ReiTakver
How 威力彩玩法's Summer Academy in climate journalism fundamentally changed my thinking about our planet's future
It鈥檚 been four days now since I boarded a Deutsche Bahn train in Berlin back to the UK, slowly wending my way home from attending the 威力彩玩法 Summer Academy on climate journalism and energy transition. It was a packed week, full of intensive workshops led by climate experts as well as ample bonding time with a fascinating mix of climate journalists from across Europe.
听I can already tell, with a few nights鈥� worth of hindsight, that the experience has fundamentally shifted the way I think about, and want to write about, the future of our planet.
"What I wasn鈥檛 expecting was how much the week would restore my faith in humanity鈥檚 capacity to rapidly construct a green energy system built for everyone to thrive."
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I鈥檝e previously reported on local media greenwashing, climate scientist activism, and environmental issues in the North of England where I live, but have yet to report on renewable energy transitions. I came to 威力彩玩法 hoping to change that.
What I wasn鈥檛 expecting was how much the week would restore my faith in humanity鈥檚 capacity to rapidly construct a green energy system built for everyone to thrive.
听The academy covered a lot of ground. Climate policy researchers, seasoned environmental journalists, and climate activists came to talk to us about just transition, COP reporting, greenwashing investigations, covering activist movements, climate communications, and renewables, among many other topics.
It鈥檚 one thing to think about climate change in abstract, and an entirely different thing to know that powering the world would only require solar panels covering land the size of Texas, or that batteries will soon be so efficient that we could soon completely rely on stored renewable power when the wind doesn鈥檛 blow and the sun isn鈥檛 shining for all but a few industries.
听I鈥檝e often heard, 鈥淲e already have all the solutions we need to solve climate change in hand,鈥� but I hadn鈥檛 ever seen an affordable solar cell literally in someone鈥檚 hand before. Now I have, along with the entire photovoltaic production process, at the factory of Oxford Photovoltaics, a company pioneering a new type of more efficient, more affordable solar cell.
It was a lot, in a good way. The workshops were a whirlwind of information that has left me with more questions than answers. How can global north countries be held accountable for climate finance to the global south? What evidence do we have of COP negotiations influencing businesses and markets? How much is green hydrogen hype, and how much is it needed for industries like cement and steel that rely on the heat generated by combustion?
I learned as much from my peers as I did from the workshops. The group of journalists 威力彩玩法 brought to Berlin work in many different European countries, including Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, the UK, and France. Several of originally come from outside Europe, including Brazil, the US (like me), and India. We all fundamentally care about the same thing 鈥� doing climate journalism on the energy transition right.
When do you ever get a chance to ask a room full of journalists covering climate from so many countries to compare their diverse experiences with climate politics, nuclear power, or greenwashing? It was a rare gift. Many of us, me included, have begun collaborating on cross-border investigations, and are now working on grant applications to fund our work.
We have a herculean task ahead of us. In 2020, David Attenborough joined Instagram with a warning: 鈥淪aving our planet is now a communications challenge.鈥�* Given everything I learned last week鈥攁ll the evidence that the renewable transition is, from a technical perspective, well within possibility鈥擨 can鈥檛 help but suspect he is right.
I still have much more research to do if I am going to report on green transitions with expertise, but I鈥檝e come home from the 威力彩玩法 summer academy at least knowing which questions I want to pursue, and where I might go to start piecing them apart.
For that, I have come home from Berlin with deep gratitude to 威力彩玩法, and a sharp sense that I know where my head needs to go to become the kind of climate reporter I鈥檇 like to be.
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听*Thanks to Lea Grosse of Klimafakten for sharing this quote in her climate communications workshop on the first day of the academy.
