Reading Marathon ’1.5 Degrees is Dead!’ at Freie Universität Berlin

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth synthesis report to be read aloud continuously over three days / Members of the public invited to take part

Together with climate activists, researchers from the Institute for Theater Studies at Freie Universität Berlin are organizing a reading marathon from November 26 to 28, 2024. The aim of the three-day event, which will be open to the public, is to read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s sixth synthesis report aloud in its entirety. The event aims to draw attention to the significance of the latest scientific findings regarding the climate crisis - as well as to emphasize the need for urgent action. Students, employees, and instructors at Freie Universität Berlin, as well as members of the general public, are invited to attend and join in reading the report aloud. Titled "1.5 Degrees is Dead!" the reading marathon will take place on three consecutive days from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Freie Universität Berlin’s Silberlaube building. Similar reading marathons have already taken place at other universities around Europe.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. Its aim is to assess the science related to climate change and to provide policy-makers with the information they need to take action. Despite the sobering results of the latest report, many industrial nations, including Germany, are still not taking the appropriate levels of action required to promote climate justice and reduce global warming to a minimum.

It is almost guaranteed that 2024 will be the hottest year in recorded history and the first time that the global temperature will exceed the 1.5°C limit agreed upon in the Paris Agreement ( https://climate.copernicus.eu/ye­ar-2024-se­t-end-warm­est-record ).

According to climate researchers, current measures and targets are not enough to bring about a significant turnaround in greenhouse gas emissions. "The 1.5°C climate goal can no longer realistically be met, meaning that humanity will face severe challenges in the near future," says Dr. Matthias Grotkopp, co-initiator of the reading marathon and junior professor at Freie Universität Berlin. This observation ties in with the various crises humanity is already currently facing, for example, mass extinction of species around the world and the waste pollution crisis. Neither policy-makers nor large segments of society seem to be aware of the significant changes these developments will bring to their living conditions - changes that we are already subject to and that pose a serious threat to future generations.

"Our aim is to draw attention to the urgency of the situation in our day-to-day lives at the university, to counteract how these issues are quickly brushed aside to ensure business as usual, and to question the general understanding of scientists as neutral observers," says Grotkopp, who is also a member of the group Scientist Rebellion Germany. "Facts may be objective, but their implications concern us all."

The Latin words veritas, justitia, and libertas, which frame the seal of Freie Universität Berlin, stand for the values that have defined the academic ethos of Freie Universität since its founding in December 1948.