The two poles of the lemma “Emergence from Emergency” are complementary: while the Emergency calls for immediate actions from existing levels of decision, Emergence is about whole systems change at all levels, and first of all the cultural one. The tensions between our ever-expanding modes of exploitation and the finiteness of the planet originate in a civilisational trap, due to our continuing attempt to cheat the relationships that are imperative to life: those with nature, people and time.