Climate change is one of the most pressing concerns facing our society today. Global warming and extreme weather events are already impacting lives and livelihoods around the world— and will only continue to worsen.
Informed decision-making is vital to fighting climate change. However, like many other “hot button” issues, the topic has inspired a campaign of misinformation and fake news online. It is increasingly difficult to find vetted, neutral scientific facts that haven’t been marred by someone’s opinion or agenda.
That’s why free, neutral online information sources like Wikipedia are so essential. With its community of editors ensuring content is unbiased and correct, Wikipedia has become a critical educational tool to fight climate change. It not only provides the facts necessary to make informed decisions, but it also makes scientific research more accessible to the public.
In fact, the link between free knowledge and climate change is so vital that the Wikimedia Movement has identified sustainability and climate change as a Topic of Impact for new campaigns and initiatives.
At Wikimedia CH, we help our community of volunteers keep Wikipedia content on climate change up-to-date and complete through several initiatives, including:
- week-long in-person camps such as Wikipedia for Peace: Climate Justice
- edit-a-thons and workshops to create and improve Wikipedia articles on climate-related topics, such as glaciers, nature reserves, activist biographies and scientific research;
- a photo competition on Swiss nature through the annual Wiki Loves Switzerland project; and
- coordination of editorial work on Wikipedia via the project page WikiProjekt Schweiz Klima
We also protect Switzerland’s cultural heritage against the effects of climate change by helping cultural institutions digitise their physical collections— therefore preserving them in case of an extreme weather event like a flood or landslide. To this end, we supported a call to action for a global standard to protect these institutions from climate change-related natural disasters.
Last, we are reducing our own environmental footprint in alignment with the Wikimedia Environmental Sustainability Covenant by not having a physical office and prioritising travel by public transportation. We have also tasked our recently launched Innovation programme with, among other things, finding new ways to fight climate change through our Wikimedia projects.
While climate change has been an important topic in our work for years, we want to do even more. As a non-profit organisation, we rely on donations from individuals and organisations who share our mission to protect and disseminate free knowledge.
To support our work on climate change and other important topics, please consider making a tax-deductible donation by clicking the button below.
