How children imagine our climate future
Kids4Climate: The Earth in 50 years
Our changing climate is already scary - and will worsen over the next half-century. While most of us might not be here in 50 years, today's children will. How do they imagine the planet we'll leave for them? In pictures.
A sinking world
Samuel is only 10 years old, but when it comes to describing how climate change will impact our planet, he has a clear answer: water will rise so much that people living near the sea will be begging for help to survive. But why does it happen? "Because of the extreme pollution," he says.
The last sunrise?
While Daniel (7) loves contemplating the sun, he wonders whether it will still be here in 50 years. He is hoping it only changes slightly, and that sunsets and sunrises will still be beautiful and colorful and will keep delighting adults and children. He's already urging his parents to recycle at home. After all, it's his future that's at stake.
Hold your breath
In a near future, flying cars will still be as polluting as cars nowadays, the sky will rarely look blue due to pollution, and humankind will completely forget the importance of nature - even the last of the trees will be removed. To top it off, droughts will be so bad in some places that ships will be stranded. And for that, Paloma (10) points out, we don't need to wait 50 years but only 15.
Escaping heat waves
Emma (7) has been traveling through southeast Asia in recent months and has loved the experience. But it was so hot! She learned from her mom that global temperatures are increasing every year. Therefore it's not surprising how she imagines the planet in the future: the sun will almost burn out and people will be forced to leave Earth – in rockets, of course.
A new home: Mars
Life on another planet is exactly what Linus (12) imagines - more concretely, on Mars. In 50 years, the Earth will be immersed in such chaos that we will have to look for a better place. But even there, we will not have learned the lesson and we will leave another trail of consumption and destruction. Not much hope for our near future, right, Linus? "Well, we can still stop it!"
Technology has the power
In place of nature, technology will dominate our daily lives, Yann (12) believes. But for him, this is not discouraging, since we will have the most advanced technologies and lots of flying objects. This is how our planet will look in 50 years: a futuristic cityscape filled with revolutionary machines.
Huge carbon 'handprint'
Astrid (6) has a very abstract idea about Earth. It's a place where river flows, air flows and people are simultaneously affected by the same threat: a gigantic carbon "handprint." Astrid has heard about it at school: the bigger the "handprint," the worse the impact for us all.
Let’s try to survive
Our young artists don't always want to give a clear interpretation for their pieces. In this case, Miguel (10) provides us with two main options: The robot represents destructive climate change. Here, our destiny is quite clear. On the other hand, it may just mean that artificial intelligence will get out of control and become more powerful than humans. In any case, it's our time to act!
Tragedy on Earth
At 7, Judith gets quite serious when talking about the future, and is convinced we might all be dead by 2067 - pets included. In half a century, almost no one will have survived planetary destruction: and aliens will get the chance to take over. Just in case, Judith already prefers to save precious resources. No more new sheets of paper for drawing unless she's first used the other side.
Climate change can be scary - even for children. DW reporter Irene Banos Ruiz asked children from 6 to 12 years old to paint what they expect the world in 50 years to be. The result: a bit frightening. Flick through the pics above to see for yourself.
Also check out our video portraits of young people engaged in work to help protect the climate.
Kids4Climate: Don't waste resources
Counting butterflies to combat climate change
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