About
Idea & Incentive
What I am excited about? Encouraging creative and committed people! And what motivates me? My deep concern: to protect our environment and biological diversity!
All of humanity depends on the cultivation of food and the extraction of raw materials. Our natural environment and biodiversity are inseperably connected to our nutrition and health, and in this way to the welfare of our societies. There are numerous ideas and concepts on how we can cultivate soils and landscapes in a futurable way. Our understanding of the term “futurability” is that people can make a good living from land use, while at the same time biodiversity and the health of the natural environment are being maintained or promoted.
The ideas and concepts on how this can be achieved have been created by people who wish to promote the transformation fowards futurability. Stiftung WissenWecken aims at supporting these people, and at bringing their ideas into living practise.
Team
Laura Breitsameter
Founder and managing director
“The beauty of nature has always touched and moved me. I studied biology at Munich Technical University and did my PhD in agricultural sciences at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. For several years I worked as a scientist and did research in field of environmental and biodiversity effects of agricultural production systems. In addition to my studies and professional activity, I have volunteered in environmental education for many years.
I am driven by the desire to apply the knowledge and to realize the ideas of futurable land use systems – and thus to “bring the knowledge to life”. And I wish to support people who are committed to pursuing this goal. For this reason I have founded Stiftung WissenWecken gGmbH.”
Martin Potthoff
Deputy and scientific director
“Learning from nature, to be fostering the unfolding of it and to be acting in harmony with instead of against it in any aspect of economy and land use – these are the crucial challenges that our societies need to master. I am a senior lecturer of soil biology at the Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use at Göttingen University. Throughout my scientific work at Göttingen and Kassel/Witzenhausen Universities and the University of California in Davis, I have given special focus to the interactions between land use, biodiversity and society.
But it takes more than reasearch only on the way to achieve transition! Knowledge and ideas for futurable land use need to be taken to practise – they need to be communicated, tested in real life application and eventually be modified and improved… and there needs to be dialog amongst all the people involved. In order to promote this I am committed to the work of Stiftung WissenWecken.“
Mission & Work
The goal of Stiftung WissenWecken is to promote sustainable land use. It provides three lines of funding:
Responsible Travel & Climate
Some of our projects are being realised abroad (Africa, South America). Because cooperation over distance needs more than video calls and e-mails to make things work, air travel for on-site visits is unavoidable sometimes. We contribute to the reduction of global CO2 emissions by a donation supporting a peatland restoration project in Leidissoo, Estonia, managed by the Succow Foundation (located in Greifswald, Germany). The rewetting of peatlands also promotes the biological diversity of the areas and helps to secure habitats for endangered animal and plant species.