This day event will bring together cutting-edge research findings from multiple disciplines including geology, behavioural science, agricultural economics, biophysics, and others, to explore what has gone wrong (and is still going wrong) with the current economic system and the current practices in agricultural sector and others, the false belief in economic growth, driven by our own behavioural and cognitive biases; and what can be done differently?

The day will be very interactive with lots of group activities and discussions. The aim is to get participants to think about what they can each contribute to the must-needed changes and how we can coordinate better, so that we can live more in harmony with our planet.

The Earth system has provided us with a home, food and the necessary resources for the survival human societies for thousands of years. However, since the beginning of the industrial era, relentless push for economic growth and technological advancement as well as unprecedented speed of population growth have accelerated the stress and strain on our natural resources and the ecosystems, threatening biodiversity and the very existence of our civilization. Increasing scarcity of resources has also led to wars, conflicts, and rising polarisation across and within societies, and with wealth concentrated in the hands of the very few, millions of people are left behind in poverty.

There has been an increasing awareness of the urgency to tackle climate crisis in recent years. There have been plenty of discussions around the need to reduce the rising greenhouse gas and the warming global temperature, but coordination failure amongst both political leaders and the general public as well as economic interests often lead to inaction. How can we – as an individual – improve our interaction with the planet that we call “home”?