Suchergebnisse

Bevölkerungsentwicklung, Urbanisierung, Globalisierung, Klimawandel und Biodiversität - der Globale Wandel hat viele Gesichter. Umfassend, thematisch übergreifend und verständlich erklärt Rüdiger Glaser alle Aspekte dieses Prozesses, der das heutige Erscheinungsbild der Erde grundlegend verändert. Konkretisierend betrachtet Glaser weltweite Schauplätze, an denen sich der Wandel vollzieht und bringt so das Phänomen auf eine regionale Ebene. Abschließend spielt er verschiedene Zukunftsszenarien durch und zeigt Alternativen zum bisherigen Weg auf. Zahlreiche Abbildungen veranschaulichen die nachd

Die vorliegende Analyse der Temperaturschwankungen seit dem Mittelalter basiert auf Index-Kalkulationen der verschiedenen klimatischen Phasen. Für die Zeit nach 1500 liegen genauere Daten vor, die Rückschlüsse auf Landwirtschaft und Sozialgeschichte erlauben. Die Interpretation der Daten mittels einer Regressionsanalyse zeigt starke, natürlich bedingte Fluktuationen in der klimatischen Entwicklung Mitteleuropas. Insgesamt beansprucht die Studie, zu einem besseren Verständnis der Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehung beizutragen. (ICE)

Auf dem Hintergrund der Bedeutung der historischen Klimatologie für das Verständnis klimatischer Prozesse und der Interaktion zwischen Mensch und Umwelt, gibt der Beitrag einen Überblick über Daten und angewandte Methoden in der historischen Klimakunde. Es werden drei wesentliche Gruppen unterschieden, deskriptive Wetterdaten, Daten aus dem Ablesen von Instrumenten und proxy-Daten, sowie die verschiedenen Methoden, Informationen aus diesen Daten zu gewinnen, vorgestellt. Dabei rangiert die angewandte Methodik der Klimakunde von der Anwendung historischer kritischer Quellenanalysen über hermeneutische Verfahren bis hin zu numerischen naturwissenschaftlichen und statistischen Vorgehensweisen. (ICH)

Climate and regional land-use and landcover change (LUCC) impact the ecosystem of the Upper Rhine Area (URA) and transform large parts of the landscape into strongly irrigated agricultural cropland. The increase of long-term drought periods and the trend towards low summer precipitation totals trigger an increase in groundwater scarcity and amplify the negative effects of extensive irrigation purposes and freshwater consumption in a hydrologically sensitive region in Central Europe. This article presents qualitative transnational open source remote sensing temporal series of vegetation indices (NDVI) and groundwater level development to tracing near real-time vegetation change and socio-ecological feedbacks during periods of climate extremes in the Upper Rhine Area (2018–2020). Increased freshwater consumption caused a dramatic drop in groundwater availability, which eventually led to a strong degradation of the vegetation canopy and caused governmental regulations in July 2020. Assessing vegetation growth behavior and linking groundwater reactions in the URA through open source satellite data contributes to a rapidly accessible understanding of the ecosystem's feedbacks on the local to the transnational scale and further enables risk management and eco-political regulations in current and future decision-making processes

Citizen-led local participation is considered the key to a successful energy transition, and citizens' co-owned power plants are an alternative and representative form of local participation. The extent to which citizens' co-owned power plants can embody "locality, democracy, participation, energy autonomy, poverty reduction, and energy justice" has led to many controversial discussions. In response to these meaningful questions, this study argues for the focus to return to the impetus and driving forces of local participation in energy. This study proposes six possibilities for the impetus of local energy participation and the types of participation they may create. In the case analysis of the Higashi-Ohmi Model, in addition to the compound disaster of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and the transformation of the Japanese power grid, the driving factors depend on the self-consciousness of local promoters who insist on independence from policy influence. By linking local networks to discuss "local needs," the residents form an integrated plan of "agricultural self-sufficiency, care system, and energy autonomy." They promote the overall economic cycle of the region with energy regional energy currency, which inspired other rural forms of citizen energy participation. In addition, the simultaneous development of small-scale local enterprises and the ability of the local government to adjust policies centered on the needs of residents are important conditions for implementing the Higashi-Ohmi model.

