Second sustainability conference aims to take Carlowitz's thinking further

The second sustainability conference in Chemnitz today commemorated the idea of sustainability and its founder Hans Carl von Carlowitz. Among the guests was Kurt Biedenkopf, former Prime Minister of Saxony, who gave a speech in honour of the winner of the 2014 Sustainability Award, Ulrich Grober. Another award winner was scientist Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker. His laudatory speech was given by Volker Angres, head of the environmental editorial department at ZDF.

Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig welcomed the guests to the opera house and recalled the thinker Carlowitz, who was born in Oberrabenstein: "Dealing with a great man from Chemnitz - Hans-Carl von Carlowitz - also means formulating a task for the future: taking the concept of sustainability seriously and accepting responsibility for it. It is up to us to fill this visionary idea with life. In Chemnitz, this is happening in various places, such as in research into an energy self-sufficient factory in the eniProd cutting-edge technology cluster, in the Chemnitz model, which extends environmentally friendly public transport beyond the city limits into the surrounding area.Chemnitz model, which takes environmentally friendly public transport beyond the city limits into the surrounding area, or Brühl, which we are redeveloping as a city centre district and at the same time promoting the large-scale use of renewable energies and the establishment of a low-temperature district heating network."

Chemnitz University of Technology and TU Bergakademie Freiberg made a commitment to sustainable education on this day. Rector Prof. Dr Arnold van Zyl from Chemnitz University of Technology, Rector Prof. Dr Bernd Meyer from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and Dr Dieter Füsslein from the Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Gesellschaft signed cooperation agreements.

The ballet of the Chemnitz Municipal Theatre presented an artistic programme. There was also a choice of three excursions, including to the research institutes in Chemnitz and Freiberg.

Information on the award winners:

Ulrich Grober is an author. His book "Die Entdeckung der Nachhaltigkeit. Cultural History of a Concept", he shows that sustainability is not a buzzword, but has roots in cultural history. He has devoted numerous writings, reports, documentaries, books and newspaper articles to his topic: cultural history and visions of the future, the experience of nature and sustainability. His work on sustainability has since been translated into English and adopted by numerous institutions (including the Royal Society and the UN in their "Global Sustainable Development Reportals")

The second prize winner is the scientist Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker. He specialises in climate change, the environment and nature conservation. His scientific career began in 1972 when he was appointed Professor at the University of Essen and later President of the University of Kassel. In 1981, he headed the UN Centre for Science and Technology in New York, was Director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn, Paris, London and, most recently, Dean in California. He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2005. From March 2000 to October 2002, he was Chairman of the Enquête Commission on Globalisation of the World Economy - Challenges and Answers. From November 2002, he was Chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Today, he is still entrusted with responsible tasks and offices in international organisations (Co-Chair UNEP International Resource Panel and Co-President Club of Rome). He is the nephew of former German President Richard von Weizsäcker.

Hans Carl von Carlowitz establishes the concept of sustainability in Chemnitz