Das Philosophische Quartett (ZDF, 2011): Klimawandel – ein Glaubenskrieg?

Episode 61 of 63 - "Climate Change – A War of Faiths?" Guests: Prof. Dr. Gerd Ganteför (experimental physicist and climate theorist) and Frank Schätzing (bestselling author) Climate change – a war of faiths? Is the world, literally, going under? When a German news magazine published its cover story "The Climate Catastrophe" in August 1986 about the ozone hole, polar melt, and the greenhouse effect, it featured a cover illustration ("Researchers warn") of a sea desert, from whose waters only the spires of Cologne Cathedral were visible. Whether sea levels rise dramatically and immeasurably, submerging countries and continents, or, in an equally grim scenario, landmasses become barren and desolate, with people dying miserably from water shortages and famines: the end of the inhabited world is very much at hand; humanity has seen its best days. The fun is over, because it is its own fault; the causes of its demise are man-made: reckless waste of resources and irresponsible pollution of the atmosphere are depriving all living things of their very means of survival. Even today, twenty-five years later, researchers and experts repeatedly arrive at similarly outlandish prophecies. Like the penitential preachers of the Middle Ages, they appeal to conscience and morality, urging repentance with strong words. And aren't they right? Don't forest dieback, massive floods, and weather anomalies seemingly unprecedented in our temperate zones—such as excessive torrential rain, devastating storms, excessively wet and cold (or excessively hot and dry) summers, and excessively warm (or extremely cold and snowy) winters—speak volumes? Climate horror has even become part of the entertainment industry: disaster films, with their deceptively realistic images, send shivers down the spines of audiences as civilization collapses under the unleashed forces of nature; writers gleefully paint such scenarios in scientifically grounded fantasy stories; author Frank Schätzing, for example, with his million-selling bestseller "The Swarm," has crafted such a novel with as much expertise as literary imagination, confronting his readers with their guilty conscience while simultaneously fueling their fears. The Swarm Of course, scientists are now also emerging who are vying for public attention with a less sensational message: It's not so bad, they say; the end of the world isn't happening—at least not anytime soon. Among them is the Konstanz physicist Gerd Ganteför, who, alongside his primary field of nanoscience, has long dedicated himself to examining, evaluating, and correlating the findings of climate researchers and other experts. Using scientific methodology, he concludes that the much-feared global warming has more advantages than disadvantages and that climate change should ultimately be seen as a process in which natural phenomena and human influence work together for the benefit of the whole. These include Gerd Ganteför, a physicist from Konstanz, who has long been dedicated to examining, weighing, and correlating the findings of climate scientists and other experts. More information about the program: https://petersloterdijk.net/das-philo... German TV premiere: Sun., Nov. 27, 2011, ZDF The Philosophical Quartet was a bimonthly cultural talk show on the German television channel ZDF. Each episode was hosted by the two philosophers Peter Sloterdijk and Rüdiger Safranski, who discussed fundamental questions facing our society with two other guests – each episode rotating. A total of 63 episodes were produced over a period of 10 years (2002–2012). -- Homepage: https://petersloterdijk.net Facebook:   / psloterdijk   X: https://x.com/Sloterdijk_P Instagram:   / peter.sloterdijk