Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Earth science for sustainability

Subjects

Human activities increasingly lead to climate change, overuse of water, hazards and the destruction of biodiversity — to name just a few. Earth scientists need to take on the challenge of serving society on these issues, in close collaboration with engineering, social sciences and the humanities.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Towards sustainable development.

References

  1. http://unfccc.int/2860.php

  2. http://www.cbd.int/

  3. http://www.unccd.int/en/Pages/default.aspx

  4. Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J. & Behrens, W. W. III. The Limits to Growth (Universe Books, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Carson, R. Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 1962).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Crutzen, P. J. Nature 415, 23 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Steffen, W. & Crutzen, P. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 2228–2231 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Revkin, A. Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast (Abbeville Press Inc., 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  9. http://www.wcrp-climate.org/

  10. http://www.igbp.net/

  11. http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml

  12. http://www.essp.org/

  13. http://www.slideshare.net/uncsd2012/the-future-we-want-rio20-outcome-document

  14. Editorial Nature Geosci. 5, 301 (2012).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Peter Schlosser or Stephanie Pfirman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schlosser, P., Pfirman, S. Earth science for sustainability. Nature Geosci 5, 587–588 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1567

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1567

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing