Press Release01.03.2013, Berlin

The Great Transformation as a comic

Book launch

A report by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) has been adapted as a comic for the first time. The 140-page volume is being presented to the public today at the Deutsches Theater Berlin.

The Great Transformation as a comic Foto: Johannes Schmidt

The comic – called The Great Transformation – Will we get our act together on climate change? – is based on the WBGU's report World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability. In nine episodes, WBGU members take on the role of comic heroes to explain the Great Transformation towards a climate-friendly, sustainable society.

The book is part of a communication project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) which aims to evaluate alternative knowledge-transfer approaches on complex future issues. The WBGU had previously recorded this report in English as a video-based course for use by universities.

The book was edited by Council member Reinhold Leinfelder, Alexandra Hamann and Claudia Zea-Schmidt and is published by Jacoby & Stuart. An English version is planned.

Pictorial material on the comic for publication is available free of charge; pleased click here to download.

The Book (german only)

Alexandra Hamann, Claudia Zea-Schmidt, Reinhold Leinfelder (Hrsg.): Die große Transformation. Klima – Kriegen wir die Kurve? 144 Seiten, Verlagshaus Jacoby & Stuart, Preis: 14,95 €

Comic

The Great Transformation

A comic explains the WBGU flagship report „World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability“. Climate change, the Anthropocene, rising CO2 levels, the Earth Summit in Rio, wind turbines, combined heat and power generation, desertification, biodiversity loss, Germany's Renewable Energy Act, pioneers of change – what do all these terms mean exactly and how are they all linked? This comic offers answers.

Transformation

Flagship Report

World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability

In this report, the WBGU explains the reasons for the desperate need for a post-fossil economic strategy, yet it also concludes that the transition to sustainability is achievable, and presents ten concrete packages of measures to accelerate the imperative restructuring.

Guardrails Transformation Climate