News 2019

What role do actors at the local level (e.g. civil society initiatives or social citizens' movements) currently play in the context of a socio-ecological transformation? What actual transformation potential do they have to contribute to more sufficiency, to regain autonomy or to realize comprehensive participation? And what conditions would have to be met for this? The study day "From the Root to the Crown", which will take place on January 31, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Akademie Franz-Hitze-Haus, will approach these questions from different perspectives and discuss them critically with speakers from science and practice. I Continue

Can religion, belief and spiritual ideas in modern and pluralistic societies provide important impulses for a more sustainable life? Where do similarities and differences exist with regard to sustainability? And what is the situation regarding the relationship between individual responsibility and political solutions? These are the questions addressed by the Study Day initiated by ZIN, which will take place on January 10, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Akademie Franz-Hitze-Haus. I Continue

This year's Future City Conference of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) took place in Münster on December 2 and 3, 2019. The junior research group DynaMo used the opportunity to present the project to a broad audience from practice and science. I Continue

From 25 to 29 November 2019, the Public Climate School will also take place at the WWU. In this nationwide climate strike week, the regular events of the university will be replaced or supplemented by workshops, seminars, lectures and discussions on the topic of climate protection. The climate strike week was initiated by the Students for Future, in Münster with the support of the AStA of the University of Münster. Many ZIN members and employees also responded to the call to open courses for this week and report them to the Public Climate School. I Continue

At the end of October, ZIN spokeswoman Prof'in Doris Fuchs, Agni Kalfagianni (Associate Professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, University of Utrecht, Netherlands) and Anders Hayden (Associate Professor of Environmental Policy, Department of Political Science, Dalhousie University, Canada) published the Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Governance. | Continue

On Monday evening, 4 November 2019, a panel discussion on the establishment of a so-called Green Office at the University of Muenster took place. In consultation with the student Green Office Initiative, the General Student Comitee (German abbreviation: AStA) invited various representatives of WWU to the event: ZIN spokeswoman Prof. Doris Fuchs, AStA chairwoman Sara Mavahedian, university chancellor Matthias Schwarte, Josef Kaiser (Perspektive n) and Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Knowledge Transfer and Prof. Dr. Michael Quante. Students and representatives of the areas teaching, research, administration and business sat in the audience and were regularly involved in the discussion. | Continue

In October, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited published the anthology "A Research Agenda for Sustainable Consumption Governance" edited by Oksana Mont. It assesses achievements, challenges and future paths for research and examines how new dimensions of knowledge and practice challenge, reshape and develop the traditional understanding of sustainable consumption governance. | Continue

A few weeks before the UN climate summit, the journal published a contribution, supported by over 11,000 researchers, warning of the consequences of climate change and the lack of consequences. "From the available data it becomes clear that a climatic emergency comes on us, writes the scientists. The supporters include 871 researchers from German universities and institutes, including ZIN spokeswoman Prof'in Doris Fuchs. I Continue

The Westfälische Nachrichten has published an article on the work of the ZIN at WWU. Based on a discussion with Prof. Tillmann Buttschardt it presents the work on networking sustainability researchers at WWU and promoting interdisciplinary research in this field. In addition to the wide range of disciplines represented, ZIN events such as the so-called Brotzeitkolloquium and the cooperation of ZIN members in sustainability processes in Münster are mentioned. | Continue

On Thursday, November 7, 2019 from 7:30 p.m. the first "Münsteraner Klimagespräch" will take place in the main committee room of the Münster Stadtweinhaus (Prinzipalmarkt 6-7). The focus of the event, which is also organized by ZIN as a member of the "Münsteraner Klimagespräch" (Münster Climate Dialogue), is "Münster's Climate Policy and the Paris Climate Agreement". I Continue

On Monday, November 4, 2019, the Green Office Initiative of the WWU Münster, together with netzwerk n and the ASTA of the WWU Münster, is organizing a discussion event on the topic of "Sustainability at the WWU Münster", which will take place from 6:15 p.m. in Lecture Hall 9 (Schlossplatz 2, Münster). Prof. Doris Fuchs will be one of four guests at the event. I Continue

