Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Fall 2016 U-M Geoscience News

Ben van der Pluijm usually writes about geo research or teaching in his annual update for the departmental newsletter, but he has a parallel interest area in sustainability and resilience.  Since 2014 he has been editor-in-chief of the AGU’s fledgling journal Earth’s Future (see cover image).  A transdisciplinary, open-access science journal, Earth's Future examines the state of the planet and its inhabitants, and the predictions of our collective future. The journal assesses the challenges and opportunities associated with regional and global change in an era where humans dominate Earth’s environment, resources and ecosystems. It publishes peer-reviewed articles, reviews and (short and long-form) commentaries in areas that include water, air, food, energy, hazards, climate, ecosystems, human well-being and demographics, among others. Contributions focus on Earth as an interconnected, evolving system to inform researchers, policy makers and the public on the science of the Anthropocene. 

One novel element is the use of authoritative commentaries that critically examine a topic with a solid scientific foundation.  For example, one such set is published on the controversial topic of geo-engineering.  Elsewhere, those interested in the yes/no debate about an Anthropocene Epoch will find key papers here too, with a couple of examples recently highlighted in my Editors’ Vox  on this topic (Here comes the Anthropocene; https://eos.org/editors-vox/here-comes-the-anthropocene).  You can have a fully open-access look at the journal, at http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2328-4277/, where you will likely find stimulating and informative contributions on our (=Earth’s) Future.