Panel Kleinman Center Event

Beginning to End the Climate Crisis: A Discussion with Climate Activists

Monday, April 3, 2023 | 3:00PM - 4:00PM
Hybrid Event

Speakers

Luisa Neubauer
German Climate Activist
Alexander Repenning
German Climate Activist
Sabine von Mering
Director of the Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University
Sabirah Mahmud
International Relations Student, Modern Middle Eastern Studies

Moderators

Michael Mann
Presidential Distinguished Professor, Earth and Environmental Science
Simon Richter
Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures

Location

Kleinman Energy Forum
Fisher Fine Arts Library
220 S 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

This live event is also available on Zoom. 

A discussion about debunking myths around climate change, discussing system and structural changes needed for human action, and how climate activists have used their platforms and actions to mobilize youth activists and the youth climate movement.

Sponsors

Event Summary

German climate activist Luisa Neubauer has been dubbed the “Greta” of Germany and recently named a 2022 TIME100 Next. She is one of the primary organizers behind Fridays for Future in Germany. She has helped mobilize 1.4 million youth in Germany, and has spoken openly about her beliefs that the politicians and media are ignoring the climate crisis. Together with fellow climate activist Alexander Repenning, who works for the Right Livelihood Foundation, which annually awards the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize,’ she penned a book on how the youth can contribute to ending the climate crisis. Beginning to End the Climate Crisis by German climate activists Luisa Neubauer and Alexander Repenning has been newly translated to English by Sabine von Mering. This book will show you through the authors’ experience how you can take action in securing a better future for humanity in the face of climate change.

Join the Kleinman Center and the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media for a panel discussion with German climate activists and authors Luisa Neubauer and Alexander Repenning, Brandeis University professor and book translator Sabine von Mering, climate and human rights advocate and Penn Student Sabirah Mahmud, and Penn climate scientist and science communicator Michael Mann. This panel discussion will focus on debunking myths around climate change, discussing system and structural changes needed for human action, and how Luisa, Alexander, and Sabirah have used their platforms and actions to mobilize youth activists and the youth climate movement.

There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience, and this event will be in a hybrid format (in-person and via Zoom). In an effort to reduce travel carbon footprint, Luisa Neubauer will be joining the event remotely via Zoom.

Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media is excited to cohost this event with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.

Books will unfortunately not be available to purchase on site but they can be preordered here.

speaker

Luisa Neubauer

German Climate Activist
Luisa Neubauer is a German climate activist and has been dubbed the “Greta” of Germany and recently named a 2022 TIME100 Next. She is one of the primary organizers behind Fridays for Future in Germany. She has helped mobilize 1.4 million youth in Germany.
speaker

Alexander Repenning

German Climate Activist
Alexander Repenning was born in Hamburg, Germany and is a comprehensivist facilitator, and writer engaged for climate justice. He holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the Humboldt-University of Berlin and a master’s in economics at the Cusanus Hocschule fur Gesellschaftsgestaltung.
speaker

Sabine von Mering

Director, Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University
Sabine von Mering is director of the Center for German and European Studies and Professor of German and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University, where she teaches courses in German Language and Culture, European Perspectives on Climate Change, and Antisemitism on social media.
speaker

Sabirah Mahmud

International Relations Student, Modern Middle Eastern Studies
Sabirah Mahmud is a 20-year-old Bangladeshi climate and human rights advocate. Raised in Philadelphia, PA and her roots set from her family’s coastal village in Noakhali, Bangladesh, she has organized over climate justice, and the urgency and importance of an intersectional approach to climate.
moderator

Michael Mann

Presidential Distinguished Professor
Michael E. Mann is the Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He is a faculty fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.
moderator

Simon Richter

Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures
Simon Richter is a Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and member of the Graduate Groups in Comparative Literature, Perry World House faculty fellow and faculty fellow of the Penn Institute of Urban Research, and faculty advisory board member of the Water Center at Penn.

Longer bios for event speakers can be found here.