Institutions for the Anthropocene: Governance in a Changing Earth System

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 937-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Human Practices

The unusually stable Earth system of the Holocene epoch of the past 10,000 years, in which human civilization arose, is yielding to a more dynamic and unstable Anthropocene epoch driven by human practices. The consequences for key institutions, such as states, markets and global governance, are profound. Path dependency in institutions complicit in destabilizing the Earth system constrains response to this emerging epoch. Institutional analysis highlights reflexivity as the antidote to problematic path dependency. A more ecological discourse stresses resilience, foresight and state shifts in the Earth system. Ecosystemic reflexivity can be located as the first virtue of political institutions in the Anthropocene. Undermining all normative institutional models, this analysis enables re-thinking of political institutions in dynamic social-ecological terms.

scholarly journals Geoethics for Nudging Human Practices in Times of Pandemics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Marone ◽  
Martin Bohle
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Social ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Disciplinary Field ◽  
Human Practices

Geoscientists developed geoethics, an intra-disciplinary field of applied philosophical studies, during the last decade. Reaching beyond the sphere of professional geosciences, it led to professional, cultural, and philosophical approaches to handle the social-ecological structures of our planet ‘wherever human activities interact with the Earth system’. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 and considering geoscientists’ experiences dealing with disasters (related to hazards like tsunamis, floods, climate changes.), this essay (1) explores the geoethical approach, (2) re-casts geoethics within western philosophical systems, such as the Kantian imperatives, Kohlberg scale of moral adequacy, Jonas’ imperative of responsibility, and (3) advances a ‘geoethical thesis’. The latter takes the form of a hypothesis of a much broader scope of geoethics than initially envisioned. That hypothesis appears by suspecting a relationship between the relative successes in the COVID-19 battle with the positioning of agents (individual, collective, institutional) into ethical frameworks. The turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for the transfer of experiences between different disciplinary domains to further sustainable governance, hence generalising the geoethical approach. It is emphasized that only when behaving as responsible and knowledgeable citizens, then people of any trade (including [geo-]scientists) can transgress the boundaries of ordinary governance practices with legitimacy.

scholarly journals Geoethics for Nudging Human Practices in Times of Pandemics

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7271
Author(s):  
Eduardo Marone ◽  
Martin Bohle
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Social ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Disciplinary Field ◽  
Human Practices

Geoscientists developed geoethics, an intra-disciplinary field of applied philosophical studies, during the last decade. Reaching beyond the sphere of professional geosciences, it led to professional, cultural, and philosophical approaches to handle the social-ecological structures of our planet ‘wherever human activities interact with the Earth system’. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 and considering geoscientists’ experiences dealing with disasters (related to hazards like tsunamis, floods, climate changes), this essay (1) explores the geoethical approach, (2) re-casts geoethics within western philosophical systems, such as the Kantian imperatives, Kohlberg scale of moral adequacy, Jonas’ imperative of responsibility, and (3) advances a ‘geoethical thesis’. The latter takes the form of a hypothesis of a much broader scope of geoethics than initially envisioned. That hypothesis appears by suspecting a relationship between the relative successes in the COVID-19 battle with the positioning of agents (individual, collective, institutional) into ethical frameworks. The turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic calls for the transfer of experiences between different disciplinary domains to further sustainable governance, hence generalizing the geoethical approach. It is emphasized that only when behaving as responsible and knowledgeable citizens then people of any trade (including [geo-]scientists) can transgress the boundaries of ordinary governance practices with legitimacy.

scholarly journals Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (33) ◽  
pp. 8252-8259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Steffen ◽  
Johan Rockström ◽  
Katherine Richardson ◽  
Timothy M. Lenton ◽  
Carl Folke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Potential Threshold

We explore the risk that self-reinforcing feedbacks could push the Earth System toward a planetary threshold that, if crossed, could prevent stabilization of the climate at intermediate temperature rises and cause continued warming on a “Hothouse Earth” pathway even as human emissions are reduced. Crossing the threshold would lead to a much higher global average temperature than any interglacial in the past 1.2 million years and to sea levels significantly higher than at any time in the Holocene. We examine the evidence that such a threshold might exist and where it might be. If the threshold is crossed, the resulting trajectory would likely cause serious disruptions to ecosystems, society, and economies. Collective human action is required to steer the Earth System away from a potential threshold and stabilize it in a habitable interglacial-like state. Such action entails stewardship of the entire Earth System—biosphere, climate, and societies—and could include decarbonization of the global economy, enhancement of biosphere carbon sinks, behavioral changes, technological innovations, new governance arrangements, and transformed social values.

