Drought-stricken pastures, burning forests and boats sitting on dried-up lakebeds: The images that have been making headlines around the world this summer certainly leave an impression. And they seem to confirm what a wealth of scientific studies has shown: Our climate is changing – with far-reaching consequences for our environment.
The question of how this change is affecting and will continue to affect our everyday lives is being addressed by the federal administration. Various administrative units, such as the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss or the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), have investigated aspects of climate change in a number of studies. A considerable amount of this valuable data and the insights gained from the corresponding analyses are available to the public, be it on the homepage of the National Center for Climate Services (NCCS), the websites of the offices involved or via the opendata.swiss portal.
However, the issue of climate change and the questions surrounding it are complex. Oftentimes, interpreting existing data and investigating potential interlinkages requires in-depth knowledge in data science. This poses a problem: Developing this expertise is not only difficult, but also time-consuming; investing the time necessary on top of their private and professional commitments is virtually impossible for many citizens. Thus, for a large part of the public, the available data remains abstract and any attempt to grasp the concrete impacts of climate change on their lives stays difficult.
Especially in a direct democracy like Switzerland, however, it is important that such information is not only available to citizens in theory, but also made accessible to them in practice. This accessibility allows them to draw their own conclusions, thus laying the basis for informed decision-making.
To achieve this, we need your support: Help us make climate change and its impacts easily tangible for the Swiss population in an innovative way!
