You might not have heard of the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), but the non-profit research group based in the Swedish Capital is responsible for one of the most important concepts of the modern age. In 2009, the SRC convened a number of environmental scientists and other academics to identify the planetary life support systems that are essential for human life – and the impact of humans upon them.
They identified nine Earth system processes so fundamental that, should a threshold be crossed, it could affect the planet’s ability to sustain life. These are: ocean acidification; stratospheric ozone depletion; biodiversity loss and extinction; chemical pollution; climate change; the global hydrological cycle (the functioning and distribution of fresh water); land system change (such as the loss of forests to agriculture); nitrogen and phosphorous flows to the biosphere and oceans; and atmospheric aerosol loading.
Six years after the planetary boundary framework was created, the journal Science published a paper by 18 eminent scientists, showing that four boundaries had been crossed: climate change; loss of biosphere integrity; land system change; and biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorous.
One of the many tragedies of the Brexit fiasco is that the UK government has found itself consumed for over three years with a single issue. Taken on one level, three years doesn’t seem like a great deal of time. Yet, that three years of UK governmental gridlock, combined with a corresponding lack of urgency from other global leaders, is an indictment of the political class when it comes to the most pressing issue of our time.
The impact of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and a US President committed to rolling back environmental regulations and protections enacted by his predecessor, does little to lift a darkening mood that humankind is destined to one day represent little more than a layer in a rock formation for a geologist to discover.
However, the absence of political leadership has left a vacuum into which a series of academics, entrepreneurs, business leaders – and, yes, some politicians – have stepped to take on significant challenges. In the new issue of WIRED we profile two of them. The economist Mariana Mazzucato has developed a framework for government and the private sector to pursue “moonshots” to solve some of the planet’s most significant challenges, and has challenged the idea of how we think about innovation.
Elsewhere, we look at the work of Jochen Zeitz, the former CEO of Puma and executive at the luxury goods powerhouse Kering, who has proved that a sustainable, ethical, long term approach to business is compatible with profitability. He has also walked the walk when it comes to his beliefs – he has rewilded 20,000 acres in Kenya working in partnership with the local community.
The tech-for-good and B Corp sector is booming, and even asset managers – under pressure from investors – are questioning the practices of extractive businesses that describe pollution and environmental destruction as an “externality” to their business model.
And a new era of startups focused on energy, foodtech, carbon capture, recycling, mobility, social inclusion and manufacturing could help the billions of people who still do not have the essentials of life as defined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
History suggests that the switch to new energy sources initiates eras of prosperity – the move from burning wood to coal, and from coal to oil and electricity, all marked eras in which innovation increased prosperity. As economies switch from carbon-based to renewable sources of energy, and a growing movement of people come together to act on sustainable development that benefits humankind and the planet, there is still much to be hopeful about – while keeping an eye on the clock.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
