On the one hand, our stand focussed on the topic of flooding. We used the interactive flood model from Geography Didactics to demonstrate how intact nature can support us in flood management. Due to the current situation in southern Germany, it was a real crowd-puller. Visitors were also able to learn about past flood events in Europe with the ‘Water in abundance’ learning unit of our Columbus Eye app. The app was developed in 2021 - since then, Europe has experienced numerous other flood events, some of them more serious.

In addition to floods, we also provided information about urban heat islands and the role plants can play in combating them. So far this year, Germany has been largely spared - but other regions of the world, such as Mexico and the Indian subcontinent, have been suffering from daytime temperatures of over 40°C for months. Visitors to the stand were able to use our Columbus Eye app to explore ‘Summer in Paris’ during such a heatwave using satellite data and find out how urban and green planning affect local temperatures. In two live experiments, visitors were also able to try this out for themselves on a small scale. An exciting method of analysing plants from space using chlorophyll fluorescence was also presented. The many interested visitors learnt why our cities need more green spaces and how we can study plants on a large scale from space.

In recent years, even here in Europe, there have been increasingly severe heatwaves, droughts and floods. Climate change has become a climate crisis. We as a society must prepare for it and at the same time work to minimise it. We can take advantage of nature to do this, as our ecosystem provides a whole range of services that support us in all aspects of climate change minimisation, mitigation and adaptation - if we let it.

Addressing such natural disasters in the classroom is becoming increasingly important. In this way, information on prevention and aid options is also disseminated to the population. With our teaching and learning materials and our stand, we want to help raise awareness of the problem among the population.

Our hard-working team not only showed visitors our great materials and topics, but also visited the numerous and varied stands of the other exhibitors. Last but not least, the event focussed on exchange and networking between stakeholders from different areas of society. The team was able to take home many new impressions and experiences. The wide range of topics was an important source of inspiration on both a professional and personal level. From potential collaborations for our educational projects to new methods for scientific research, as well as ideas for sustainable home building and personal nutrition, everyone found what they were looking for.

The Environment Week was a huge success for us and we are already looking forward to the next one!

You can find more information at https://esero.de and on our LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/company/esero-germany.