Whither democracy? Religion, politics and Islam

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Dallmayr
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Democratic Character

The question raised by the article is: can democracy be religious and, if so, how? Can religious faith be reconciled with modern democratic political institutions? The article takes its departure from the biblical admonition to believers to be ‘the salt of the earth’ — a phrase that militates against both world dominion and world denial. In its long history, Islam (like Christianity) has been sorely tempted by the lure of worldly power and domination. Nor is this temptation entirely a matter of the past (witness the rise of the Christian right and of ‘political Islam’ in our time). Focusing on contemporary Iran, the article makes a constitutional proposal which would strengthen the democratic character of the Iranian Republic without canceling religious faith. If adopted, the proposal would reinvigorate the ‘salt’ of Muslim faith thus enabling believers to live up to the Qur‘anic summons for freedom, justice and service in the world.

Workflow and tools to analyse the PMIP4-CMIP6 ensemble

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anni Zhao ◽  
Chris Brierley
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Model Intercomparison ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Intercomparison Project

<p>Experiment outputs are now available from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project’s 6<sup>th</sup> phase (CMIP6) and the past climate experiments defined in the Model Intercomparison Project’s 4<sup>th</sup> phase (PMIP4). All of this output is freely available from the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). Yet there are overheads in analysing this resource that may prove complicated or prohibitive. Here we document the steps taken by ourselves to produce ensemble analyses covering past and future simulations. We outline the strategy used to curate, adjust the monthly calendar aggregation and process the information downloaded from the ESGF. The results of these steps were used to perform analysis for several of the initial publications arising from PMIP4. We provide post-processed fields for each simulation, such as climatologies and common measures of variability. Example scripts used to visualise and analyse these fields is provided for several important case studies.</p>

The Archaeology of Global Environment Change

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole L. Crumley
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Non Linear System

Recent, widely recognized changes in the Earth system are, in effect, changes in the coupled human–environment system. We have entered the Anthropocene, when human activity—along with solar forcing, volcanic activity, precession, and the like—must be considered a component (a ‘driver’) of global environmental change (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Levin 1998). The dynamic non-linear system in which we live is not in equilibrium and does not act in a predictable manner (see Fairhead, chapter 16 this volume for further discussion of non-equilibrium ecology). If humankind is to continue to thrive, it is of utmost importance that we identify the ideas and practices that nurture the planet as well as our species. Our best laboratory for this is the past, where long-, medium-, and short-term variables can be identified and their roles evaluated. Perhaps the past is our only laboratory: experimentation requires time we no longer have. Thus the integration of our understanding of human history with that of the Earth system is a timely and urgent task. Archaeologists bring two particularly useful sets of skills to this enterprise: how to collaborate, and how to learn from the past. Archaeology enjoys a long tradition of collaboration with colleagues in both the biophysical sciences and in the humanities to investigate human activity in all planetary environments. Archaeologists work alongside one another in the field, live together in difficult conditions, welcome collaboration with colleagues in other disciplines—and listen to them carefully—and tell compelling stories to an interested public. All are rare skills and precious opportunities. Until recently few practitioners of biophysical, social science, and humanities disciplines had experience in cross-disciplinary collaboration. Many scholars who should be deeply engaged in collaboration to avert disaster (for example, specialists in tropical medicine with their counterparts in land use change) still speak different professional ‘languages’ and have very different traditions of producing information. C. P. Snow, in The Two Cultures (1993 [1959]), was among the first to warn that the very structure of academia was leading to this serious, if unintended, outcome.

Multiple dichotomies of the Anthropocene

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney J Autin
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Modern Literature ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
System Benefit

