Responding to climate change in an energetical and creative way

The scenarios painted in gruesome dystopian terms in all the TV documentaries are more dramatic than any fictional horror film.  Every time I am confronted with this, I have to think about how I can succeed in conveying to my children that they can nevertheless start each day with hope and confidence in their daily lives.

When I was in upper school myself in the 1980s, I thought it was certain that I, and with me all other people, would die from nuclear power – either from an accident in a nuclear power plant or from nuclear bombs in a third world war that the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, would very soon be fighting out in Europe. Each generation obviously has its own collective fears to deal with. I don't want to talk down climate in any way – it has long since arrived and will certainly become even more dramatic – but my wish is that we and our descendants learn to deal with it and act responsibly and positively. The high degree of emotionality associated with all thoughts on climate change leads to depressive paralysis in some people, while in others it releases energy and creativity. The anti-nuclear movement was large and loud for many years, so when Angela Merkel announced the withdrawal from nuclear power in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the majority of Germans immediately agreed. Today, Fridays for Future is calling loudly and forcefully for immediate political decisions for sustainability, and that is a good thing.