Planetary Boundaries and Human Opportunities

Can our planet continue to support the current scope of human activity?

These videos are from the SDG Academy course Planetary Boundaries and Human Opportunities, first launched in 2014 and led by Johan Rockström, originator of the planetary boundaries framework.

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Welcome to the Anthropocene

duration 6 minutes 13 seconds

Welcome to the Anthropocene

Welcome to the Anthropocene

From SDG Academy

614 plays
There is rising scientific evidence that humanity has now entered a new era that is defined as the Anthropocene, in which humanity is shaping the entire biosphere in a…
The Quadruple Squeeze

duration 10 minutes 16 seconds

The Quadruple Squeeze

The Quadruple Squeeze

From SDG Academy

294 plays
The planetary squeeze, or the driving forces that explain why we’ve ended up with rising environmental risks, originate from four different areas: population…
Social-Ecological Systems

duration 12 minutes 36 seconds

Social-Ecological Systems

Social-Ecological Systems

From SDG Academy

398 plays
Professor Carl Folke discusses a social-ecological system approach, in which people are looked at as being part of, and changing, the planet, in addition to being…
Justification for Planetary Boundary Selection

duration 9 minutes 14 seconds

Justification for Planetary Boundary Selection

Justification for Planetary Boundary Selection

From SDG Academy

294 plays
A planetary boundary process is an environmental process that is part of the Earth's regulatory system, helping it to remain in our current desired state of the…
Cities: Challenges and Opportunities

duration 10 minutes 21 seconds

Cities: Challenges and Opportunities

Cities: Challenges and Opportunities

From SDG Academy

180 plays
This chapter is about the challenges and opportunities that urban centers face. Urban centers are expanding beyond traditional urban boundaries in a process called urban…
Aerosol Loading

duration 6 minutes 52 seconds

Aerosol Loading

Aerosol Loading

From SDG Academy

78 plays
This chapter explains the concern about atmospheric aerosols, which are liquid droplets or particles that are suspended in the atmosphere. They absorb and reflect light,…
The Great Acceleration

duration 11 minutes 37 seconds

The Great Acceleration

The Great Acceleration

From SDG Academy

136 plays
We are now a big world on a small planet. The Great Acceleration starts with the expansion of human exploitation of the world, seen in urbanization, land-use…
Interference with Global Nitrogen and Phosphorous…

duration 7 minutes 24 seconds

Interference with Global Nitrogen and Phosphorous…

Interference with Global Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles

From SDG Academy

118 plays
This chapter discusses human impacts on the global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles that link the living and non-living parts of the Earth system. These chemical…
Social Foundations for Planetary Boundaries

duration 5 minutes 11 seconds

Social Foundations for Planetary Boundaries

Social Foundations for Planetary Boundaries

From SDG Academy

82 plays
This chapter discusses the social foundations for the planetary boundaries. This goes back to the Brundtland Report of 1987, which defined sustainability as a…
Quantification of the Nine Planetary Boundaries

duration 11 minutes 6 seconds

Quantification of the Nine Planetary Boundaries

Quantification of the Nine Planetary Boundaries

From SDG Academy

76 plays
Challenges arise when trying to define quantitatively the boundary position for each global process. First, a control variable is identified as a parameter that…
Introducing the Planetary Boundaries Framework

duration 10 minutes 33 seconds

Introducing the Planetary Boundaries Framework

Introducing the Planetary Boundaries Framework

From SDG Academy

116 plays
This chapter explores the origins of the planetary boundaries, which comes from the recognition that we’ve entered the Anthropocene and that the exponential…
Non-Linear Thinking in the Anthropocene

duration 9 minutes 1 second

Non-Linear Thinking in the Anthropocene

Non-Linear Thinking in the Anthropocene

From SDG Academy

173 plays
Resilience has a dual nature, of thinking about sustaining what we want to sustain, AND building the capacity to adapt or transform toward something better. We live in a…
Energy: A Promising Pathway

duration 7 minutes 54 seconds

Energy: A Promising Pathway

Energy: A Promising Pathway

From SDG Academy

86 plays
To develop within a safe operating space, there must be a global transition to a renewable energy system, as growing economies are projected to have growing energy use…
Development of the Sustainable Development Goals

duration 13 minutes 19 seconds

Development of the Sustainable Development Goals

Development of the Sustainable Development Goals

From SDG Academy

75 plays
How can the world of policy and science respond to the latest advancements in science? In the Anthropocene, we can no longer avoid catastrophic tipping points; we need a…
Biodiversity Loss

duration 10 minutes 24 seconds

Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity Loss

From SDG Academy

57 plays
Biodiversity is an important planetary boundary because, without the living species, we would not have biomass, carbon sequestration, rainfall, or the regulation of the…
Tipping Points

duration 11 minutes 13 seconds

Tipping Points

Tipping Points

From SDG Academy

63 plays
Nature doesn’t respond in incremental and linear ways, but has several distinctly different states that are separated by thresholds, or tipping points. Feedback…

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