Hans von Storch Quotes

• There is no last word in research, and that includes climate research. It's never the truth that scientists offer, but only our best possible approximation of reality. But that often gets forgotten in the way the public perceives and describes our work.

  Hans von Storch

  Reality, Forgotten, Scientist

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Because of the inherent time lag in the climate system, the greenhouse gases that have already been pumped into the atmosphere will undoubtedly lead to a certain increase in temperature in the coming decades.

  Hans von Storch

  Atmosphere, Climate, Lag

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• We can no longer completely avoid anthropogenic climate change. At best, limiting the temperature rise to two degrees is just about possible, according to optimistic estimates. That's why we should spend more time talking about adjusting to the inevitable and not about reducing CO2 emissions. We have to take away people's fear of climate change.

  Hans von Storch

  Optimistic, Talking, Two

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• If things continue as they have been, in five years, at the latest, we will need to acknowledge that something is fundamentally wrong with our climate models. A 20-year pause in global warming does not occur in a single modeled scenario. But even today, we are finding it very difficult to reconcile actual temperature trends with our expectations.

  Hans von Storch

  Expectations, Today, Global Warming

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Unfortunately many scientists see themselves too much as priests whose job it is to preach moralistic sermons to people. This is another legacy of the 1968 generation, which I happen to belong to myself. In fact, it would be better if we just presented the facts and scenarios dispassionately - and then society can decide for itself what it wants to do to influence climate change.

  Hans von Storch

  Jobs, People, Climate

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• We climate researchers can only offer possible scenarios. In other words, things could end up being completely different. But there are undoubtedly parts of the world that will benefit on balance from climate change. Those areas tend to be in the north, where it has been cold and uncomfortable in the past. But it's considered practically heretical to even raise such issues.

  Hans von Storch

  Past, Issues, Balance

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• It is in fact necessary to reduce CO2 emissions. There is no reason why we shouldn't spend our vacations on (the North Sea island of) Sylt instead of in the Seychelles, or drive more economical cars - for the sake of preserving increasingly scarce resources if nothing else. But that won't enable us to stop climate change. As long as China, India and the United States continue the way they have been, what we Germans do is more or less irrelevant.

  Hans von Storch

  Vacation, Islands, Sea

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Unfortunately, some scientists behave like preachers, delivering sermons to people. What this approach ignores is the fact that there are many threats in our world that must be weighed against one another. If I'm driving my car and find myself speeding toward an obstacle, I can't simple yank the wheel to the side without first checking to see if I'll instead be driving straight into a crowd of people. Climate researchers cannot and should not take this process of weighing different factors out of the hands of politics and society.

  Hans von Storch

  Simple, Car, People

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

• If higher summer temperatures become the norm in the future, people will adjust. Perhaps they'll take naps more frequently in the afternoon and convert their houses accordingly. The good thing is that all of these changes will not happen overnight, but in the space of decades. We still have enough time to react.

  Hans von Storch

  Summer, Naps, Space

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The reasons are likely rooted in religion. Playing around with God's creation is simply not allowed. Incidentally, in the past it was precisely the deeply religious people who said: Of course we're playing with God's creation, in fact we're perfecting it. This sort of thinking is frowned upon today.

  Hans von Storch

  Religious, Past, Thinking

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

• Nowadays it's those hedonistic wastrels who pollute the air so that they can look at some pretty fish in the South Seas. It would be better if we only ever rode bikes. Oh, there's always someone wagging a finger in disapproval.

  Hans von Storch

  Air, Sea, Would Be

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The fear of climatic catastrophes is an ancient one and not unlike our fear of strangers. In the past, people believed that the climate almost always changes for the worse, and only rarely for the better - God's punishment for sinful behavior.

  Hans von Storch

  Past, Punishment, People

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

• According to the computer models, we do expect high winds in northern Germany to increase by one percent per decade. But this is such a weak phenomenon that we won't even notice it at first.

  Hans von Storch

  Wind, Germany, Firsts

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

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