Future climate: one vital component of trans-disciplinary earth system science

This chapter examines climate futures in the context of Earth system (ES) study. The notion of Earth as a living, integrated system is not new. The future climate is just one component of a larger, complex system including people and their practices as well as the physical and bio-geochemical aspects of the Earth. This chapter places the future climate in a "bigger picture" that has many names including Gaia and Earth system science. It recognizes that climate has been used frequently as a way of illustrating emergent Earth system behavior and so, it explores how future climates are integral to this whole-of-Earth system. The need for science and technology to underpin sustainable development in the Anthropocene was acknowledged at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Exploring options for promoting efforts towards sustainable ES management was, therefore, the central goal of the 91st Dahlem Workshop, held in May 2003, on "Earth System Analysis for Sustainability.".