"Transformation now": Earth League meets in Potsdam

01/23/2017 - Some of the most distinguished international climate experts are gathering in Potsdam this week for a symposium of the Earth League, a self-organized initiative of leading researchers on global change. During two days, they will discuss how the Great Transformation towards sustainability can be brought about. The success of the Paris climate agreement aiming at completely decarbonizing our economies within a few decades is by no means ensured; fulfilling its objectives requires a ratcheting-up of ambitions through social, political and economic progress.
"Transformation now": Earth League meets in Potsdam

"Climate science is under attack, not just in the US under the freshly inaugurated President Trump," says the host of the meeting, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). "This is actually an attack on the very principles of scientific reasoning. It is therefore time to defend the achievements of the Enlightenment that gave birth to those principles. The Earth League takes a stance and tells the world that ignoring or even denying the laws of nature must lead to a catastrophic collision with reality."

Speakers at the symposium include Peter Schlosser from Columbia University, New York, who will highlight evidence-based narratives on transformation trajectories. Innovations, technologies and deployment scale-up are the focus of a presentation by Nebojsa Nakicenovic from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Hironori Hamanaka from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies IGES in Japan will contribute insights on how scientific evidence can be turned into transformative policies. PIK's chief economist and director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change Ottmar Edenhofer will discuss modernisation and global megatrends. Brian Hoskins from Imperial College London, Carlos Nobre from Brazil's Ministry of Science and Earth League Chair Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre will also be on stage, to name just a few. The symposium has more than 100 participants in the audience.

Public event: “How can a Minority tip the Majority? Inducing Transformations on the Ground”

An additional part of the program is a public 'Science Meets Arts' event at the Potsdam Museum that combines the perspectives of two very different minorities which, despite their limited size, have a significant role in society.


Weblink to information about the Symposium: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/earthleague2017

Weblink to information about the public arts event: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/institute/connections/earth-league/earth-league-symposium/science-meets-art-event/earth-league-reception-and-science-meets-art-event-201chow-can-a-minority-tip-the-majority-inducing-transformations-on-the-ground201d