Contents

Imprint 2

Einleitung 3

Dear children, dear adults,
dear politicians of the world, 5

The Classroom 7

Madness, Insanity! 9

Key culprits behind the destruction of our planet:
fossil fuels coal, oil, natural gas 13

The Nuclear Age and Its Waste Problem 18

Garbage, Garbage and More Garbage 19

The Super Wealthy and What Their Character Tells Us 21

Of Hunters and Gatherers or Bears and Berries 23

Modern Slavery versus “The 2,000 Watt Society” 25

It’s Too Much for Our Brains to Handle 32

Nobody can avoid physics – it’s truly ‘univers-all’ 34

A Lesson in Physics: Power vs. Energy 36

Thank Goodness for Chemistry! 38

Geography Ought to do the Trick 40

Power Creates Murderous Monsters 41

Democracy 42

Easter Island (according to Jared Diamond, Collapse) 43

Maybe Religions Will Help Us 46

“Without Music, 48

Languages 49

Headlines from 11/19/2018 (purely coincidental) 51

Hope Dies Last 52

2020 Vision 53

Hymn to our Earth
(adapted from the music of Barclay James Harvest: Hymn, Text, B.I.), translated from German 54

Appendix 56

Literature 58

Einleitung

Dear children, dear adults,
dear politicians of the world,

I am writing this curriculum out of desperation, as a father of three children, as a grandfather of four grandchildren, and as a secondary school teacher with nearly forty years of teaching experience. After spending more than six decades on this beautiful planet, I wonder, “What are we leaving for the generations to come?” Nuclear waste, a climate out of control, mountain landscapes without glaciers, immeasurable environmental damage, filthy and empty oceans, deforested old-growth forests, polluted air, and landscapes covered in concrete! (WWF report from 10/30/2018)

As astronauts (e.g. Alexander Gerst, WWF, YouTube) have confirmed, there is only one earth to be found far and wide. Viewed from the moon, the planet Earth disappears behind the thumb of an outstretched hand (Jim Lovell, Apollo 8,13). If an alien species were to watch from 400 km above the planet as we wage war against each other, burning down the primary forest and polluting the air, they would come to the conclusion that there is no intelligent life on this planet, because its inhabitants are destroying the very basis of their own existence. We, as intelligent and highly civilized adults, mercilessly exploit this planet and our children and grandchildren are the ones on the losing end. We high-tech people are brutally heating up the earth, so much that all glaciers worldwide will soon be melting away.

Here is the fantastic picture of the rising Earth taken from the moon (Earthrise, Apollo 8). Even children in kindergarten are captivated by the moon documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon”. We need to clearly communicate to every child in this world just how fragile and unique our planet is! This is the only way to make them aware of the fact that we must protect this precious jewel of ours.

This is why every child in the world has to know!

•There is only one Earth.

•Currently, the industrial nations need between 3 (CH) and 8 (Qatar) earths, amounting to a worldwide total of 1.7 (WWF 30/10/2018) and 2 by 2050. In this way, they are robbing raw materials from future generations (Footprint, Earth Overshoot Day).

•The way of life in civilized, highly developed nations is destroying the very foundation of life for future generations, both through the exploitation of resources and global warming.

•Every advanced civilization has been destroyed: Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Easter Island, etc. (Collapse, by Jared Diamond); this phenomenon used to happen regionally, now it’s at a global level!

•Parents don’t even think about the future of their children; they live by the principle “devil may care” Therefore, from now on, it’s the children who must educate their parents!

•“Cheap” (also: “greed is great”) always means current consumption at the expense of other people and the environment (movie “We Feed the World”)

•We can (still) save the planet, but we must hurry! We must shift as quickly as possible away from fossil fuels towards hydrogen and a 2000-watt society.