Chapter 1
Introduction
In the middle of the twentieth century, we saw our planet from space for the first time.
Historians may eventually find that this vision had a greater impact on thought than did the
Copernican revolution of the sixteenth century, which upset the human self-image by
revealing that the Earth is not the centre of the universe. From space, we see a small and
fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans,
greenery, and soils. Humanity’s inability to fit its activities into that pattern is changing
planetary systems, fundamentally. Many such changes are accompanied by life-threatening
hazards. This new reality, from which there is no escape, must be recognized—and managed.
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987: 11).
Throughout the ages, people have said that the world is in the midst of big change. But the
level and degree of global change that we face today is far more profound than at any other
period in my adult lifetime. I call this period the Great Transition.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, speech, Stanford University (2013).
We still aspire to fit humanity’s activities into Earth’s patterns. Most of the reports
on our progress in achieving sustainable development are devastating. In preparation for the 2012 Rio+20 summit, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of
the United Nations (UNDESA) concluded that
The political deal that emerged from the Earth Summit in 1992 has, for various reasons,
never been fulfilled. Neither the expected outcomes—elimination of poverty, reduction in
disparities in standards of living, patterns of consumption and production that are compatible with the carrying capacity of ecosystems, sustainable management of renewable
resources—nor the agreed means to achieve them, have materialized (UNDESA 2012: iii).
After nearly three decades of aspiration it is not surprising that the language that
describes what it would take to turn the wheel and reach this deal has become more
radical. The terms ‘Great Transition’ or ‘Transformation’ have become common in
recent years. In September 2015, the heads of UN states adopted The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development: Transforming our World (UN 2015: 2). It contains
17 newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that map where this
transformation is supposed to lead. These cover the topics of the earlier Millennium
Development Goals like ending poverty and hunger, improving education and
© The Author(s) 2016
M. Göpel, The Great Mindshift, The Anthropocene:
Politik—Economics—Society—Science 2, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43766-8_1
1
Introduction
In the middle of the twentieth century, we saw our planet from space for the first time.
Historians may eventually find that this vision had a greater impact on thought than did the
Copernican revolution of the sixteenth century, which upset the human self-image by
revealing that the Earth is not the centre of the universe. From space, we see a small and
fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans,
greenery, and soils. Humanity’s inability to fit its activities into that pattern is changing
planetary systems, fundamentally. Many such changes are accompanied by life-threatening
hazards. This new reality, from which there is no escape, must be recognized—and managed.
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987: 11).
Throughout the ages, people have said that the world is in the midst of big change. But the
level and degree of global change that we face today is far more profound than at any other
period in my adult lifetime. I call this period the Great Transition.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, speech, Stanford University (2013).
We still aspire to fit humanity’s activities into Earth’s patterns. Most of the reports
on our progress in achieving sustainable development are devastating. In preparation for the 2012 Rio+20 summit, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of
the United Nations (UNDESA) concluded that
The political deal that emerged from the Earth Summit in 1992 has, for various reasons,
never been fulfilled. Neither the expected outcomes—elimination of poverty, reduction in
disparities in standards of living, patterns of consumption and production that are compatible with the carrying capacity of ecosystems, sustainable management of renewable
resources—nor the agreed means to achieve them, have materialized (UNDESA 2012: iii).
After nearly three decades of aspiration it is not surprising that the language that
describes what it would take to turn the wheel and reach this deal has become more
radical. The terms ‘Great Transition’ or ‘Transformation’ have become common in
recent years. In September 2015, the heads of UN states adopted The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development: Transforming our World (UN 2015: 2). It contains
17 newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that map where this
transformation is supposed to lead. These cover the topics of the earlier Millennium
Development Goals like ending poverty and hunger, improving education and
© The Author(s) 2016
M. Göpel, The Great Mindshift, The Anthropocene:
Politik—Economics—Society—Science 2, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43766-8_1
1