Monday 14 / April / 2025
New York: As humans continue to push the planet to the brink by burning fossil fuels and damaging ecosystems, solutions to environmental problems too often concentrate on fighting the symptoms rather than root causes, according to UN researchers.
Scientists have long "warned us about the damage we are doing to our planet and how to stop it," said Shen Xiaomeng, director of the UN University's Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). "In many cases we see the abyss, we know now to turn around, and yet we confidently keep walking towards it. Why?"
That's the question researchers from UNU-EHS in Bonn, Germany, address in their latest report, Turning Over a New Leaf. A prosperous future is possible if humanity takes "meaningful action," according to the report, which examines ways out of overlapping environmental crises.
The report, published annually, examines how disasters are interconnected and influenced by human actions, as well as exploring possible solutions.
Getting to the root of environmental crises with the 'theory of deep change'
In their 2024 report the UNU researchers warned that the world is approaching six tipping points, including groundwater depletion, climate-change driven glacial melt and unbearable heat.
Major systemic transformation is needed to reduce the risk of pushing climate, food and water systems beyond the point of recovery, said the researchers.
But "we very rarely engage with the roots of the tree, not often challenging or questioning the beliefs, values and assumptions that produced those outcomes in the first place," according to the latest report.
For instance, recycling, while sometimes a valuable tool, won't make a littered beach or a river cleaner in the long run. Because the waste problem is embedded in the mass, linear production of single-use items.
If the goal is a future without waste, humanity needs to get away from the idea of a throwaway society whereby more and more of Earth's resources are consumed to make products that are often quickly discarded, the report said.
To get to the bottom of the underlying causes of climate breakdown, the biodiversity crisis and over-consumption and highlight a path forward, the UNU researchers developed their "theory of deep change."
The theory sheds light on the structures, beliefs and values that while deeply embedded in human societies, are essentially social constructs. These societal structures can lead to undesired outcomes like the climate crisis, water scarcity and over exploitation of Earth's resources.
"What we found is that largely the stuff is happening and keeps on happening because of the mindset that humans can and should dominate nature or control nature," Caitlyn Eberle, one of the report's main authors, told DW.
This basic assumption, though not necessarily universal, can be found in everything from state laws and religious teachings to films and literature, according to the research. All of that, in turn, has an influence on society's goals and structure.
Things like monoculture farming, river straightening, domestication of animals and plants and the use of pesticides and weed killers stem from the mindset "humans dominate nature" and are a way of achieving that goal.
The mindset also brings with it risks and gets in the way of change, said the report. "Changing those mindsets would mean to recognize that humans are a part of nature, one species in a vast ecosystem, and try to align our systems better to what nature needs," continued Eberle.
The widespread assumption that endless economic growth fuels prosperity or that the planet has infinite capacity to absorb pollution and provide resources also blocks action. From a scientific perspective, these assumptions are flawed, said Eberle. If we accepted resources are finite and the planet has limits, we might change society's structures.
How to create change
Creating sustainable and far-reaching transformation requires internal and external changes. Inner levers of change could be shifting values and beliefs. External levers include big structural moves like adapting laws, subsidies and taxation systems.
Shifting values and age-old attitudes is difficult but not impossible, as history shows, according to the researchers.
Smoking, for instance, was once widely accepted and even celebrated. In many cultures, taking a few puffs was associated with higher social status and was considered healthy. Today, everyone knows smoking is harmful and, in many countries, it is considered an unpleasant habit.
The cigarette's transformation from glamorous to gross took place both on an individual and societal level. In the mid-20th century, scientists began to uncover smoking's serious health risks, while public campaigns highlighting the risks also changed attitudes.
To overcome the environmental and climate crises humanity faces, the UNU researchers said a similar change of mindset is needed in five areas.
Societies should start treating waste as a raw material and must move away from the idea that humans are separate from nature. They must also rethink the idea of responsibility to see it as something collective rather than individual, start imagining the future in centuries rather than lifetimes, and "redefine value from economic wealth to planetary health," conclude the authors.
Technical and logistical challenges are not what is holding people back from achieving these goals. "It's really the deeper mindset shifts that would be necessary to shift the culture, shift the philosophy to believing that these kinds of things are possible to then achieve," said Eberle.
