Module 2 - Knowledge

The term sustainability is not new. Its use is documented as early as 1713 in German forestry to claim that no more wood should be cut than can grow back. In recent years, the term has experienced a boom. In the face of an escalating climate crisis, appeals to bring human activity into harmony with nature are becoming louder and more frequent. There is no uniform understanding of sustainability. However, most definitions stress that the planet’s available resources should be exploited only to such an extent that all people, regardless of where they live in the world right now, as well as future generations, may live a good life.

The present, however, is far from sustainable, since the planet’s resources are currently being overexploited. In the year 2024, all of the Earth’s natural resources which are renewable within a year had been used up on the first of August. This day is known as Earth Overshoot Day.

A look at chart 1 shows that different countries exploit natural resources at different rates. While the countries of the so-called Global North had their country-specific depletion days almost entirely in the first half of the year, the majority of those in the Global South were in the second half. Generally speaking, the Global North contributes significantly more to the global overload than the Global South. This discrepancy lies at the core of issues addressed by the climate justice movement.

Today, 98% of scientists agree that the climate crisis is human-made. However, it is important to emphasise that not everyone is equally responsible for the crisis and not everyone suffers equally from its consequences. While the richest 1% of the world’s population is responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorer half, it is precisely those who contribute the least who are affected the most. The concept of climate (in)justice highlights that the ecological crisis is just as much a social crisis on a global scale.

The basic pattern that wealth correlates with high emissions applies both to inter-country (see chart 1) and to intra-country (societal) level (see chart 2). The chart shows that the richest 10% of the world’s population is responsible for almost half of the consumer emissions worldwide.

While efforts to protect the climate should certainly concern everyone, those with the highest ecological footprint have a special role to play. A lot could already be achieved by changing unsustainable economic practices and individual behaviours in consumer societies. However, economic activity and lifestyles in the Global North are systemically linked to persisting structures of capitalism, colonialism and racism, making harmful patterns difficult to change.

Many scholars date the historical roots of climate change back to the 18th century where the industrial revolution, colonialism, and capitalism came together in a very specific conjunction. The invention of the steam engine and its use in the English cotton industry from 1760 onwards marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. When coal, mineral oil, or natural gas is burnt to release energy, they emit greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere and lead to global warming (see box below).

Today, the steam engine is not only symbolic of a changed mode of production (keyword: industrialisation), it is also symbolic of a changed economic system (keyword: capitalism, see box below). The use of fossil fuels allowed accelerated production, increased trade, and profits, and concentrated capital on the side of a few - the owners. Over time, the production of goods became more a means of making profits than of satisfying human needs, one of the central traits of capitalism (see box below).

Capitalism engendered mass production and a global transport system for goods, with severe consequences for the climate. In chart 4, we can see how greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the beginning of the industrial revolution (see chart 4).

The industrial revolution and capitalism would probably not have developed as rapidly had they not evolved in the context of European colonialism. Although capitalism always goes hand in hand with the exploitation of natural resources and human labour, this was taken to extremes in the colonised territories. Land theft, destruction of ecosystems, displacements, and enslavement of local peoples to increase the colonialists’ profits were daily routines. Racist reasoning served to "legitimise" violence and exploitation.

Even if the above-mentioned forms of European colonialism and enslavement are largely history, they continue to have an impact until this day. The expression ‘post-colonialism’ refers to the continuing effects of more than 500 years of colonialism, both in the form of economic exploitation and racism. The post-colonial reality also finds its expression in the current climate crisis, namely through large-scale extractives in post-colonial countries and the unequal distribution of root causes of, and suffering from, climate change between the Global North and Global South (see above). Some activists speak of ‘environmental racism’ and call for the adoption of a decolonial perspective in the fight against climate change. They argue that, for a just transition, racism, unequal exploitation, and social division need to be replaced with global solidarity and justice.

Protagonists of the global movement for climate justice focus on the global inequalities reflected and strengthened by the climate crisis.

Additional material:
Watch Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist, talk about climate justice and racism (in German, with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufcZE7EbBb0 (from minute 2:20).

The current climate crisis is a very dynamic phenomenon. New facts are published daily and it may seem impossible to stay up to date. Nevertheless, it is important to stay informed, not least because there is also a lot of fake news out there. Many young people are well informed about climate change and its causes; however, they are also confronted with contradictory and dubious information. It is important to be able to provide reliable information and trustworthy sources.

Current global warming poses great dangers for people and ecosystems. Stopping it requires efforts at all levels: political, societal and personal.

Political efforts

Climate change does not stop at national borders. Climate-damaging behaviour, no matter where in the world it occurs, affects the climate worldwide. Measures to combat global warming, therefore, need to be adopted at an international level. International regulations must target the economy as the inner dynamics of capitalism drive competition and the pursuit for profit, and will, if not regulated, cause more damage in the future.

On May 9, 1992, a first important step towards international regulation was taken, when 154 countries adopted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The declared goals were the stabilisation of greenhouse gas emissions and the adoption of the principle of climate justice. Following the convention, the UN Climate Change Conference held annual meetings. The most impactful ones to date were held in Kyoto (1997), Cancun (2010), Paris (2015) and Dubai in 2023. Another milestone at UN level was the General Assembly’s resolution on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York in 2015. At EU level, some important steps have been taken since 2019 - see the table below.

