A packed house, rapt attention and repeated applause: Eckart von Hirschhausen's evening lecture is the highlight of the Wolfenbüttel Climate Forum, which takes place on the Ostfalia campus on Salzdahlumer Straße in 2026. In the auditorium, the physician, TV presenter and science communicator will speak to hundreds of guests about the connections between the climate crisis and health.
Humour, attitude and clear messages
To show that climate issues affect everyone, von Hirschhausen determines the age range of the audience at the beginning of his lecture. Linus, 12, was the youngest member of the audience and Dr Ursula Schmidt, 101, the oldest. When he asks the farmer and agricultural engineer about the secret of her old age and she explains: "I've worked a lot", von Hirschhausen comments: "Yes, Linus, remember that, not just work-life balance! People work here too" - and has the laughs on his side.
With a mixture of scientific facts, personal experiences and humorous punchlines, Hirschhausen then succeeds effortlessly in conveying the serious topic of the evening in an understandable and approachable way. He makes it clear that the consequences of climate change have long been noticeable, e.g. through the increase in extreme weather events, air pollution or heat stress.
Von Hirschhausen states: "Heat is a silent killer" and conclusively explains that climate protection primarily means protecting people. "The Artemis has just returned. Everyone who has been in space since 1969 says: We're going there to discover from the rear-view mirror how beautiful the Earth is. And there's a lot of black around it, there's a lot of nothing around it." With regard to Elon Musk's Mars ambitions, von Hirschhausen asks: "Can't we use all the resources we need to make it nice here?"
He warns: "We've had stable weather for the last hundred thousand years and we're just catapulting ourselves out of it. There have been fluctuations, but what we are currently experiencing is unprecedented." Not only has the Earth's storage capacity been exhausted, but the large quantities ofCO2 absorbed by the oceans are also a problem, as they are released as the planet warms up.
Nevertheless, the central aim of the evening is to encourage people and Hirschhausen emphasised that social change is possible if politics, science and every single person take responsibility. "We can all be part of the solution."
Future prize goes to the swimming club
Following the lecture, von Hirschhausen presented the new Wolfenbüttel Future Prize, jointly organised by the city and district of Wolfenbüttel, the Curt Mast Jägermeister Foundation, Ostfalia University and the Asse Future Fund. This goes to the Wolfenbütteler Schwimmverein e. V. for the ecological upgrading of the Fümmelsee, which is to serve as a year-round learning, adventure and recreational area in future. Educational programmes, guided tours and hands-on activities will be used to vividly convey topics such as water protection, biodiversity and sustainable action.
The award ceremony marked the end of an extremely successful Climate Forum, which had already brought together science, social dialogue and concrete perspectives for greater sustainability in the afternoon. Many visitors took advantage of the programmes on the campus on Salzdahlumer Straße. In the Senate Hall, the "Green Table" focussed on the topic of biodiversity, while in the auditorium, Ostfalia professors gave keynote speeches demonstrating the many ways in which sustainability is anchored in research and teaching at Ostfalia.
There were also guided tours of the machine hall, a campus rally and a "Market of Opportunities", which invited visitors to take part and find out more. Local initiatives and extracurricular learning centres presented concrete ideas for sustainable action in everyday life. In his welcoming speech, Volker Küch, full-time Vice President of the university, emphasised that sustainability also plays a decisive role in everyday life at Ostfalia. "Sustainability is a central topic for the future of the university and also a cross-sectional task for teaching staff and researchers, students and employees."
