Environmental & Earth Science: Environmental Futures
What will the planet look like in the future? What are the social, environmental, economic, and political implications? What is the role of governance? How will civil society respond to the challenges? These are just some of the many questions that dominate the field of interdisciplinary environmental studies in the face of a rapidly changing environment. Undoubtedly, the physical environment has undergone significant, natural changes throughout the history of the Earth. However, recently, with the explosion of human populations and the accompanying needs and demands, the rate of change and the magnitude of impacts have become worrisome and it is becoming increasingly evident that human activities are the driving force behind the changes that are taking place today. Whether it is food and shelter demands, our appetite for consumption or an addiction to fossil fuels, the accompanying consequences such as species extinction, deforestation, massive oil spills, retreating glaciers, environmental injustices, a diminishing ozone layer, conflicts over increasingly scarcer resources, droughts, floods, etc., demonstrate that our global environment is being pushed to its limits and vulnerable populations are already feeling the consequences of a changing environment. Will technological innovation and ingenuity coupled with increasing awareness and concern be enough to transform societies into more sustainable models of consumption and production?
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Featured Article
What’s in Yellowstone’s Future?
Steam Explosions, Earthquakes, and Volcanic Eruptions—What’s in Yellowstone’s Future? Yellowstone, one of the world’s largest...
Featured Resource
Healthy Community Design
The way we design and build our communities can affect our physical and mental health. Healthy community design integrates evidence-based health strategies into community planning, transportation, and land-use decisions. Healthy Community Design...
Latest News
Climate Change Escape Routes
One if by Land, Two if by Sea? Climate Change "Escape Routes" Similar movement rates needed for animals and plants on land and in the oceans One if by land, two if by sea? Results of a...
Articles
Earth's Hot Past: Prologue to Future Climate? Study of Earth's deep past leads to look into the future The...
Potential impacts of changes in the thermohaline circulation include climate alteration, elevation in sea leve...
Humankind is now in its third generation since the chemical revolutioncirca 1940. The myriad dimensions and im...
This Policy Review article written by David M. Bell, Isaac B. Weisfuse, Mauricio Hernandez-Avila, Carlos del R...
This article, written byHaidong Kan*, appeared first in Environmental Health Perspectivesthe peer-reviewed, op...
California, situated on the Pacific coast of the USA, is the third largest state of the United States in land ...
News Articles
Feeding the world while protecting the planet International team of researchers designs global plan for susta...
NSF Grant Launches Center for Synthesizing Environmental and Related Research Results Award to develop solut...
The Population Bomb: How We Survived It An April 1, 2011, News Release from the University of Michigan: Wo...
After Fukushima SciDev.Net has produced a special Spotlight on Nuclear Power After Fukushima on 29 September ...


