Update on the Klimaduell21: Cold showers for the climate - students invite you to follow suit
Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) will be competing in a climate duel from Tuesday. The students and staff will be demonstrating how to get through everyday life in a more climate-friendly way and save CO2 emissions in an uncomplicated way. The campaign will run from 23 March to 19 May 2021 as a virtual format that can be followed on social media using the hashtag #klimaduell21.
Anyone can actually protect the climate and it's even fun! In the first climate duel between the two partner universities, HNEE and ZHAW, students and employees will compete in a university-wide competition. Who will succeed in saving more CO2 emissions and changing their own behaviour in the long term? "The whole thing follows a game mechanism designed to spur on the ambition of each individual. Various practical challenges are selected, which all participants then have to complete over a certain period of time, such as taking a cold shower for a week," says Julian Koepke, explaining the principle of the duel. He is part of the multi-person organising team, which consists of students and staff from HNEE and ZHAW.
The Swiss university came up with the concept for the climate duel, which is also intended to appeal to citizens. "The idea is that you can follow the progress of the duel online and take part in or imitate the challenges in your everyday life," says Julian Koepke, inviting imitators. The team hopes to be able to show many people practical recommendations for action that can be easily integrated into their own everyday lives in order to make a contribution to climate protection. The concrete savings from the challenges are determined by the ZHAW on the basis of life cycle analyses, or LCAs for short, for the various areas of behaviour. However, only the savings achieved by the participating university members will be counted.
The virtual event will begin on 23 March 2021 at 4 pm and will be moderated by David Koch (ZHAW employee) and Johanna Kreiß (HNEE student). Climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf, Head of the Department of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor of Ocean Physics at the University of Potsdam, will kick off the event with a video message (21 min.) to draw attention to the state of the climate crisis. Afterwards, students, employees of the two universities and members of the public can take part in an informative supporting programme with parallel interactive workshops from initiatives from Eberswalde and Zurich (e.g. Greenpeace, Fridays For Future, Campusgarten Eberswalde, Projektwerkstatt Gender und Klima, ZHAW) on "climate-friendly nutrition" or "holidays on the balcony" until 6 pm. Prominent climate activists such as Peter Wohlleben and Eckart von Hirschhausen are also calling for participation in the Climate Duel21 in short video speeches.
Various everyday tasks (challenges) will then be set up to and including 19 May 2021. The activities can be followed on the social media channels of both universities under the hashtag #klimaduelll21. "We are sharing information, photos and videos about the climate duel on Instagram and Facebook. The first posts can already be seen there," says Tanja Rakočević, who is also part of the HNEE student team. The following channels are used for this:
Background to the campaign
Anthropogenic (= human-induced) emissions of greenhouse gases in particular - especially CO2 - intensify the Earth's natural greenhouse effect and cause climate change.
To prevent this, the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement were formulated by the international community. As climate protection affects everyone, the cooperation between HNEE and ZHAW addresses this topic in order to actively and jointly contribute to possible solutions.
Cooperation between HNEE and ZHAW
HNEE has been cooperating with the ZHAW since 2016, enabling students from both institutions to spend a semester abroad, for example. To promote this international exchange and make both universities more familiar with each other, a team of students and staff is currently organising a climate duel.
About the ZHAW
With over 13,400 students and 3,300 employees, the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences is one of the leading universities of applied sciences in Switzerland. In research and development, the ZHAW focuses on key societal challenges - with an emphasis on energy and social integration. With its expertise in sustainable development and digital transformation, it imparts future-oriented knowledge and actively shapes digital and ecological change. With its locations in Winterthur, Zurich and Wädenswil, the ZHAW has regional roots and cooperates with a large number of international partners.