– PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON – GRO H BRUNDTLAND, YUAN THSE LEE, CARL FOLKE
INTRODUCTION – THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS .................................... 13 KEY MESSAGES ...................................................................................... 16 1 THE BIG PICTURE ................................................................................... 18
A systems perspective on the humanity’s new challenge – Welcome to the Anthropocene – Heading in the wrong direction – The great acceleration – Avoiding catastrophic surprises – No excuse not to act – A safe future for humanity within planetary boundaries – Acting on the scientific knowledge we have – Addressing the two fundamental moral imperatives – Our quest: a global mindshift
2 THE GLOBAL SQUEEZE ............................................................................ 54
Understanding Complexity in a turbulent world – Multiple Wammies at the same time – The Quadruple Squeeze – Inconvenient feedbacks in a turbulent world – Resilience: A key to a sustainable world – Tipping points and the need universality of surprise – Teleconnections – New Architecture of global complexity – Steering clear of collapse
3 OUR HOME PLANET ................................................................................. 90
What is at stake? – A different story in the past – Big impacts from small changes – Why we need to worry – The holocene, our desired state – The great revolution – We have a moral responsibility – Earth is doing all it can to remain in the holocene – Preserving earth resilience: the new meaning of sustainability
A new framework for human development – Why a new framework? – Defining planetary boundaries – An approach that respects Earth’s integrity – Setting the boundaries – Three clusters of planetary boundaries – The global sustainability big bang – One for all, all for one – In conclusion