Alle reden vom Krieg, wir reden vom Klima – Matthias Polte im Gespräch mit Dr. Bernhard Kegel und Mara Kleine (FFF)

In our series “Nothing Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution,” we naturally also examine the unfolding climate catastrophe from an evolutionary perspective: Over the past 12,000 years, oxygen-producing plants and breathing organisms maintained a stable carbon dioxide cycle that guaranteed an equally stable climate. The Holocene, the cradle of human civilization. Then our hunger for fossil fuels sent the planet’s CO₂ balance spiraling out of control: In just 200 years, we abruptly catapulted back into the Earth’s atmosphere the very CO₂ that primeval forests and ancient algae had filtered out of it over hundreds of millions of years. Over 80% of this has occurred in the last 30 years. Currently, 40 gigatons of excess CO₂ are being released back into the atmosphere each year. From the perspective of evolutionary time, this amounts to a CO₂ explosion.
We still lack the technology to remove it from the atmosphere, even though we are feverishly researching ways to artificially replicate the miracle of photosynthesis. By the time we might succeed, vast swaths of our continents will have been devastated and will become uninhabitable for mammals. And this will happen in the foreseeable future. We have long been in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, also known as defaunation: Over 1,000 animal species disappear every year. Humans now account for 35% of the Earth’s animal biomass. Our livestock and domestic animals account for 58%—more than half—of all vertebrates. The proportion of wild animals on land and in the oceans has already shrunk to 5%.

We were smart enough to bring nature’s material cycles to a standstill.
Are we also smart enough to let them recover?

The solutions to the climate crisis are here: the energy transition, the heating transition, and the transportation transition. Unfortunately, however, their implementation continues to be thwarted by a lack of political will. With gas lobbyist and Minister of Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche in office, many hard-won victories of the climate movement are currently being rolled back. What is needed now? Is there still reason for hope, and if so, why, when, and how?
We’re asking these questions ofDr. Bernhard Kegel, author of the book *Saving the World with Plants: Green Solutions to Climate Change*, and Mara Kleine, who has beenan activist with FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE since 2019.
In conversation with Matthias Polte, Bernhard Kegel and Mara Kleine explore the possibilities that Kegel outlines in his book and that the young generation of FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE is currently highlighting.

Dr. Bernhard Kegel: Biologist, chemist, environmental consultant, and science writer from Berlin. His books are explicitly aimed at readers without a background in the natural sciences and combine in-depth expertise with a flair for storytelling. Whether the topic is ants, dinosaurs, beetles, microbes, the oceans, genes, or the future of our natural world. His latest book, *Saving the World with Plants: Green Solutions to Climate Change*, was published by DuMont in 2024 and was among the eight books nominated for the German Nonfiction Prize in 2025.

Mara Kleine has been active with Fridays for Future since 2019, as she was no longer willing to accept the injustices of the climate crisis. Since then, she has been organizing climate strikes across Germany together with other young people to push politicians to finally take action. In addition to her activism, she is pursuing a master’s degree in political communication in Düsseldorf.

Matthias Polte is a biology teacher specializing in zoology and evolution and serves as a subject coordinator in teacher training. A particular focus of his work is on supporting gifted students and on sustainability projects, many of which have emerged through the “Jugend forscht” program. In teacher training, he shows prospective teachers how to foster scientific thinking, maintain curiosity, and inspire young people to adopt sustainable practices.

Moderators: Katrin Wiesemann and Matthias Polte 
Moderators for Live Chat and Online Discussion: Stefan Soehnle / Carsten Tigges
Live stream: Ricarda Hinz

A joint event organized by DA!, Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum, Arbeit und Leben DGB/VHS NRW e.V. , and Eine Welt Forum Düsseldorf e.V.