There is no such thing as a Fourth Industrial Revolution with 9 billion thriving co-citizens in the world if it is accomplished on linear economic principles. We need a transition to circular economic principles and practice.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for a shift from traditional economic models to sustainable practices for future growth.
Johan Rockstrom highlights that the concept of a Fourth Industrial Revolution cannot be realized under the existing linear economic framework, which often leads to unsustainable resource consumption and depletion. Instead, he advocates for a transition to circular economic principles, which emphasize sustainability, resource efficiency, and responsible production and consumption, ensuring that all members of society can thrive in harmony with the planet's ecological limits.
In practice
In discussions about sustainable development, this quote can serve as a cornerstone for advocating for circular economic practices.
Emissions of greenhouse gases warm the planet, altering the carbon and water cycles. A warmer ocean stores more heat, providing more fuel for hurricanes. A warmer atmosphere holds more water, bringing dangerous deluges. Rising sea levels threaten coastal zones.
There is an old belief that solving environmental problems can only be achieved by first building enough economic wealth so we can 'afford to save the environment.' This 'Kuznets Curve' thinking has never been correct and must be abandoned once and for all if we are serious about economic development for a thriving humanity on Earth.
Either we leave our descendants an endowment of zero poverty, zero fossil-fuel use, and zero biodiversity loss, or we leave them facing a tax bill from Earth that could wipe them out.
Global sustainability is now the only avenue to future inclusive progress that can deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement.
Even the wealth of the U.S. cannot protect against the levels of environmental destruction that we are unleashing.
The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.
Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure.
Myself and the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, but in truth, we are loving women whose life experiences have led us to seek justice for those victimized by the powerful.
Having experienced personally and through my family the tragedy of Chile is something always present in my memory. I do not want events of that nature ever to happen again, and I have dedicated an important part of my life to ensuring that and to the reunion of all Chileans.
The enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present, the decline will be fast.
I have to say goodbye to things in order to take on bigger things that I've always wanted to do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.