Articles | Volume 15, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-929-2024
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-929-2024
ESD Ideas
 | Highlight paper
 | 
25 Jul 2024
ESD Ideas | Highlight paper |  | 25 Jul 2024

ESD Ideas: Exoplanet, origins of life and biosphere researchers offer a perspective fundamental to ensuring humanity's future

Daniel Duzdevich, Arwen E. Nicholson, and Raphaëlle D. Haywood

Cited articles

Cologna, C., Knutti, R., Oreskes, N., and Siegrist, M.: Majority of German citizens, US citizens and climate scientists support policy advocacy by climate researchers and expect greater political engagement, Environ. Res. Lett.,16, 024011, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd4ac, 2021. 
Corsetti, F. A., Olcott A. N., and Bakermans, C.: The biotic response to Neoproterozoic snowball Earth, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 232, 114–130, 2006. 
Frank, A.: Light of the stars: Alien worlds and the fate of the Earth, WW Norton, ISBN: 0393357066, 9780393357066, 2019. 
Green, J. F.: Less Talk, More Walk: Why Climate Change Demands Activism in the Academy, Daedalus, 149, 151–162, 2020. 
Download
Editorial statement
This paper provides a powerful viewpoint on the systemic threats posed by human-induced global change. It does so by highlighting the deep mutual interdependence of the Earth with its biosphere, and combines this with an astronomical perspective on the lack of suitable alternative planets should our own one become inhospitable.
Short summary
Scientists exploring the histories of planets and life are uniquely positioned to communicate a perspective that is fundamental to our survival: humanity is wholly embedded in Earth and its biosphere. There is no escaping our planet and its history. Only policies that build on this perspective will contribute to a flourishing future for humanity. We offer a few brief glimpses of this cosmic perspective and call on our colleagues to acknowledge the powerful stories emanating from their work.
Share
Special issue
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint