Living Within Planetary Boundaries: Finding Balance, Conference

Reflecting on “Living Within Planetary Boundaries: Finding Balance”

At a time when we have crossed six of the nine planetary boundaries, discussions about our future on Earth are moving from crucial to imperative.

The recent European Climate Pact conference entitled “Living within Planetary Boundaries: How to Balance Society’s Needs with the Earth’s Limits“, provided a platform for an in-depth exploration of the urgent social and economic challenges we face.

At this pivotal conference, presentation by co-founder of the Policy Lab, Ajda Pistotnik, “Limits to Growth“, was designed to stimulate a broad debate on the reliance on GDP as the primary measure of policy success. Its aim was to highlight its shortcomings and the urgent need for a shift towards sustainable economic policies and transformative social change – a move towards degrowth. Coupled with Prof. Dr. Lučka Kajfež Bogataj’s insights into the prospects of a non-expanding planet, the discussions served as a stark reminder of the essential need to operate within the Earth’s capacity to ensure environmental stability.

Media Coverage

The media coverage of the event underlined the timeliness and importance of our dialogue, especially in the run-up to the EU elections.

For example, N1 Slovenija provided an effective critique of the perpetual pursuit of economic growth and presented my proposal for a holistic development metric that integrates social and biophysical factors. Read more HERE 

RTV Slovenija‘s prime-time news coverage included a segment on balancing societal needs with planetary limits, highlighting key points from my talk: Watch HERE

In addition, the Saturday edition of Delo featured an in-depth article on the conference, quoting key insights from my presentation. Entitled “The Planet’s Achilles’ Heels”, the article highlighted the need to rethink our growth metrics, suggesting that relying solely on GDP to measure growth misses the mark. Read more HERE

These media outlets echoed a fundamental thesis of our discussions: the need to move from ‘less of the same’ to ‘something very different’.

In a world that is overwhelmingly focused on growth, such conversations and media engagements are critical to shifting the narrative towards sustainability and equitable progress within the limits of our planetary boundaries.