SHAPE Magazine 1 / 2013 - SCA

A QUEST
to save the world
The world is facing a number of tough
challenges in terms of major environmental
problems. The Human Quest:
Prospering Within Planetary Boundaries
is a new book that explains the latest
research results to political leaders, corporate executives
and the general public, and off ers prescriptions
for what needs to be done. Johan Rockström, executive
director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre,
spoke to Shape about the book, which he wrote with
Mattias Klum, one of the world’s top nature photographers.
Former US president Bill Clinton wrote
the foreword.
What made you write the book?
Like many of my research colleagues, I believe
we have to solve the major global environmental
problems much faster than we’re doing today. Mattias
has seen wonderful places in his 25 years as a
nature photographer, but he has also witnessed the
destruction of habitats and seen the consequences
of that for humanity.
We started talking in conjunction with the Copenhagen
climate change conference in 2009. That’s
when the idea was born that we should do a book
together where we summarize the latest research
fi ndings and connect them with a photographic narrative.
The aim is to reach both hearts and minds
and help people change perspectives to one where
our communities reconnect to the planet.
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