If it wasn’t already clear, the sweltering summers of 2018 and 2019 and the ongoing drought, which has continued into 2020, have left no doubt: Man-made climate change isn’t a threat to distant countries in the distant future – climate change is happening here and now. But what concrete effects will it have on our lives in Germany?
Even if Germany and the world succeed in drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades, one thing is already certain: Germany’s climate is changing. By 2050, it will be at least two degrees Celsius warmer on average. What are the practical consequences of this rise in temperatures? What will life in Germany look like in the second half of the century, as the climate continues to get hotter, drier, and stormier? What changes will be necessary and possible?
In their new book, authors Nick Reimer and Toralf Staud offer concrete answers to the question of how climate change will affect us in Germany. Based on scientific findings from numerous areas of research, they describe how we’ll work, eat, do business, and take vacations 30 years from now. What new diseases will afflict us. How our landscape, forests, and cities are changing. The result is a jolting journey into the future: Even if we manage to slow down climate change, our country is going to change profoundly. Yet without greater climate protection, by 2050 Germany as we know it today will no longer exist.
