Everyday life continuously produces greenhouse gas emissions.
Their consequences announce and yet the gases remain invisible, the data on emission quantities abstract.
The aim of the installation “Hard to grasp” is to give the emission quantities a detectable and comparable volume. In two visualizations, visitors can develop an awareness of everyday emission quantities. A classification is made using the reference figure of two tons per person per year. This budget would have to be reached by 2050 to limit global warming.

In the first step, “(E)Mission Impossible,” the emissions of concrete examples are presented. Arranged into the areas of housing, electricity, mobility, food and consumption. Located in the scale of a cityscape, an idea of scale is created.
The framework of the two-tonne-per-year budget serves as a reference and an opportunity for interaction. The attempt to place one’s own emissions in this frame will fail, the problematic nature of the current lifestyle becomes clear.

In the second step, “Inflated demands,” the focus is placed on the area of mobility. The emissions of the three means of transport car, train and plane are compared by means of an inflating balloon. By pressing the corresponding button, the user can travel any distance while the emissions are constantly blown into the balloon. Depending on the mode of transport, the distance travelled varies until the annual budget is reached by transport alone.