Latif and Jiahua Pan from the Research Center for Sustainable Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. They will discuss the latest findings from research and ways and methods to prevent a disastrous climate change.

Antoine-Marie Moustache, Advisor to the Seychelles Ministry of the Environment, wants to point out to the participants in the conference the devastating consequences of climate change for the island paradise in the Pacific Ocean.

The business people, politicians and scientists who attend, including the renowned director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, John Schellnhuber, will on the last day of the conference adopt a “Berlin Declaration”, which will specify the suitable preventive measures and call on politicians, business people and the general public to take effective action.

Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel will also speak at the climate conference, which was organised by the electric utility company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG. The American Vice President, Al Gore, will appear live via a video link. Gore, who has long stood for ecological policies, presented his climate film “An Inconvenient Truth” in Cannesnot so long ago. The film, which is doing very well at the box office in the US and is due to screen in Germany in October, describes in a sobering manner the fatal consequences of climate change.