Stimulating awareness for sustainability

Climate change, biodiversity, energy efficiency, world food supplies and population growth: The Year of Science 2012 is fully focused on sustainable development. The aim is to stimulate public awareness about sustainability research under the motto “Future Project Earth” by making current scientific developments accessible to a broader public. In the coming months numerous events are planned throughout Germany. They intend to show how scientists are working not only in environmental and energy research but also in such disciplines as economics and the humanities to find solutions to the urgent issues in this field.

Enlarge image (© BMBF) Now, 20 years after the “Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro” and just a few months before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, the 13th Year of Science is directing its attention to the complex changes in the global ecosystem. The main focus is on three key questions designed to illuminate the contribution made by science and research to sustainable development: How do we want to live? How will we need to manage things? And – How can we preserve our environment?

According to the Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan, more than 1,000 events are planned for the Year of Science. Concrete themes, such as the recycling of mobile phones or the use of foodstuffs for energy production, will help to show the general public what sustainability has to do with their lives. The idea is to show “how we should live today in order to avoid depriving future generations of their livelihoods,” the minister stressed. Important target groups in the Year of Science are children and young people who need to be sensitized about sustainability.

The years of science are organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) together with the initiative Science in Dialogue (WiD) and numerous partners in the fields of science, the economy, politics and culture. They have been promoting the exchange between the public and research since the year 2000. 

Updated: 12 January 2012

Source: www.magazin-deutschland.de