May 2, 2012
U.S. Global Change Research Program publishes ten-year strategy
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has released the new National...
Apr 11, 2012
An international group of funding agencies has announced an "International...
Mar 28, 2012
To surmount sustainability hurdles societies need a new yardstick of national...
20 million Euros for international research
An international group of funding agencies has announced an "International...
Mar 28, 2012
Inclusive Wealth Report unveiled
To surmount sustainability hurdles societies need a new yardstick of national...
Building our Future
Human infrastructure both contributes to and is affected by global change. The...
Risky Business
A sequence of devastating earthquakes and a large number of weather-related catastrophes made 2011 the most expensive year ever for natural catastrophe losses for insurance companies. Owen Gaffney spoke to the world’s largest reinsurance company Munich Re’s Head of Geo Risks Research, Peter Höppe.
Addicted to resources
Industrialisation is consuming natural resources at rates that are demonstrably unsustainable in the long term, points out Helmut Haberl.
"Welcome to the Anthropocene" film and still images
A visually spectacular animated film, Welcome to the Anthropocene, has been released on the eve of...
The promise and perils of creating markets to pay for public goods
Some payment mechanisms to support ecosystem services can be environmentally harmful, warn experts in...
IGBP research presented to Dalai Lama
Global-change researcher Diana Liverman presented IGBP's Great Acceleration graphs to the Dalai Lama...
Earth as a complex system
Earth behaves as a complex system. Complex systems can respond abruptly to changes within the system - these abrupts changes can be highly non-linear. There is strong evidence that the Earth system is prone to such abrupt changes.
Human-induced global change has pushed the Earth system into a no-analogue state — where climatic and other environmental conditions are outside of the range of the last half million years (at least), increasing the likelihood of unpredictable changes with potentially harmful consequences.
Exploring and quantifying Earth system interactions is therefore extremely important.
The Earth system perspective demands a new scientific approach and innovative conceptual and technical tools. Separate Earth system components, properties and processes — such as the composition and circulation pattern of the atmosphere — still need to be investigated, but should be studied as integral parts of a system, so as to understand their interactions and feedbacks.
Furthermore, in the era of global change, humanity must also be considered a part of the Earth system. Indeed, IGBP includes the human social, cultural and economic systems as within the Earth system.
Exploring and quantifying Earth system interactions is therefore extremely important.
The Earth system perspective demands a new scientific approach and innovative conceptual and technical tools. Separate Earth system components, properties and processes — such as the composition and circulation pattern of the atmosphere — still need to be investigated, but should be studied as integral parts of a system, so as to understand their interactions and feedbacks.
Furthermore, in the era of global change, humanity must also be considered a part of the Earth system. Indeed, IGBP includes the human social, cultural and economic systems as within the Earth system.
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IGBP CLIMATE CHANGE INDEX
May 21 -
May 23, 2012
May 24 - May 24, 2012
Symposium in conjunction with the 27th IGBP SC Meeting, Bergen, Norway
27th IGBP Scientific Committee Meeting
May 24 - May 24, 2012
"Norwegian science highlights: Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles and sustainable pathways in the Ocean, Atmosphere and Land"
Symposium in conjunction with the 27th IGBP SC Meeting, Bergen, Norway
Hosted by the Research Council of Norway and supported by Bjerknes Centre and the University of Bergen
Global Change Magazine No. 78
In this issue, we take a look at the Anthropocene, humanity's epoch. We also examine urban expansion, consumption of resources, natural catastrophes' effects on economics and how to better build our...
Global Change Magazine No. 77
In this issue you can debate the influence of climate on history, familiarise yourselves with the International Nitrogen Initiative, and find out how publishing the "hockey stick" graph changed life...
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