In a recent interview with Volker Mrasek, Deutschlandfunk, Prof. Bodo Philipp talks about the potential dangers of bile acids contained in liquid manure for animal arable soils. | Continue

The inter- and transdisciplinary research project "BIOCIVIS", led by Prof. Doris Fuchs (Institute for Political Science, WWU Münster) and Prof. Bodo Philipp (Institute for Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, WWU Münster), starts on November 1st 2019. | Continue

On September 23 and 24 the junior research group DynaMo held the interdisciplinary and international workshop "Paving Ways: Junior Researchers Perspectives on urban mobility transitions" under the co-leadership of ZIN member Antonia Graf. Together with a total of twelve invited researchers from eight different institutions in four countries - Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany - the junior research group members discussed the status of their respective projects and different aspects of the socio-technical transformation of urban mobility systems. | Continue

Today, ZIN spokeswoman Prof'in Doris Fuchs takes part in the opening hearing of the project "Nachhaltige Entwicklung im Licht von Laudato si'. Die sozial-ökologische Transformation und der Beitrag der Kirche" in Berlin. The project is carried out by the expert group "Weltwirtschaft und Sozialethik" of the German Bishops' Conference. | Continue

On 05.12.2019 (14.00 - 17.00) there will be a teacher training on making sustainability gaols tangible through “reflectories” at the Institute for Didactics of Geography. | continue

On 7 November, a Brown Bag Lunch will be held at the Institute for Political Science (Scharnhorststr. 100, Room 101 on the 1st floor) at the WWU Münster on the topic "Raw Material Imports and Human Rights - Voluntary Responsibility or Legal Necessity?" The event is jointly organised by Facing Finance and the Christian Initiative Romero with ZIN and aims at informing about the current debate on the responsibility of companies for their supply chains based on the mining of raw materials in Latin America. | Continue

As part of the conference "Great Transformation: Die Zukunft moderner Gesellschaften" (23.09.-27.09., Friedrich-Schiller University Jena), the Forum “Geschützte Bedürfnisse, nachhaltige Teilhabe” (in English: "Protected Needs, Sustainable Participation") (Organizers: Peter Bartelheimer, Antonietta Di Giulio, Rico Defila) will take place on Friday, 27 September at 10.30. It revolves around the question of how to implement sustainability under conditions of increasing inequality. | Continue

With a lecture entitled "'Green liberal freedom' as a building block of a socio-ecological ethic of borders", ZIN-junior scholars Tobias Gumbert and Carolin Bohn will contribute to the “Forum Sozialethik 2019”, from 16-18 September (Schwerte). | Continue

In September 2019 the edited volume "Gegenwart und Zukunft sozial-ökologischer Transformation" was published by Nomos. In this multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, readers learn about barriers that are currently preventing a successful transformation to sustainability in the four central areas of consumption, participation, science and time, and about ways to overcome them.  | continue

The annual conference of the Society for Ecolog takes place from 9-13 September in Muenster, and "aims to stimulate exchange between the academic ecological community and practitioners in order to find applied solutions to environmental problems" (GfÖ, 2019). There will be a total of 40 thematic sessions, with 385 lectures and 198 posters, as well as workshops and discussions by around 650 scientists from 34 countries. ZIN members Tillmann Buttschardt and Bodo Philipp will also participate. | Continue

The ZIN-Newsletter 01|2019 is now available online. |continue

On 2nd July, the junior research group DynaMo - Mobility-Energy-Dynamics in Urban Areas, led by ZIN member Junior Prof. Dr. Antonia Graf (Institute for Political Science, University of Muenster) and Dr. Marco Sonnberger (University of Stuttgart), hosted its third internal workshop with practice partners. The meeting, dedicated to exchanging and networking with more than 25 actors from administration, civil society and business, took place in Muenster for the first time. Ι continue

The last lecture of this year's ZIN-Brotzeitkolloquium on July 11, held by ZIN board member Prof. Sabine Schlacke from the Institute for Environmental and Planning Law, will revolve around ways to implement the integration of climate and energy policy in Germany demanded by the European Union. | continue

