A conversation with Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is worth watching to understand what we need to do to preserve a livable planet.
Here is a shorter TED talk that Rockström gave this summer:
Click here for more background information on planetary boundaries from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University:
The planetary boundaries concept presents a set of nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come
In September 2023, a team of scientists quantified, for the first time, all nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system. …Boundaries are interrelated processes within the complex biophysical Earth system. This means that a global focus on climate change alone is not sufficient for increased sustainability. Instead, understanding the interplay of boundaries, especially climate, and loss of biodiversity, is key in science and practice.
It’s also good to know that there is an impressive group of scientists and activists called Planetary Guardians who are working to make the Planetary Boundaries a measurement framework for the world. The Guardians are as diverse as Xiye Bastida, a youth activist who helped organize the Fridays for Future march in New York City in 2019, Christiana Figueres who was the United Nations official who shepherded the Paris climate agreement in 2015, and environmentalist actor Robert Redford.
Click here for their graphic of the planetary boundaries and how humanity is meeting or exceeding them.