- is what author Bettina Erasmy poignantly has the earth think in one of her works. She is referring to the people who have wiped themselves out. I think the image hits the bull's eye: Mankind comes, and probably goes again, the earth remains. For it, we are just a moment, it just keeps spinning. And in truth, the loss of humanity is not going to faze it much.
Our youth however is bothered and wants to know how long the earth will continue to turn WITH us. This is how I experienced it on February 6 in the Vorarlberg Landestheater at the future conference "MY FUTURE - WHO CARES?", which was also supported by the Climate Neutrality Alliance. 12-year-old Levin Berning rocked the house with his passionate appeal for planting trees. Together with Felix Finkbeiner, the initiator of this simple but feasible idea, he thus provided the prelude to an impressive number of presentations of various projects that the young people - students from all over Vorarlberg - have initiated, worked on or already implemented in recent months. CARE Austria and the Junge Landestheater had invited them.
The event inspired me. More precisely: The young activists infected me with their enthusiasm. Because, yes, our world is facing immense challenges. Climate change, poverty and hunger to name just a few. But there was one thing I sensed very clearly that day: Our young generation is taking on these challenges. Their tenor was "There are solutions. We'll get there." Our job now is to help them create the best solutions for their future.
And we have to believe in the ideas and solutions that already exist. Like the Climate Neutrality Alliance 2025, for example, which I had the privilege of co-founding in 2013 and which now has 131 alliance partners. To at least neutralise your own emissions is - in addition to taking measures within the business itself - the quickest and easiest way for a company to clearly position itself and make an active contribution to solving climate problems. Any business can participate, independent of size, location and industry. The more companies participate, the more powerful the initiative becomes and the more everyone benefits - including the earth, which then won't have to miss us.
