Do We Need Planetary Institutions to Solve Problems? Insights from Children of a Modest Star

Humanity has entered into a new relationship with the living Earth, but the sovereign state system has proven incapable of addressing shared planetary challenges from climate change to pandemic disease. In a groundbreaking new book rooted in history and earth science, scholars Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman advocate a paradigm shift toward “multiscalar” global governance that would transfers significant political authority from national governments to planetary institutions, as well as to localities.

Join the Carnegie Endowment for a fascinating discussion of Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises. We’ll consider the cosmological significance and practical dilemmas posed by our planetary age and the desirability, and feasibility, of building new institutions to help sustain life on Earth. Stewart Patrick, senior fellow and director of Carnegie’s Global Order and Institutions program, will moderate a discussion with authors Jonathan Blake, associate director at the Berggruen Institute, and Nils Gilman, chief operating officer, vice president for programs, and editor of the magazine Noema at the Berggruen Institute, as well as Olivia Lazard, a fellow at Carnegie Europe.