Planetary Sustainability in an Age of Global Climate Disruption
18:15 Uhr, Universität St.Gallen, SQUARE, Panel discussion
Participants
- Prof. Ph.D. Federico Luisetti
- Prof. Dr. Elisa Fornalé
- Flurina Gradin
Moderation: Sieglinde Geisel
According to many scientists, the geological epoch of climate equilibrium known as the Holocene – which has allowed humans to become the protagonists of natural history and develop their civilizations – is now over. Extracting and burning fossil fuels has altered the Earth’s metabolism: the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has surpassed 400 parts per million, almost twice the amount that has characterized the 11,700-year long ecological niche of the Holocene. We are living in a dangerous new
climate regime, which brings us back to the extreme environmental conditions that our human ancestors experienced during prehistory. The name for this current epoch is the “Anthropocene”, a time of global environmental crisis. As a solution to the dilemmas posed by the Anthropocene, together with experts in urban studies, public law, and design, we will explore the potential of a utopian narrative coming from the Global South: the “Pluriverse”, a paradigm for planetary sustainability.