Climate change, species extinction or biodiversity loss: It has become obvious that the challenges of the present cannot be overcome alone. A comprehensive picture unquestionably requires a multitude of perspectives. The Museum für Naturkunde with its Netzwerk Naturwissen (Network of Nature Knowledge) is the venue for a collaboration with partners from Berlin and Brandenburg.
In our event series Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch, we open the stage of the museum's experimental field for a series of evening events on the topic of species crisis, climate change and activism. The inspiration for this comes from the contacts and collaborations that have been established through the network. We look forward to providing a stage for these thought-provoking and relevant topics.
The events of the series Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch will be announced in the calendar of events of the Museum für Naturkunde and on this page. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact netzwerknaturwissen@mfn.berlin.
News
upcoming events will be announced here...
Past Events
Science Week: Storytelling-Workshop Netzwerk Naturwissen:
The future(s) of extinction:… Zusammenleben im Zeitalter des Aussterbens
Dr. Julia Diekämper/ Lynn Harles (MfN)
Fri/ 03/11/2023 - Today we are experiencing a turning point in which the most serious consequences of human activity - such as the climate crisis, dwindling biodiversity and ecological destruction - are becoming inexorably and unmistakably apparent. Future habitability of the planet therefore also calls for new ways of working together and other forms of cooperation. Together with partners from Berlin and Brandenburg, the Netzwerk Naturwissen at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is looking for different ways of looking at this world.
The starting point of our storytelling workshop will be speculative objects that have been created through the fusion of design, art and technology in the network and that speak of this knowledge of nature. Speculative materials, soundscapes, fictional species await you. Based on these objects, around diverse topics, such as Anthropocene, Biodiversity or Planetary Health, we invite you to develop, tell and visualize speculative stories together, also to experience which needs are formative in the face of these big questions. Following the motto, "thinking with all senses" we build bridges between everyday reality, science and test and discuss new forms of knowledge production. Be welcome as we experiment with how we look at and this world.
Offenes Netzwerk Naturwissen_ Zusammenleben im Zeitalter des Aussterbens
Mon/ 27/11/2023 - Today we are experiencing a phase in which the most serious consequences of human activity - such as the climate crisis, dwindling biodiversity and ecological destruction - are becoming inexorably and unmistakably apparent. A future habitability of the planet therefore also demands new cooperation and other forms of collaboration.
As an umbrella for various partners from the Berlin and Brandenburg regions, the Naturwissen network at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is experimenting with connections between knowledge and action. Committed to the common theme of the year, "Extinction", very different projects have been developed: They revolve around the question of how we can think about land use and nutrition in the future, which stories can be/need to be told today with regard to nature issues, or how we can learn ourselves through artistic or playful approaches. We would like to discuss the search for answers and much more together in the Sauriersaal of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
Lange Nacht der Museen im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Sa/ 26/08/2023 - On 26.08.2023 the Lange Nacht der Museen (Long Night of Museums) once again took place in Berlin and we were there too!
Visitors joined us in discovering different voices from Berlin and Brandenburg that are coming together at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in the face of our global ecological crises, such as species extinction.
Wissenschaft, natürlich! Stadt und Gesundheit
Mon/ 10/07/2023 - Life in our cities is changing. Climate change, the influx of large numbers of people and the densification of urban districts are playing a major role. It is currently estimated that 2.5 billion people will be living in cities by the middle of this century. The topic of "cities and health" will become increasingly important in the coming decades - in the world, in Germany and in Berlin. Heat waves and air pollution already indicate this today.
It is therefore important to ask: How do we bring the categories of city and health together in a meaningful way so that people can live well in the city under the changed climate conditions? How do social structures, lifestyles, energy, water and mobility systems shape our lives in cities? Who manages to live healthily and who does not? What distribution conflicts are there? How can the multiple burdens in certain neighborhoods be reduced?
We want to take a look at these questions at our next event organized by the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Museum für Naturkunde (MfN) in the "Wissenschaft, natürlich!" series.
On the panel were:
Jan Paul Heisig - Head of the WZB Research Group Health and Social Inequality
Kim Grützmacher - Head of One Health/Planetary Health, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN)
Christa Böhme - Project Manager Urban Development, Law and Social Affairs
The event was moderated by journalist and author Shelly Kupferberg.
In the „Wissenschaft, natürlich!“ series, the Museum für Naturkunde and the WZB are joining forces to hold public discussions across disciplinary boundaries: It is about social cohesion in times of political and social divisions, about the ecological crisis and about the role of science itself.
Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch: The Beginning of a New World: How We Tell Ourselves About Climate Change Without Falling Silent.
Thur/ 08/06/2023 - Climate change influences our everyday lives. The ever new weather records are not the only indication of this. While, on the one hand, the phenomena are becoming increasingly visible and perceptible in Germany, too, the stories about the current situation, however, seem to remain in stereotypes. How do we tell each other about this world that is changing so much? How do we view ourselves as human beings in this world and how can we open up possibilities, especially through stories, not to fall silent?
