Triggering Transformations: Rethinking AgriCulture, EnvIrONment, and Society (ACTIONS)

In a time marked by climate urgency, technological upheaval, and shifting societal conditions, change is not a distant prospect – it is already underway. The question is no longer whether transformation will occur, but what drives it, how it unfolds, and whether it can be directed towards more sustainable futures.

Grounded in Agriculture

The Theme takes its starting point in this question: what triggers large-scale shifts in how we live with, and depend on, the environment? At the heart of the project lies agriculture – a sector that has long been shaped by waves of change, from early domestication to industrialisation. Yet today, as technical innovation approaches its limits, the future of agriculture may depend less on new technologies and more on shifts in values, institutions, and everyday practices.

Drawing on perspectives from economic history, ecology, archaeology, environmental science, chemistry, political science, aerosol science, and geography, the project traces how transformations in human–environment relations have taken shape across time. Past transitions reveal not only moments of breakthrough, but also how decisions create lasting pathways—opening some possibilities while closing off others.

By looking both backwards and forwards, the Theme explores how different forces – environmental shocks, technological change, migration, health, and political dynamics – interact to trigger transformation. These processes rarely unfold in a linear way: they are shaped by local contexts, built on past choices, and often marked by unintended consequences.

Three interconnected questions:

• What can past transformations teach us about the pathways we are on today?
• What triggers change in the present, and how do different drivers, from climate to culture, interact?
• And crucially, to what extent can we steer future transformations towards forms of agriculture that are sustainable rather than harmful?