Seconded By: Afshin Ismaeli,
On a global scale, Germany‘s intentions are ambitious. The country aims to become a climate-neutral industrial nation by 2045. This places Germany among the international pioneers in the fight against the climate crisis. The path to climate neutrality is the „greatest modernisation and prosperity safeguarding project since World War II“, according to Dirk Messner, the President of the German Environment Agency. The phase-out of coal by 2038, fifteen million electric cars on the roads by 2030 and a massive expansion of renewable energies were enshrined in law.
However, the status quo is as complex as it is paradoxical. While activist groups continue to push the boundaries of climate protest, the expansion of renewable energies is faltering. Despite surveys indicating broad social support for climate protection, public backing is clearly waning when it comes to practical measures. Recently, dependence on Russian gas, the resulting energy crisis, economic hardships and inflation exacerbated the social climate.
“An Anthology of Changing Climate“ is a journey through German society divided on climate issues, addressing the struggle for guiding narratives and the question of whether it is possible to find sustainable answers to the climate crisis through social consensus.
My work is a document of Germany’s intricate transition towards climate neutrality. It is driven by the observation of social and ecological dynamics and their interrelationship. I seek for photographs that condense these dynamics in order to interweave them in a larger narrative. For me, my work is a way of reflecting on the roots of societal and climatological change within complex modern societies. I do believe that understanding the human condition within its environment is pivotal for grasping the past, navigating the evolving present, and envisioning potential futures.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
People are blocking the bucket-wheel excavator on the edge of the Garzweiler II open-pit mine near the outskirts of Lützerath, Germany, on January 8, 2023. When individuals are present in the danger zone at the edge of the mine, the bucket-wheel excavator must pause its operation until the affected area is vacated by those individuals.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
Business discussions at the booth of the Chinese company Trina Solar at the Intersolar Europe Fair in Munich, Germany, on June 14, 2023. Intersolar is considered the world’s leading trade fair for the solar industry.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
A scene at the amusement park “Wunderland Kalkar” in Kalkar, Germany on May 21, 2023. The amusement park was built around the former nuclear power plant Kalkar. The nuclear power plant was completed in 1985 but never went online due to high costs and political concerns. Today, it is considered an investment ruin. Germany completely phased out nuclear energy by 2023. Permanent disposal sites for nuclear waste have not yet been found, and it is assumed that no disposal site will be operational until 2050.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
Armin Laschet and Angela Merkel (German Chancellor) sing the German national anthem in front of a video projection of the Zugspitze at the closing rally of the CDU election campaign at the Nockherberg in Munich, Germany, on September 24, 2021. After 16 years as German Chancellor, Angela Merkel did not stand for re-election. In a press conference Merkel acknowledged the failures and disappointments she had experienced in climate protection. Measured against the ambition to limit global warming to two degrees, “not enough has happened” during her chancellorship, Merkel said.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
The solar park located outside the village of Feldheim, Germany on February 21, 2023. Feldheim is the first village in Germany to be completely self-sufficient in energy. With the help of wind energy, photovoltaics, biogas, biomass, a regulating power plant and a local heating network, the village covers its own needs. The large amounts of surplus energy generated in the process are fed into the public grid.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
Ella during a meditative “forest bathing” session in Wernigerode, Germany on June 24, 2023. “Forest bathing” involves deeply experiencing nature with all the senses and connecting with it through mindfulness. It can be booked as a seminar with a mindfulness instructor. It particularly resonates with individuals seeking an escape from the stress and routine of everyday work life. In the forests of the Harz region, two-thirds of the spruce trees have died in recent years due to monocultures, dry soil, and infestations by bark beetles.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
The Thyssenkrupp steel plant in Duisburg, Germany on May 21, 2023. The integrated steelworks is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the German industry, emitting 7.9 million tons of CO₂ per year. The steel industry accounts for one third of industrial emissions in Germany. Industrial emissions rank as the second most significant contributor to emissions, trailing only behind the energy sector.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
Children look through augmented reality at a replica of a carboniferous forest in the Museum am Schölerberg, Osnabrück, Germany on 8 October 2023. The new permanent exhibition with trees, plants and animals from the coal age is intended to show visitors how coal was formed and that the burning of fossil resources is responsible for climate change and the extinction of species. The museum also shows future perspectives and models for solutions.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
An excavator clears barricades on the first day of the eviction of Lützerath, Germany while an activist tries to slow down the eviction by hanging in a structure on January 11, 2023. Since 2020, environmental activists have occupied the trees, fields and houses in Lützerath, a hamlet near the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Erkelenz. They oppose the eviction of the village and the energy company RWE, which wants to extract the millions of tons of lignite that lie beneath the loess soils of Lützerath. The small village became a symbol in the fight against the climate crisis.
An Anthology of Changing Climate
Two men in front of a forest fire in Jüterbog, Germany, on June 5, 2023. The forest fire is located on a former military training ground contaminated with ammunition. Due to the presence of ammunition, dry conditions, and increasing winds, the fire spread rapidly. The fire department cannot directly combat the fire due to the risk of explosions, so they opted for a “controlled burning” of the affected woodland areas.