In her new book, Birgit Schneider shows changes of perspective and unusual ways of looking at things, expanding our powers of imagination and creating a connection between knowledge and action.
As part of the Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch series of events, she will present her book and discuss it with Dr Elisabeth Heyne, who also works on the topic of human-nature relations and is a member of Netzwerk Naturwissen.
Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch: film screening and discussion: “Aufschrei der Jugend”
Fri/ 03/03/2023 - Following the Global Climate Strike on 3 March 2023, the Netzwerk Naturwissen will show the film "Aufschrei der Jugend" ("Youth Outcry") at the museum and then discuss with the director Kathrin Pitterling, representatives of Fridays for Future Willi Schwope and Louis Motaal, as well as with Timothée Ingen-Housz (Berlin University of the Arts and member of the network), for example, which forms of protest we can use to draw attention to the current environmental crises. We want to discuss how images work here more precisely and what significance their public perception has for socio-politically issues. Which new stories can be told to get into action?
The three discussants (from left) Timothée Ingen-Housz, Louis Motaal and Kathrin Pitterling talk about the form of climate protests. The discussion was moderated by Anna Schunck (r.).
Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch: Filmvorführung und Diskussion: "The Nature Makers"
Do /09.02.2023 - The Netzwerk Naturwissen invites you to a new gathering at the museum on 26th January 2023 at 4.30pm: This time, we will look at the documentary film "The Nature Makers", which deals with extraordinary nature and species conservation projects in the USA. The 70-minute film “is a moving portrait of passionate people and the extraordinary creatures they’re fighting to preserve.”
“In a world increasingly dominated by humans, three teams of wildlife conservationists go to extraordinary and seemingly unnatural lengths to try to save three threatened species in the American heartland. Stunningly photographed in the Grand Canyon and on the American prairie, “The Nature Makers” follows rugged biologists who’ve deployed helicopters, giant bulldozers and a host of human tools to defend wild nature.”
Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch: Die Artenkrise: Komplexe Herausforderungen – gemeinschaftliche Lösungen?
Di /13.12.2022 - From December 7-19, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) will take place in Montreal, where political negotiation processes will decide how to respond (or not) to global species extinction. In the context of a panel discussion of our Netzwerk Naturwissen, we want to critically question the chances, but also the problems of previous measures for the protection of biodiversity.
At the panel discussion "Netzwerk Naturwissen im Gespräch," the four discussants, moderated by Ivy Nortey, got to talk with each other about the species crisis. From left: Ivy Nortey, Konstantin Kreiser, Filibert Heim, Maike Weißpflug, Jörg Freyhof.
Veröffentlichung des offenen Briefes: "15. UN-Weltnaturkonferenz: Unsere Zukunft in Ihren Händen!"
Mo /12.12.2022 - Filibert Heim from Netzwerk Naturwissen, a member of Fridays for Future and a biouniversity student at Göttingen University, together with members of BUNDjugend, Greenpeacejugend, Fridays For Future and NAJU published the Open Letter: "15th UN World Conference on Nature: Our Future in Your Hands!" at the Museum für Naturkunde.
The Open Letter was addressed to Chancellor Scholz, Minister Lemke, Minister Özdemir and Minister Schulze on the occasion of the World Conference on Nature COP15.
The alliance of members of youth movements and youth environmental organisations outlines in its letter the dramatic loss of biodiversity and the insufficient/measures taken so far by the global community to reverse the trend. The authors then propose some key demands/measures to counter the sixth mass extinction.
For example, the authors call for the protection of 30 per cent of the Earth's terrestrial and marine surface, the halting of environmentally harmful subsidies and the restoration of 20 per cent of degraded ecosystems. For these demands, the authors have the support of over 1200 scientists and a broad alliance of over 35 nature and environmental protection organisations.
Presentation of the open letter, "15th Un-World Nature Conference: Our Future in Your Hands" at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. From left: Landelin Winter: Fridays for Future; Wolfgang Lucht: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Katrin-Boehing Gäse: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F) Christoph Heinrich: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). (© WWF-Deutschland 2022)
Installation "Jenga-Turm der Biodiversität". – WWF zu Gast beim Netzwerk Naturwissen
Mi /07.12.2022 - So /18.12.2022 - Today, animal and plant species are disappearing faster than ever before for good - already one million species are threatened. We are currently experiencing the greatest extinction of species since the end of the dinosaur age. From Dec. 7 to Dec. 19, 2022, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) will take place in Montreal, Canada. WWF is using the event as an opportunity to bring the topic of nature and species conservation to the public with the help of a four-meter-high "Jenga Turm der Biodiversität" (Jenga Tower of biodiversity). The tower will be a guest of the Netzwerk Naturwissen at the Museum für Naturkunde from December 7, 2022. The message: on the subject of biodiversity, everything is connected! If you remove something (this can be a species, or a habitat), the tower becomes unbalanced and can collapse. But: it is not too late. We can stabilize the tower if we act now.
More on the topic of species extinction can also be found in the podcast episode "Vom Ende der Evolution" by WWF.
(© WWF_Deutschland)