Great interest in Humboldt Lecture

On April 27, 2018, the Public Relations Office, acting on behalf of the Rector, launched a raffle that generated immense interest. The prize: two tickets each for the Humboldt Lecture on May 3, 2018, at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz. Rector Prof. Friedrich Albrecht had sponsored 25 of these exclusive, limited-edition tickets.

The renowned environmental and futures scholar Prof. Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker presented the Club of Rome’s new report as part of the Humboldt Lecture. “The Full World Demands a Fundamental Shift in Thinking” was the title of his lecture, in which he addressed the impacts of global population growth.

Here, two lucky winners of the raffle share their experiences from the event.

Christian Freidhoff

I usually get regular messages telling me that I’ve won something. Cars, money, and vacations to faraway countries are mine for the taking—I just have to transfer a small processing fee in advance or provide my credit card number. So it was all the more delightful that the HSZG team from the Public Relations Office informed me that I had won two tickets to Prof. Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker’s lecture. As part of the Humboldt Lectures, the Senckenberg Museum had invited this distinguished member of the Club of Rome to give a lecture on the topic “A world at capacity demands a fundamental shift in our thinking.”

So I quickly asked a fellow student if she wanted to come along, and since she didn’t need to be asked twice, our plans for Thursday were quickly set.

The event was completely sold out, and the auditorium was packed. I quickly greeted my other classmates and the well-known professors at HSZG, and then, after a brief introduction to Mr. von Weizsäcker, the lecture began.

To put it simply, there’s a point in history when humanity’s consumption of resources increased dramatically and, at the same time, the world’s population surged. So since the 1950s, we’ve been living in a “full world,” so many natural resources are being consumed that the Earth can no longer sustain this. Agriculture, mining, fishing, and livestock farming have expanded so drastically that the natural environment has been destroyed and displaced. The consequences are not yet fully known, but this trend must be countered today. The problem: Patterns of thought and trust in the economy have been shaped by theorists and philosophies that are not necessarily wrong, but are based on the assumption of an “empty world.” In today’s “full world,” maximizing economic growth cannot be the solution, since this requires additional resources that are, in fact, no longer available. A change in thinking is necessary.

But all is not yet lost. According to Mr. von Weizsäcker, there are ways out. Increasing the efficiency of wind power plants for electricity generation is just one example. Other paper manufacturing methods, the development of some neighborhoods in Copenhagen into car-free zones, and new recycling methods offer hope—they just need to be consistently implemented.

It’s difficult to summarize the entire lecture in just a few lines; for those interested in the topic: The Club of Rome also publishes its findings in books, which are available in German as well.

At the end, there was a short Q&A session with the opportunity to speak with Mr. von Weizsäcker in person.

The lecture ended around 8:00 p.m., and we spent the rest of the evening discussing what we’d heard over drinks at a bar.

It was an extremely interesting lecture, and I’m grateful that the HSZG made this evening possible for me through its ticket raffle, since the event sold out very quickly.

Arlene Gärtner

“It’s Our Turn”—a title with two meanings: 1. It’s our turn to act, and 2. we’re on the verge of plunging ourselves into the abyss. Prof. Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, co-president of the Club of Rome, presented the Club of Rome’s new report to the audience of the Humboldt Lecture on May 3 at the Senckenberg Museum in Görlitz. It was a very thought-provoking three-quarters of an hour that surely left some attendees of the sold-out event pondering the issues.

We live in a world that’s already at capacity! The first part of the lecture began in a very drastic and jarring manner. Humans are consuming resources beyond the Earth’s ecological carrying capacity. In the long run, this cannot be good. So says the Club of Rome, which is calling for a fundamental shift in thinking and a new Enlightenment. For with today’s lifestyle and constant growth, we are destroying humanity itself.

Global institutions constantly speak of sustainability. Yet even the implementation of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals—with the exception of three—tends to be the opposite. Global warming, overuse of resources, and population growth—these were recurring themes in the lecture.

In the new Enlightenment called for—which made up the second part of the Humboldt Lecture—the motto should no longer be “more and more and further and further,” but rather “maintaining a balance.” What is meant is the creation of a healthy balance between humans and nature, speed and stability, fairness and incentives for achievement, and so on.

Reasonable and prudent economic management, aided by technical inventions and science, can help us bring about change. Selfish thinking must be overcome. A so-called regenerative economy was explained by Prof. Dr. Weizsäcker as one approach among many other proposed solutions. He also cited exemplary cases in which companies have already been able to increase their value despite moving away from the traditional concept of growth.

All in all, it was a successful event that presented the Club of Rome’s new report concisely and clearly and encouraged a shift in thinking. The questions raised during the discussion following the lecture demonstrated the audience’s broad interest in the topic.

Photos: Gitschmann, Senckenberg