News 2022

Review: Second Dialogue of the BIOCIVIS Project

Lively discussions between citizens and practice partners at the "Biodialog"

On August 20 and 21, the second dialogue of the interdisciplinary project BIOCIVIS, which is led by ZIN members Prof. Doris Fuchs and ZIN member Prof. Bodo Philipp, took place in the Botanical Garden of the WWU Münster. This so-called "Biodialog", organized in cooperation with the "Arbeitsstelle Forschungstransfer" (AFO) of the WWU Münster, was attended by 16 citizens* and 9 practice partners* from different sectors of society. Together they discussed opportunities and challenges of the bioeconomy with regard to the transformation towards sustainability. | More information

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"Our Food. Our Future" action week

Making "tasteless ingredients" visible and preventing them

The products on our supermarket shelves often contain terrible things: "tasteless ingredients" that industry and commerce would prefer to keep secret. The fact is: the path of many products is paved with injustice and destruction. For example, juice is sold for which oranges are picked in Brazil under slavery-like conditions. The chocolate cream in our shopping basket contains palm oil for which forests are cut down in Guatemala.
In many European countries, the Romeror Christian Initiative is organizing street actions and events during a joint week of action with international partners to raise awareness of human rights abuses and environmental destruction in global supply chains. In addition, the starting signal is given for a major project in the coming months: to fight for a strong, European supply chain law. | More information

Publication in the Cluster of Excellence Project on "Religion: A Resource in European Climate Politics?"

Religious actors are engaged in the climate policy environment. They participate in meetings and dialogues and thus bring their norms into the climate discourse. Nevertheless, there is currently comparatively little research on religion in EU climate policy discourse. Besides the question which normative aspects are brought into this discourse by faith-based actors, it is also still largely open which other actors perceive religion as a potential or but also as a normative obstacle. This article aims to contribute to filling this research gap. | More information

Münster Climate Talks on the topic of "Climate Communication"

How can we talk about the climate problem in such a way that people want to continue to deal with it and are motivated to act? It has already become generally known that pure information about the findings of climate science is only helpful to a limited extent. But what role does the fear-inducing evocation of threatening or even apocalyptic future scenarios play? How promising is it to emphasize the ethical side of the problem and to appeal to our responsibility for the future of coming generations? How do we manage to involve large parts of the urban society in the project "Climate Neutrality 2030"? | More infromation

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Online Ring Lecture "Future Decisions?! Interdisciplinary Research on Sustainability"

The Contact Point "Study in Old Age" and the Center for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research offers a lecture series around the topic of sustainability in the coming semester. Thus, on Mondays from 4-6 p.m., lecturers from the University of Münster will outline concepts of sustainability in a wide range of disciplines. We invite you to join interested citizens in debating sustainable consumption and the limits of sustainability, among other topics. | More information

The Youth Climate Pact Challenge

You have climate-relevant project ideas and want to put them into practice?
The initiative of the European Commission offers students between the ages of 18 and 30 the opportunity to develop innovative ideas for climate protection projects across Europe. All you need is an interest in climate policy and the desire to create a better future. | More information

A different kind of theater: "Thinking space for utopias - performance of sciences"

The theater project of "Denkraum für Utopien- eine Performance der Wissenschaften" which cooperates with ZIN, invites to the first performance at Pumpenhaus Münster on 08.07.2021.

 The project is an interplay of science, art and climate activism, in which scientists* also have their say on stage. Together, possible strategies for action to implement the demands of the Fridays for Future movement will be performed. | More infromation

ZIN Bread Time Colloquium in Summer Semester 2021: "A Good Life for EVERYONE?"

 For the sixth time, the ZIN Lunch Lectures will take place in the summer semester 2021 under the title "A good life for EVERYONE? - Sustainability beyond the human environment". In five lectures, this semester's Bread Time Colloquium will explore interdisciplinary contributions, as well as perspectives from philosophy, law, theology, and practice. Students from all disciplines as well as interested citizens are cordially invited to attend the lectures, which will take place on five Thursdays from late April through July at lunchtime - again this year digitally via Zoom.

Article in the dossier on sustainability at the WWU

As part of a dossier on sustainability at WWU, an article was published about the ZIN blog "Nach(haltig)gedacht". ZIN spokesperson Doris Fuchs and staff member Pia Mamut explain the idea behind the project.

Guest article on the BIOCIVIS project on the website of the Berlin Institute for Participation

On January 26, 2021, Carolin Bohn and Victoria Hasenkamp, members of the interdisciplinary BIOCIVIS project led by ZIN spokesperson Prof. Doris Fuchs and ZIN member Prof. Bodo Philipp, published a guest article named " Participatory Bioeconomy. How can participatory processes secure the benefits of bioeconomic technologies and strengthen democratic participation?" in the "Practice" section of the Berlin Institute for Participation website.

New Publication: Living Life within Sustainable Limits

In early March 2021, ZIN spokesperson Doris Fuchs and a team of seven international authors, including ZIN staff member Tobias Gumbert as well as Marlyne Sahakian, Antonietta Di Giulio, Michael Maniates, Sylvia Lorek and Antonia Graf, published the book "Consumption Corridors: Living a Good Live within Sustainable Limits".
In their work, the authors address the question of how we can live a good life without overstepping planetary boundaries. They explain concepts that should help us live a better life and identify those factors that stand in the way.

Insights into goals and interim results of the ENGAGE joint project

In a guest article published today by the Berlin Institute for Participation, ZIN staff member Lena Siepker reports on the goals and interim results of the collaborative project "ENGAGE - Engagement for Sustainable Common Good", which is being conducted at ZIN in cooperation with the Institute for Ecological Economy Research and the Öko-Institut e.V..

New dossier "Sustainability at the WWU"

Climate crisis, change in transportation, CO2 pricing - sustainability is a much-discussed topic that cannot be neglected even during a global pandemic. Various disciplines of university research can make an immense contribution to sustainable development, but teaching, transfer and operation of a university also play an important role in this regard. Since the end of January, the WWU's Communications and Public Relations Office has therefore been dedicating a six-month dossier to this topic, "Sustainability at the WWU", in the first articles of which three ZIN scientists feature.

Publication: new ZIN discussion paper "Participation as a central topic of interdisciplinary sustainability research".

 Participation is a central requirement for successful sustainability transformation in democratic contexts - this is the consensus in politics and science and is reflected in many position papers and mission statements as well as countless research projects on the topic. At the same time, however, the large number of related research projects and publications also highlights the challenges of successful participation in the field of sustainability. Since sustainability is an inherently interdisciplinary topic, it is important to bring together perspectives from different disciplines on aspects of participation in the context of sustainability and to shed light on these different facets.