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The Global Methane Pledge is a good start, but larger cuts in emissions are achievable with current technology. More ambition is needed to help limit warming to 1.5 °C.
Colonial relationships with Indigenous land and knowledge in geoscience disciplines must be acknowledged to address harm and change how science is done, argues Max Liboiron.
Leveraging advances in artificial intelligence could revolutionize the Earth and environmental sciences. We must ensure that our research funding and training choices give the next generation of geoscientists the capacity to realize this potential.
The Earth’s climate is a complex system and palaeoclimate reconstructions can be used to test and expand on the knowledge gained from physical models during intervals of rapid climate fluctuations.
Marine microbes have shaped the climate throughout Earth’s history. Integration of microbial carbon cycling dynamics across a range of spatial scales will be critical for understanding the ocean’s impact in light of a changing climate.
We chat with Vincent Ialenti, a University of Southern California Berggruen Fellow, about thinking on geological timescales. Ialenti’s recent book, Deep Time Reckoning (MIT Press, 2020), chronicles his anthropological work on the institution responsible for the long-term safety of a Finnish nuclear waste repository.
A more comprehensive understanding of the role of irrigation in coupled natural–human systems is needed to minimize the negative consequences for climate, ecosystems and public health.
Cover letters are a ubiquitous but hidden part of the publication process. We share our thoughts on the effective and efficient crafting of these letters and their role in our editorial decision-making.
Social scientists and geoscientists must work together to critically evaluate and develop feasible visions for a sustainable future. Is a clean-energy economy more viable than a degrowth future?
An update to our policy on reporting requirements for geological and palaeontological materials aims to tackle ethical issues surrounding the collection, traceability and archiving of field samples.
Enabling public sharing of scientific data in China not only needs top-down mandates but also incentive mechanisms that boost confidence and willingness to engage in data-sharing practices among Chinese researchers.
Land-use-induced ecosystem reduction and degradation has profound impacts on the Earth system. Proceeding with currently unsustainable land use may jeopardize climate and ecosystem restoration targets.
Globally, land- and fire-management policies have counterproductively caused cascading ecosystem changes that exacerbate, rather than mitigate, wildfires. Given rapidly changing climate and land-use conditions that amplify wildfire risk, a policy shift to adaptive management of fire regimes is urgently needed.
Warm intervals in the geological record potentially hold the key to understanding ongoing changes in Earth’s climate. Our ability to unlock this information depends on continued technical and conceptual progress.
Plate boundary faults in subduction zones can generate large earthquakes and tsunamis. Recent studies have revealed that these faults slip in various ways and may be influenced by many factors. Better understanding them should improve hazard assessments.
Geoscientists will play key roles in the grand challenges of the twenty-first century, but this requires our field to address its past when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Considering the bleak picture of racial diversity in the UK, we put forward steps institutions can take to break down barriers and make the geosciences equitable.