Anthropocene has developed a varied set of connotations among scientific and non-scientific advocates. As a result, multiple dichotomies of the Anthropocene exist within various scholarly disciplines. The Anthropocene allows people to reinforce and perpetuate preferred views about the implications of human interaction with the Earth System as our management of the environment is called into question. Scientific dichotomies arise from opinions about the need for formal or informal definition and the recognition of a modern versus historical onset of the Anthropocene. Philosophical dichotomies center around good versus dystopian outcomes of Anthropocene and whether or not humanity is part of what historically has been called nature. Political dichotomies insert Anthropocene into classic conservative versus liberal arguments. Artistic dichotomies tend to evaluate the effects of technology on modernism by embracing a nostalgia for the past or projecting an apocalyptic future. Multiple dichotomies drive conversation towards confusion as individuals argue preferred versions of an Anthropocene concept. Philosophical and political perspectives are affecting scientific views of proposed geological time markers for the start of the Anthropocene as conceptual ideologies appear to compete with tangible stratigraphic attributes. Formal definition of the Anthropocene has potential to inhibit popular usage and further confuse an already confused media. Informal stratigraphic usage by scientists and an open-ended view among non-scientific proponents may be the best approach to formulate a robust Anthropocene message. Both humanity and the Earth System benefit from a dynamic tag line that enhances environmental awareness and provides opportunity to modify our habits of resource overuse and ecosystem neglect. Concepts and imagery offered in the form of modern literature and art have the greatest prospect of affecting popular culture perspectives of the Anthropocene’s role in environmental debate.

scholarly journals Global urbanization and food production in direct competition for land: Leverage places to mitigate impacts on SDG2 and on the Earth System

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Barthel ◽  
Christian Isendahl ◽  
Benjamin N Vis ◽  
Axel Drescher ◽  
Daniel L Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Direct Competition

Global urbanization and food production are in direct competition for land. This paper carries out a critical review of how displacing crop production from urban and peri-urban land to other areas – because of issues related to soil quality – will demand a substantially larger proportion of the Earth’s terrestrial land surface than the surface area lost to urban encroachment. Such relationships may trigger further distancing effects and unfair social-ecological teleconnections. It risks also setting in motion amplifying effects within the Earth System. In combination, such multiple stressors set the scene for food riots in cities of the Global South. Our review identifies viable leverage points on which to act in order to navigate urban expansion away from fertile croplands. We first elaborate on the political complexities in declaring urban and peri-urban lands with fertile soils as one global commons. We find that the combination of an advisory global policy aligned with regional policies enabling robust common properties rights for bottom-up actors and movements in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as multi-level leverage places to intervene. To substantiate the ability of aligning global advisory policy with regional planning, we review both past and contemporary examples where empowering local social-ecological UPA practices and circular economies have had a stimulating effect on urban resilience and helped preserve, restore, and maintain urban lands with healthy soils.

scholarly journals Global Governance, Sustainability and the Earth System: Critical Reflections on the Role of Global Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Cardesa-Salzmann ◽  
Endrius Cocciolo
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Advanced Capitalism ◽  
Regulatory Regimes ◽  
Global Law

AbstractThis article begins by questioning the capacity of the concept of sustainable development to stabilize social reproduction and foster global justice. Based on interdisciplinary perspectives on global governance, it discusses the way in which global law fails to cope with the resonance of advanced capitalism in the world society and ecological systems. Our analysis focuses on the regulatory and institutional features of three interwoven functional regulatory regimes (global finance, energy, and environmental protection), which demonstrate structural governance dysfunction at the expense of ecological integrity and justice in the global realm. The article further examines the capacity of global law to foster a ‘compositive’ and ‘compensatory’ contribution to global justice and the stability of the Earth system through global constitutionalism. In this context, it concludes that Neil Walker's global law approach provides a fertile analytical framework for describing the patterns of interaction between different species of global law but proves to be particularly ‘slippery’ in its normative propositions regarding the gap between global law and justice. Drawing from the Earth system approach, we argue in favour of a global material constitutionalism, recognizant of ecosystemic boundaries and socio-environmental impacts of the global socio-economic metabolism. We consider that the gap between global law and global justice is best addressed by devising more deliberative patterns of transnational governance, as well as ecosystem and human rights approaches, in order to accommodate the fair and equitable internalization of material limits across global regulatory regimes that act as functionally differentiated economic constitutions of advanced capitalism.

Governance in the Holocene

2018 ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek ◽  
Jonathan Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Decisive Action

In the late Holocene, humans and their social institutions came to endanger their planetary comfort zone. Holocene institutions have had their successes when it comes to economic prosperity and even (recently) limiting violent conflict. But change that could enable governance to grapple with Anthropocene conditions is blocked where it is most needed. Dominant institutions such as states and markets have found ways to organize feedback that confirms their own necessity. Financial institutions become “too big to fail,” capitalist markets punish governments that depart from neoliberal economic recipes, and global environmental negotiations absorb the energy of activists and civil society even when they are not producing much decisive action. At the same time governance fails to take signals from a changing Earth system seriously enough—let alone anticipate future crises. As a result, institutional and policy innovation is blocked, and dysfunctional institutions and practices constitute highly problematic—even pathological—path dependency.

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