Despite these numerous commitments to climate protection at global and European level, implementation by national governments is still too slow. The organisation Germanwatch undertakes an annual climate policy rating of the 57 countries with the highest emissions. Every year, places 1 to 3 remain vacant, as the organisation finds that none of the countries have an adequate climate protection policy. In 2024, ranked 4 to 10 were Denmark, Estonia, The Philippines, India, Netherlands, Morocco and Sweden. Achievements which were evaluated in a positive manner, included comparatively low per capita emissions (India), efforts in the area of energy efficiency (Morocco), renewable energies (Estonia) or circular economy (Netherlands).

Education

Education is an important lever for sustainability. Today, there are various educational approaches that aim to strengthen the understanding of global interdependencies and responsible global citizenship.

• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is listed under goal 4.7 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It aims at enabling learners to understand the global interconnections and interdependencies relating to climate change and align personal decisions with the UN development goals. The focus is on decision-making and action skills for sustainable development.
• Global Education (GE) aims to overcome Eurocentrism in education by making the interconnectedness of living conditions worldwide a cross-cutting issue for education. People should understand global power relations and their effects, but at the same time, perceive themselves as competent citizens who can advocate for change.
• Global Citizenship Education (GCE) understands people as global citizens who should act responsibly. GCE focuses its education at the cognitive, social-emotional and behavioural level of personal development.
• GreenComp is a reference framework for sustainable competences for use in educational settings which was edited by the European Commission. It gives guidance related to the development of “knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote ways to think, plan and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet and for public health” (for GreenComp, see more in module 5).

Activism

For many people, the change that is being initiated at the political level is too slow. In recent years, more and more civil society movements are being formed to increase pressure on governments to take more and faster action against global warming. The stories of climate activists tell of anger, courage, perseverance and, in some cases, also success.

To tell these stories is important since it can be uplifting to hear about activists fighting for shared values, especially when people feel hopeless in the face of the climate crisis.

Watch now an interview with young Austrian Aeron Treiblmayr who tells us how he became a climate activist and student in Social Economics. His journey there was all but linear and consists of a drop-out of a vocational training followed by a period of not knowing what to do next, just as much as a random selection for Austria’s climate council of citizens.

Interview with young Austrian Aeron Treiblmayr

Some examples for climate activism:

• In Europe, Fridays for Future is probably the best known among movements against climate change. The movement was started by the young Swede Greta Thunberg in 2018 but has spread throughout the world, reaching as far as Australia, China, Japan, East Timor, Thailand and USA. The movement is mainly made up of school and university students. However, supporter groups such as Parents, Scientists, Teachers and Entrepreneurs for Future have emerged in many countries.
• Climate activism is not a European phenomenon. Many indigenous peoples around the world are among the longest, loudest and most courageous among protesters. Their struggles are important as they often combine the preservation of ecosystems and the climate with a fight against extractivism, capitalist exploitation, post-colonial inequalities and racism, and thus the root causes of global warming (see above). Indigenous people’s battles for the preservation of nature are often struggles for survival and the cultivation of a lifestyle vastly different to consumerist and environmentally harmful ones. It is important to acknowledge movements in the Global South and by indigenous peoples in order not to reproduce Eurocentric misconceptions about climate activism.

Individual level

Many people are already further ahead in aligning action and personal convictions than governments. They see climate-friendly behaviour not as a restriction to their own freedom, but as a way of securing freedom in the future.

A youth study conducted by Greenpeace in 2022 showed that young people aged between 17 and 24 are more aware of sustainability than other age groups and want their politicians to act. At the same time, consumption is an important part of youth cultures in the Global North. There is thus a gap between problem awareness and behaviour.

Youth workers can be important role models with regard to climate-friendly behaviour.

There are plenty of little things that can be done to live more sustainably.

Here are 18 climate protection tips from WWF:

Nutrition

• Only buy what you can really use
• Eating vegetables is much more climate-friendly than eating meat
• Look out for fairtrade and organic labels when buying food

Waste

• Use reusable instead of disposable containers
• Recycle your waste properly
• Try to repair instead of buying new

Mobility

• Use environmentally friendly means of transport (bike, public transportation)
• Only use the car when absolutely necessary
• Minimise your ecological footprint by carpooling

Living

• Reduce your power consumption through greater energy efficiency
• Use green electricity
• Heat more energy-efficiently through ventilation and neighbourhood heating

Travel

• Go on holiday nearby
• Avoid flying within Europe
• Choose accommodation that respects the environment

Consumption

• Inform yourself about the products you buy
• Borrow instead of buying new
• Choose a bank with social and environmental standards

Sometimes, knowledge about how to act sustainably is there, but it’s the circumstances that prevent realisation. Working to ameliorate the circumstances so that sustainable action becomes easy for everyone is a rewarding thing to do. We then speak of an increase of the ecological HANDprint (as the positive counterpart to the ecological footprint).

Creating a physical map with green work and green training opportunities in a given territory to support local youth in their pursuit for sustainable careers, as is suggested in module 6, increases one’s ecological handprint!

Module 2 focused on the topic of ‘knowledge’ and emphasised how closely knowledge and values are linked. It dealt with various aspects of the climate crisis and the struggle against it: