Transformational change in the Anthropocene epoch
Authors: Michael Eichinger
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2019)

As humanity enters the Anthropocene epoch, fundamental disruptions to our way of living, including serious effects on human health, have become increasingly likely due to severe global environmental changes. Several planetary boundaries have already been transgressed (eg, rate of biodiversity loss, and changes to the global nitrogen cycle).1Steffen W Richardson K Rockström J et al.Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet.Science. 2015; 347: 1259855Crossref PubMed Scopus (5170) Google Scholar Stabilising Earth in a habitable state requires transformational changes—ie, changing systemic structures causing the problems,2Heikkinen M Ylä-Anttila T Juhola S Incremental, reformistic or transformational: what kind of change do C40 cities advocate to deal with climate change?.J Environ Policy Plan. 2018; 21: 1-14Google Scholar at multiple levels (eg, local, national, and global) and in virtually all sectors of society (eg, decarbonisation of economies, and improved governance).3Steffen W Rockström J Richardson K et al.Trajectories of the Earth system in the Anthropocene.Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2018; 115: 8252-8259Crossref PubMed Scopus (1269) Google Scholar Borrowing from Martin Luther King Jr's words, there is a “fierce urgency of now. This is no time…to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”4King ML I have a dream: writings and speeches that changed the world.1st edn. HarperCollins Publishers, New York1963Google Scholar However, the sustainability discourse is often centred around incremental changes to our present way of living. An analysis of policy documents of cities belonging to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network promoting the idea of cities as leaders in climate change mitigation and adaptation, showed that most of the proposed measures would only incrementally change the status quo.2Heikkinen M Ylä-Anttila T Juhola S Incremental, reformistic or transformational: what kind of change do C40 cities advocate to deal with climate change?.J Environ Policy Plan. 2018; 21: 1-14Google Scholar Transformational measures were only rarely proposed. Metaphorically, the foundation of our existence is built on quicksand, but we are completely immersed in making our unstable home more cosy by hauling in slightly refurbished furniture. To promote transformational changes and orient these in a common direction, all sectors of society (ie, communities, non-governmental organisations, governments at various levels, and academia) have to find common ground on several fundamental issues: the distributional dimension of environmental degradation and transformational changes, identifying which challenges require high-tech versus low-tech solutions, and an inspiring and mobilising sustainability narrative. First, the degradation of natural systems and its negative effects on human health have important distributional dimensions. Consider climate change: many countries with low to moderate levels of greenhouse gas emissions, including most African countries and small island states, are highly susceptible to the negative effects of climate change. This inequality is expected to increase further by 2030.5Althor G Watson JEM Fuller RA Global mismatch between greenhouse gas emissions and the burden of climate change.Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 20281Crossref PubMed Scopus (147) Google Scholar In addition to cross-country inequalities, pronounced within-country inequalities in carbon emissions exist.6Moser S Kleinhückelkotten S Good intents, but low impacts: diverging importance of motivational and socioeconomic determinants explaining pro-environmental behavior, energy use, and carbon footprint.Environ Behav. 2018; 50: 626-656Crossref Scopus (90) Google Scholar For society-wide transformational change to happen, a shared commitment to differentiated responsibilities is needed and the far-reaching consequences of this commitment have to be made explicit. Populations and countries contributing the most to the degradation of natural systems have to change their way of living substantially, decrease their resource consumption, and pay for adaptation, whereas countries and individuals contributing the least to natural resource degradation will be allowed to use more natural resources than they are using today. Second, proposed solutions to sustainability challenges, such as climate change, are often dominated by technological fixes. Solutions in the political and social domains involving less technological input are considered less frequently.2Heikkinen M Ylä-Anttila T Juhola S Incremental, reformistic or transformational: what kind of change do C40 cities advocate to deal with climate change?.J Environ Policy Plan. 2018; 21: 1-14Google Scholar A subset of the sustainability challenges will require technological solutions. However, the need for substantial reductions in the use of natural resources will favour low-tech sociopolitical solutions because technological fixes usually require natural resources as input. Separating sustainability challenges amenable to low-tech solutions, such as replacing short distance car rides with walking or biking, from those requiring high-tech solutions, such as the decarbonisation of essential industries, should be the focus of intensive discussion. In short, it is not a pro-technology versus anti-technology question, it is rather a question of finding the right level of technological input for each sustainability challenge while satisfying overall resource constraints and minimising risks. Third, an inspiring sustainability narrative is needed to serve as a guide for practical action in overwhelmingly complex systems.7Jerneck A Searching for a mobilizing narrative on climate change.J Environ Dev. 2014; 23: 15-40Crossref Scopus (19) Google Scholar This narrative should be characterised by at least three features. It should be mobilising in a way that frames the challenge of sustainability as an issue requiring the involvement of all parts of society. It has to be transformational by conveying that transformational rather than incremental changes will be needed in all sectors of society and from all individuals. And it should be integrative by providing an umbrella for specific narratives of change with meanings at differing organisational levels (eg, local communities). Putting effort into finding common ground on these fundamental issues is essential because broad consensus might reduce resistance to single transformational change initiatives. Returning to the metaphor described earlier: the task of building a house of transformational change on quicksand is substantially less daunting once several stable pillars have been laid as a foundation. And what is the role of planetary health in this endeavour? For planetary health to be transformational as an emerging field, providing solutions for specific sustainability challenges will be necessary but not sufficient. All parts of society, including planetary health as a scientific discipline and movement, have to get involved in finding common ground on these fundamental issues together. Ideally, this involvement would also be reflected by more numerous scientific contributions on these fundamental issues to leading journals and conferences. I declare no competing interests.