Harald Welzer notes that our culture has no concept of stopping. Therefore, it builds highways and airports for futures in which there will be no more cars and airports. And it tries to solve our future problems by optimization, although an optimized wrong is still wrong. In doing so, it obstructs many opportunities to make life better by omission and cessation. This culture has made death as much a private matter as it has doggedly ignored the finite nature of the earth.

Prof. Dr. Harald Welzer is a Sociologist and Social Psychologist, Co-Founder and Director of the foundation “FUTURZWEI. Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit”, speaker of the Rat für Digitale Ökologie (Council for Digital Ecology), permanent Visiting Professor at the University of St.Gallen and Head of the Norbert-Elias-Center for Transformation Design at the University of Flensburg. He has written numerous books on socio-political issues, particularly sustainability, which have been published in 22 languages. Also, Welzer is currently editor of “tazFUTURZWEI”, a magazine on future and politics.