Safeguarding our Climate - Towards a Sustainable Future

by Prof. Johan Rockstroem (Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

Monday 25 Oct 2021, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Zurich

Video Only (CERN)

The survival and prosperity of humans on planet Earth has been supported over the past 11,000 years by a remarkably stable climate: the geological Holocene epoch. Human pressures on the Earth system are since 70 years so high, and rising, leading to the scientific conclusion that we have entered a new geological Epoch, the Anthropocene, in which human activity has become a defining factor in the state of our Earth system. Earth resilience remains reasonably intact, while evidence shows that we are seeing worrying signs of approaching, or even having crossed, several tipping point. This talk will walk through the latest assessment of whether we are at risk of crossing a planetary threshold, and argue for setting scientific targets for a safe operating space on Earth, to keep the Earth system in a Holocene-like inter-glacial state, and suggest the framing for planetary stewardship of a stabilized Earth for people and planet.

NOTE:  Exceptionally on Monday

Recording

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