Europa - eine Geographie Das gesamte Europa in einem Buch: Europa - eine Geographie stellt die "Bühne" vor, auf der wir Europäer uns bewegen. Sie will zum Verständnis des ökonomischen und gesellschaftlichen Handelns im Kontext ökologischer Folgen und Rückwirkungen beitragen und eine kritische Reflexion aktueller Diskurse um das "europäische Projekt" ermöglichen. Eine solche, über die alltäglichen Aufgeregtheiten im Kontext der europäischen Finanzkrise hinausreichende geographische Darstellung scheint gerade derzeit notwendiger denn je. Europa ist mehr als die Summe seiner geographischen Grundtatsachen. Der Halbkontinent ist über Prozesse der Globalisierung eng mit der übrigen Welt verknüpft und hat über Jahrhunderte die Geschicke auch in fernen Kontinenten bestimmt. Bis heute ist Europa eine Projektionsfläche vielfältiger Erwartungen und Ziel internationaler Migrationsströme, aber zugleich auch ein "alternder" Kontinent - nicht nur in seiner Bevölkerungsstruktur, sondern ebenso in seiner Rolle gegenüber aufstrebenden neuen Ökonomien wie den BRIC-Staaten (Brasilien, Russland, Indien, China). Obwohl flächenmäßig nicht sehr groß, ist Europa kleinteilig und bunt, kulturell und sprachlich vielfältig. Das vorliegende Buch stellt im besten Sinne des Wortes eine "geographische Erzählung" Europas dar. Es widmet sich wirtschaftlichen und politischen, sozialgeographischen und ökologischen Perspektiven. Europa- eine Geographie beleuchtet nicht nur die Länder der Europäischen Union, sondern den gesamten Kontinent, auch die ehemals hinter dem "Eisernen Vorhang" liegenden Staaten und Räume. In acht Kapiteln entfalten rund 70 Autoren ein faszinierendes Bild unseres Umgangs mit der Natur ebenso wie der politischen Geographie Europas in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, seiner Bevölkerungs- und Wirtschaftsentwicklung, des Wandels europäischer Städte und Kulturlandschaften sowie der Rolle des Kontinents in einer globalen Zukunft. Europa - eine Geographie wendet sich an Studierende der Geographie und der Europa-Studiengänge sowie an Lehrer der verschiedenen Schularten, zudem ist das Buch von seiner Zielsetzung her auch für eine breite, an Europa interessierte Öffentlichkeit konzipiert und stellt die alltäglichen Nachrichten (z.B. über die EU und den Euro) in einen größeren Zusammenhang. In dem aufwendig gestalteten Werk werden die Texte durch zahlreiche aktuelle Grafiken, großformatige Bilder und eingeschobene Exkurse e ...

AbstractTo understand the concerns, approvals and disapprovals of expert opinions about managerial issues from around reservoirs this study uses the approach of Fuzzy Composite Programming (FCP) in direct questionnaires to parameterize and rate a set of indicators with statements about managerial issues concerning societal implications by the responding experts. The personal ratings get summarized in four different layers and converted into one final numerical value which will be in the range of 0 as the absolute disapproval of the indicators and 1 as the absolute approval of the indicators. The FCP approach thereby rates the individual indicator, secondly the indicator category, thirdly the compensational factor and fourthly the dimensions of sustainability. This facilitates a rapid comparison of results of rather complicated sets of pre-set indicators in topics reaching from legal issues to societal concerns in one final numerical value to identify crucial topics and start open debates. This study was carried out as a methodological test at two water reservoirs in southern Germany. The results show a general possibility of using a rather retrospect methodology towards current ratings of experts in the field of reservoir management. 10 respondents answered the FCP questionnaires, 5 at each study site. The scores of the calculation showed a higher level of positive connection in the case of the Schwarzenbachtalsperre (SBT) with a score of 0.77, compared to a score of 0.54 in the case of the Franconian Lake District (FLD). Apart from the pure numerical scores, FCP can show conflicting issues and possible compromise solutions between the different stakeholders, in/based on the individual ratings. The findings could help reach a more sustainable management of water resources that includes all stakeholders, by pointing out debatable implications.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.