Gn the end, Stefan Wittig says that it’s not all over yet. For two hours he reported how climate change is threatening the city of Bremen. The North Sea is rising, its storm surges are becoming stronger and probably more frequent. The groundwater threatens to become too salty. The Weser threatens to overflow if a lot of snow melts in the Harz mountains in a short time. Bremen, which is barely above sea level, does not get the water pumped into the sea fast enough when it rains heavily. More and more often the heat in summer is too great. Nevertheless, Wittig says: “We can take countermeasures.” As a climate adaptation manager, Wittig is working to ensure that Bremen changes with climate change. He’s busier than ever.
Bremen can stop climate change just as little as anyone can abolish the ebb and flow. No city, no country can do much on its own against the greenhouse effect, against rising sea levels, against weeks of drought. Climate change can only be stopped or at least mitigated if almost every city, almost every country reduces emissions. Stefan Wittig and his colleague Christof Voßel, who, like Wittig, works for the Senator for the Environment and Climate Protection, also know this. Both hope that humanity will succeed in slowing down the climate change it has caused itself. But both also know that as long as there is no certainty that this will succeed, we should start adapting to climate change. The consequences have long been felt.
