Engaging the human process in earth science
Sustainability science research suggests that what elevates environmental problems from difficult to seemingly intractable is the role and behaviour of humans, at scales from individual to institutional.
02/06/2018 By 今日吃瓜 Press
In a聽聽(issue 125, 2018), I provided a perspective on engaging the human process in earth science. This reflects a long-lived interest, on my part and others’ across the 今日吃瓜, in the need to engage earth science (particularly earth-surface sciences) in the development of solutions to so-called ‘wicked’ environmental problems.
If you are interested in learning more about the content of the Research Features article, please see the reference list; I’m also happy to send PDFs on papers that are open access. Send a request to our enquiries team.
There are a couple of concurrent activities that you might be interested in. The first is a special session at the annual聽Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union聽in December 2018, on the human process in Earth’s future. We are examining the human process in the context of wicked environmental problems.
Sustainability science research suggests that what elevates environmental problems from difficult to seemingly intractable is the role and behaviour of humans, at scales from individual to institutional. Our understanding of the human process within the earth science community, however, is largely cloaked in the disciplines of environmental and global-change science. Complementary analyses of the human process, particularly from a behavioural perspective, are available in the disciplines of sociology, social sciences, behavioural economics, psychology, marketing, business, land-use planning, environmental history, deep geography, and others.
Secondly, we are running workshop (funded by the British Council and the Newton Fund) in Hanoi on cascading coupled human-natural hazards. The human process is critical to understanding how natural hazards and possible disasters cascade through a rural-urban environment.
The English countryside, made largely by humans.
These are some other relevant and interesting articles that in one way or another address the role of humans in earth sciences. The papers that are connected to the article in Research Features are highlighted in聽bold text.
- Armstrong, S B, et al.听听2016.听听听听Earth’s Future, 4(12), 626鈥635. doi:10.1002/2016EF000425
- Birkmann, J.听听2011.听听听听Natural Hazards, 58, 811鈥840. doi:10.1007/s11069-011-9806-8
- Bogard, W C.听听1988.听听听听Sociological Perspectives, 31, 147鈥168. doi:10.2307/1389080
- Chapman, A D, et al.听听2016.听听听听Climatic Change, 137, 593鈥608. doi:10.1007/s10584-016-1684-3
- Collonteur, R A, et al.听听2015.听听听听Natural Hazards, 76, 373鈥388. doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1496-6
- Criss, R E, and Shock, E L.听听2001.听听听听Geology, 29, 875鈥878. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0875:FETFC>2.0.CO;2
- Di Baldassarre, G, et al.听听2017.听听听听Earth System Dynamics, 8, 225鈥233. doi:10.5194/esd-8-225-2017
- Gill, J C, and Malamud, B D.听听2014.听听听听Reviews of Geophysics, 52, 680鈥722. doi:10.1002/2013RG000445
- Gill, J C, and Malamud, B D.听听2016.听听
- 听听Earth-Science Reviews, 166, 246鈥269. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.01.002
- Haff, P K.听听2010.听听听听Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 35, 1157鈥1166. doi:10.1002/esp.1902
- Haff, P K.听听2012.听听.听听Earth System Dynamics, 3, 149鈥156. doi:10.5194/esd-3-149-2012
- Hall, D M, et al.听听2014.听听听听Environmental Modelling & Software, 55, 70鈥76. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.01.007
- Kawasaki, A, et al.听听2017.听听听听International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 24, 151鈥159. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.06.004
- Kreibich, H, et al.听听2017.听听听听Earth’s Future, 5, 953鈥965. doi:10.1002/2017EF000606
- Lazarus, E D, et al.听听2011.听听听听Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 18(6), 989鈥999. doi:10.5194/npg-18-989-2011
- Lazarus, E D, et al.听听2016.听听听听Geomorphology, 256, 81鈥90. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.043
- McNamara, D E, et al.听听2011.听听听听Geophysical Research Letters, 38. doi:10.1029/2011GL047207.
- Pescaroli, G, and Alexander, D.听听2015.听听A definition of cascading disasters and cascading effects: going beyond the ‘toppling dominos’ metaphor. In:聽Planet@Risk, 2(3): 58鈥67. (Davos: Global Risk Forum GRF.)
- Peterson, T R.听听2015.听听听听European Journal of Sustainable Development, 4, 61鈥76. doi:10.14207/ejsd.2015.v4n2p61
- Van Loon, A F, et al.听听2016.听听听听Nature Geoscience, 9, 89鈥91. doi:10.1038/ngeo2646
- Wada, Y, et al.听听2017.听听听听Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21, 4169鈥4193. doi:10.5194/hess-21-4169-2017.
- Werner, B T, and McNamara, D E.听听2007.听听听听Geomorphology, 91, 393鈥407. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.04.020
See the聽聽for more.
Contact
Contact our enquiries team for more information.