With Ulrike Jürschik (Institute for Environmental and Planning Law, WBGU) and Nils Stockmann (Institute for Political Science) two ZIN junior scholars at once were invited as speakers to a an environment project week of the St. Mauritz-Gymnasium in Muenster. In numerous lectures, workshops and excursions, pupils from grades 9 to 12 spent this week dealing with a wide variety of issues relating to the topics environment and sustainability. Ι continue

In the fourth part of the 4th of the public lecture series “ZIN-Brotzeitkolloquium” on 27 June 2019 from 12:15 - 13:45 (seminar room JUR 2, Johannisstr. 14-16), ZIN junior scholar Tobias Gumbert (WWU Muenster) will talk about sustainable alternatives to food waste in Muenster. Ι continue

On Thursday, June 27, ZIN junior scholars Carolin Bohn and Tobias Gumbert will take part in a panel discussion on “Klimaschutz und Demokratie” (engl.:"Climate Protection and Democracy") organized by the KSHG Muenster. Ι continue

On June 5 the new issue of the university newspaper "wissen|leben" published an interview with ZIN junior scholars Dr. Yusif Idies and Tobias Gumbert about plastics, plastics consumption and plastics avoidance. The interview was supplemented by information on microplastics by ZIN member Prof. Bodo Phillip.
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The new edited volume "Umweltpolitik: global und gerecht" (engl.:"Environmental Policy: global and just") documents the (co-)lectures of the conference of the same name and contains contributions from the ZIN members Prof. Doris Fuchs and Prof. Sabine Schlack as well as from ZIN junior scholar Tobias Gumbert. Ι continue

Next Thursday, June 6, the third part of the ZIN “Brotzeitkolloquium” will take place from 12:15 - 13:45 in seminar room JUR 2 (Universitätsstr. 14-16) . Prof. Tillmann Buttschardt from the Institute for Landscape Ecology will give a lecture on sustainable water management in Muenster. Ι continue

ZIN spokesperson Prof. Doris Fuchs and ZIN junior scholar Tobias Gumbert will take part in the contributors’ workshop "IRresponsibility in World Politics" in Muenster on May 28 and 29 , where they present a contribution on responsibility in the global agrifood system. Ι continue

On April 16, ZIN spokeswoman Prof. Doris Fuchs commented on the lecture "Necessities and luxuries: how to combine redistribution with sustainable consumption" by Prof. Ian Gough. The lecture was held at the Université de Genève (Geneva) as part of a sociological forum on sustainable and ethical consumption and was also part of a three-day international workshop on consumption corridors in which the ZIN spokeswoman participated. Ι continue

The ZIN activity report 2018 is now available online. It provides an overview of sustainability-related publications by ZIN members and junior scholars in 2018, as well as information on sustainability-related research projects launched in the same year and addressing a range of sustainability-related issues. | continue

On Thursday, 23 May 2019, the second part of the lecture series “ZIN-Brotzeitkolloquium” takes place from 12:15-13:45 in seminar room JUR 2 (Universitätsstr. 14 - 16). Members of the Working Group on Community and Sustainability Research will present research results on sustainability commitment in Münster. Ι continue

At the invitation of the Bennohaus community centre in Münster's “Ostviertel”, Berenike Feldhoff and Nils Stockmann organised a workshop day on 2 May 2019 on the subject of sustainable mobility for the institution's volunteers. Ι continue

The first lecture of this year's “ZIN Brotzeit-Kolloquium” (a public and interdisciplinary lecture series) will take place on Thursday, 09 May 2019 from 12:15 - 13:45 in the seminar room JO 101 (Johannisstr. 4). Ι continue

Prof'in Doris Fuchs, together with Sylvia Lorek, Antonietta di Giulio and Rico Defila, contributed to the recently published edited volume "Power and Politics in Sustainable Consumption Research and Practice". Ι continue

In working paper No. 11 entitled “Solidarisch, nachhaltig, beteiligungsgerecht: Weltkirchliche Caritas-Arbeit – Notizen einer Peru-Reise mit Caritas International” (engl.: "Solidary, sustainable, participatory: World Church Caritas Work – Notes on a journey to Peru with Caritas International") Prof. Marianne Heimbach-Steins reports on her time in Peru with Caritas International last December. Ι continue

