News

New paper on the impact of the pandemic on urban life

A new paper by THESys member Ina Säumel and her colleague Simone Sanft (FU Berlin) shows how the pandemic exacerbates existing inequities and negative impacts in urban neighborhoods. Changing use and perception of residential greenery in multistory housing in Berlin The pandemic exacerbates existing inequities and negative impacts in urban neighborhoods. Environmentally and socioeconomically disadvantaged…

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Science magazine NANO: Jörg Niewöhner about the climate crises

In the 3sat science magazine NANO, THESys Director Jörg Niewöhner explains what the climate crisis teaches us: As democratic societies, we have to decide how we want to live in the future. The social anthropologist argues that the climate crisis should not be limited to reducing CO2 emissions, but should also take social aspects into…

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KOSMOS lectures: All about water

The two KOSMOS-Lesungen taking place this summer semester are all about water. In their lectures, Naho Mirumachi (King’s College London) and Dieter Gerten (PIK, HU Berlin) emphasise that we urgently need a new way of dealing with water. Naho Mirumachi focuses on the relationship between water and society and calls for a new water agenda…

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New paper: Environmental benefits of replacing beef with microbial protein

Together with colleagues from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), THESys Member Hermann Lotze-Campen co-authored a paper that was recently published in Nature finds. The authors analyse the environmental benefits of microbial protein, a market-ready meat alternative produced in fermentation tanks, and show that substituting just a fifth of meat from cattle with…

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Policy brief out: Rethinking academic travel at HU Berlin

Students of the Humboldt-Themenklasse “Sustainability & Global Justice” have published a policy brief on how to reduce CO2 emissions produced by business travel at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The policy brief can now be accessed as a THESys Discussion Paper on the university’s edoc server. Prevention is better than compensation! Through business travel, science and research…

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New paper: Park forests in agricultural landscapes

Together with Paola Pozo Inofuentes, THESys member Ina Säumel has published a study demonstrating the importance of park forest trees to the promotion of forest regeneration and recovery in grazed forests in agricultural landscapes in Uruguay. Nurse species facilitate persistence of dry forests in agricultural landscapes in Uruguay Park forests form cultural landscapes of South…

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Too Much. Too Little. Too Dirty.

Extreme rainfall, flash flooding, prolonged droughts and increasing pollution… These are just some of the water-related challenges facing the Berlin-Brandenburg region under the impacts of climate change. And while these prognoses require urgent adaptation and mitigation, developing these measures cannot rely solely on technical or scientific advancements. Social and cultural aspects must be integrated into…

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Hello students: Apply for EdiCitNet’s Summer School

*EXTENDED APPLICATION DEADLINE* Until May 25, bachelor’s and master’s students can apply for the University of Girona Summer School on WATER RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (June 20th – July 1st 2022), organized in collaboration with the Edible Cities Network Project. Participants will be part of an interdisciplinary and international team exploring nature-based solutions and their…

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Student Report: Communicating Science

Throughout the course of one year, the students of the interdisciplinary Humboldt-Scholarship ‘Sustainability and Global Justice’ explored the internal and external framework conditions of science communication at HU Berlin. Now their final report has been published on the IRI THESys website. Scientists’ self-conception, third-party funding and successful science communication at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin   One of…

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Documentary film selected for film festival

‘One gram of gold’, a short documentary film by THESys Doctoral Researcher Anna Frohn Pedersen, has been selected for the German International Ethnographic Film Festival 2022, which will take place in Göttingen between May 25th – 29th. The film is about gold — a global commodity shaping local livelihoods and landscapes across the world. It…

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