What will it take to create a closer connection to our planet? In this episode, Owen Gaffney talks to Carl Folke, a co-founder of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and one of the most cited scientists in the world across all disciplines. He is also the director of the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years.

Folke has spearheaded the modern thinking around social-ecological systems and how we must stop considering nature and the environment as something separate from society. He has previously said that he is “embarrassed as a human that we have in two generations created mindsets where we consider ourselves independent of the biosphere”.

Now, luckily, he says, we are rapidly gaining that perspective again.

In this epsiode of Rethink Talks, Carl Folke reflects on his own career path, resilience thinking, and why it’s important to not be constrained by a certain theory or method when trying to solve a challenge. He also provides a unique glimpse into the launch of the Stockholm Resilience Centre.