Greenhouse, gaia and global change: A personal view of the pitfalls of interdisciplinary research

Recognition of the possible consequences of global-scale pollution has spawned research programs loosely termed ‘global change’. These programs are hampered by the problems of academic apartheid first identified by those attempting to examine the Gaia hypothesis. Global change is, in many ways, a synonym for global geography: the study of processes and their consequences at the human/environment interface. Assessment of highly complex systems demands integrative, interdisciplinary research; the search for, and recognition of, negative feedbacks; and, most importantly, the courage to formulate hypotheses which bridge many single disciplines. I illustrate some of the pitfalls of interdisciplinary research with reference to my own research in atmospheric science, by the application of atmospheric science to the study of climatic impacts and consideration of the integration of climatic impacts into global change.