Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
How stable is our planet? PIK Director Johan Rockström explains the “Planetary Boundaries” framework. These boundaries refer to the stability of the Earth, and ultimately its capacity to support human life as we know it. Rockström concludes: “Staying within planetary boundaries isn’t a constraint. It’s an opportunity to redefine progress – towards a world that is stable and just, where we’ll live healthily within the means of our only home.”
You can find out more here:
pik-potsdam.de/en/output/infodesk/planetary-boundaries
or pik-potsdam.de/en/institute/labs/pbscience
Please note: At 01:17, the graphic is incorrectly labelled as showing a ±0.5°C corridor. The figure is based on EPICA Dome C Antarctic ice-core data (Burke et al., 2018), for which the correct corridor is ±1°C. More recent research (Osman et al., 2021) suggests a narrower ±0.5°C corridor for global mean temperature variability, which is what Johan Rockström refers to in the narration. However, the data shown was not adjusted and therefore the graphic does not correctly represent the ±0.5°C corridor described. This note was added 29.07.2026.
Video by Ariane Doehring
Image
Shutterstock
Open Planet
JAXA / NHK Kaguya
European Space Agency - ESA
Drone operator
Mirko Schneider
Animations
Globaia
SimplePlus
Nasa
Ariane Doehring
Music
Shutterstock
Evgeny Bardyuzha from Pixabay
Cinematic Nature Documentary by James Carter from Pixabay
How stable is our planet? PIK Director Johan Rockström explains the “Planetary Boundaries” framework. These boundaries refer to the stability of the Earth, and ultimately its capacity to support human life as we know it. Rockström concludes: “Staying within planetary boundaries isn’t a constraint. It’s an opportunity to redefine progress – towards a world that is stable and just, where we’ll live healthily within the means of our only home.”
You can find out more here:
pik-potsdam.de/en/output/infodesk/planetary-boundaries
or pik-potsdam.de/en/institute/labs/pbscience
Please note: At 01:17, the graphic is incorrectly labelled as showing a ±0.5°C corridor. The figure is based on EPICA Dome C Antarctic ice-core data (Burke et al., 2018), for which the correct corridor is ±1°C. More recent research (Osman et al., 2021) suggests a narrower ±0.5°C corridor for global mean temperature variability, which is what Johan Rockström refers to in the narration. However, the data shown was not adjusted and therefore the graphic does not correctly represent the ±0.5°C corridor described. This note was added 29.07.2026.
Video by Ariane Doehring
Image
Shutterstock
Open Planet
JAXA / NHK Kaguya
European Space Agency - ESA
Drone operator
Mirko Schneider
Animations
Globaia
SimplePlus
Nasa
Ariane Doehring
Music
Shutterstock
Evgeny Bardyuzha from Pixabay
Cinematic Nature Documentary by James Carter from Pixabay