On the occasion of the reappointment of the expert commission "Energie der Zukunft", which has been accompanying the monitoring process of the Federal Government in the matter of energy system transformation since 2011, ZIN member and chairman of the commission Prof. Andreas Löschel was interviewed by Muenster university’s press officer about the energy transition and the challenges posed by climate change in Germany. Ι continue

At the first meeting of the ZIN-members in 2019, the ZIN welcomed Prof. Martin Winter as a new member. Ι continue

Today (11th of April 2019) , the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WGBU) handed over its new report "Our Common Digital Future" to the Federal Minister for Education and Research and the Federal Minister for the Environment in Berlin. ZIN member Prof'in Sabine Schlacke contributed to development of the report, which calls for a fundamental further development of sustainability concepts and strategies in times of increasing digitalization, as chairwoman of the advisory board. Ι continue

For already the fourth time, the successful lecture series “ZIN-Brotzeitkolloquium” will take place in the summer semester 2019. The speakers, who are ZIN-members or –junior scholars, will give five lectures on sustainability topics such as water protection, food waste or education for sustainable development and civic engagement for sustainability in Münster. In many cases, practice actors concerned with the implementation of sustainability in Münster enrich the scientific analyses through their input. Students from all disciplines and interested citizens are cordially invited to attend the lectures, which take place on five Thursdays from May to July at lunchtime. Previous knowledge is not necessary, a small lunch is welcome! Ι continue

ZIN-member Dr. Fabian Dielmann is awarded the “Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis” for his research on catalytic processes for the chemical transformation of the greenhouse gases sulfur hexafluoride and carbon dixode. | Continue

In the last issue of the Muenster university’s newspaper “wissen|leben” (December 2018), ZIN members Prof Sabine Schlacke (Institute for Environmental and Planning Law) and Prof Andreas Löschel (Chair of Microeconomics with a Focus on Energy and Resource Economics) discussed the energy transition, the end of hard coal mining and climate protection. | continue

On April 11, 2019 at 3 pm the event “Symposium – Perspektiven im Naturschutz. 10 Jahre BBN-Landesgruppe NRW” (“Symposium – Perspectives in Nature Conservation. 10 years BBN-regional group NRW”) will take place at the Institute for Landscape Ecology (ILÖK) of the University of Münster. The symposium is jointly organized by the Nature and Environmental Protection Academy NRW (NUA), the ILÖK and the NRW group of the Federal Association for Vocational Nature Conservation (BBN). | continue

When Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si in 2015, he encouraged readers “to unite the entire human family in the search for a sustainable and integral development” and, at the same time, made an invitation “to a new dialogue on the way in which we shape the future of our planet”. Numerous members of the ZIN from very different disciplines have responded to this call. | continue

In December 2018, large parts of the European legislative package "Clean Energy for All Europeans", which sets a new legislative framework for European energy and climate policy until 2030, came into force.  On Thursday, 21. 03. 2019 from 11:00 to 16.30 a cooperative event, organized by the Institute for environmental and planning law, discussing these new developments will take place at the district government in Münster. | continue

On Friday, 8 March from 09:00 a.m. to approx. 17:00 p.m. the information event “Plastik in Natur und Umwelt” ("Plastics in Nature and Environment") will take place at the Institute for Landscape Ecology of the University of Münster. The event is jointly organised by the Nature and Environmental Protection Academy NRW, the NABU NRW and the University of Münster and aims to inform about "the production routes and entry paths of plastic, especially into water bodies but also into other ecosystems as well as its consequences for humans, nature and the environment" (event flyer, own translation). | continue

The project “Klimaschutzbürger 2.0”, organized by the association energieland 2050 e.V., began with a celebratory event in Burgsteinfurt (Steinfurt district) on Thursday, 31 January 2019. The objective of the project is to accompany 18 households in the region for one year assisting them in their attempts to reduce their ecological footprint through “measures for climate-friendly behavior in the areas of nutrition & consumption, mobility and energy saving & living” (Website energieland 2050 e.V.) [own translation]. | continue