Preparation

Preparation I: Cultural Dynamics Self-assessment

Cultural Dynamics and Marketing is a company involved in strategy and marketing and has been assessing what drives people for many years. They provide a short self-assessment test – The Cultural Dynamics Values Modes Questionnaire (cultdyn.co.uk/Process).

There are twenty simple questions that take no more than five minutes to answer. Please take this test, register an account on this website and enter your results. The results will be discussed during the workshop. In a group workshop setting, the vision should be developed as far as possible in teams that align with the main three Cultural Dynamics categories.

To get access to the detailed supporting material on this website, it is necessary to set up a profile. This is free and your information will only be used to improve the HEAT Method.

You have not yet set up a profile, or are not logged in. To register go here: Registration. To login go here: Login.
You have not yet registered your Cultural Dynamics Values Orientation. Carry out the Cultural Dynamics Values Modes Questionnaire (cultdyn.co.uk/Process) first, enter the result into your profile).
You have already carried out the Cultural Dynamics Values Modes self-assessment and are a / .

Preparation II: WWF Personal Carbon Footprint Self-assessment

There are many carbon footprint calculators. It is not so important which one is used, but it helps to have recently considered key personal factors affecting global warming. The Swiss WWF footprint calculator can be found here: www.wwf.ch/de/nachhaltig-leben/footprintrechner. Again, it does not take more than five minutes to calculate your footprint. Please record your footprint in your Profile.

Your WWF Personal Carbon Footprint is not yet filled in.

Preparation III: Reflect on key personal emotions caused by global warming

Reflect on personal emotions caused by global warming and its potential to destroy the human habitat. Consider not only yourself, but also your family and children (should you have any). These emotions can include fear of unpredictable future changes, anger about corporations and individuals profiting from the pollution, and grief at the loss of flora, fauna and natural habitats.

Please record the deep emotions that you personally feel as part of this reflection in your Profile and be prepared to talk about them in the workshop.

You have not recorded any key emotions yet.

Preparation IV: Select your preferred global warming topic area

In order to make the discussion concrete, please choose one key topic area impacted by global warming, preferably in advance of the workshop. Some examples:

– mobility and travel
– local and seasonal food
– consumption and waste reduction
– heat and power.

Please record your chosen topic area in your Profile and be prepared to talk about it in the workshop.

You have not recorded a topic area yet.

 

Global warming is happening: some (optional) background reading

Human-caused global warming is happening. The scientific consensus is near to unanimous that humans are causing global warming (See “Earth’s Future”, Volume 2, Issue 5 [104, pp. 295-298]).

The cumulative amount of CO2 that humanity has emitted is directly affecting the average climate temperature. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen to the unprecedented level of 415 ppm, exceeding the maximum of the last 600,000 years which was around 300 ppm.

The overall rise in temperature has been around 0.9°C since 1850, and even more in Switzerland. For more information see climate.nasa.gov/evidence/. See also climatecentral.org/news/see-earths-temperature-spiral-toward-2c-20332.

Changes to the climate not only increase local temperatures but also affect our global habitat and disturb natural food chains, weather patterns, wildlife and vegetation. The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris agreed to set an upper limit to the average temperature increase of 2.0°C (with the key preference of keeping “substantially below 1.5°C”) so as to mitigate side-effects and tipping points such as more violent weather, the desertification of parts of the world and sea-level change.

The natural world is also stressed by these factors and there is strong evidence that a mass extinction of species is under way (a report by the UN, published in May 2019, shows that Earth’s biodiversity is suffering a catastrophic decline unprecedented in human history: see www.dw.com/en/why-biodiversity-loss-hurts-humans-as-much-as-climate-change/a-48579014). The human food chain is also directly impacted.