Kapitel: 5 → Was soll getan werden?

5.2 → Erdsystemanalyse: Wege zwischen Klimaschutz und Anpassung

Wolfgang Lucht, Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung, PIK

Stand: 2008

Abstract: Earth system analysis – Ways of climate change mitigation and adaptation:

The Earth currently is in a relatively stable interglacial warm phase. The main agent of change in this phase are human activities, which are causing climate change by chemically altering the atmosphere and transforming the biosphere through land use.

In view of the mounting magnitude of the effects that these changes have on the Earth system and on the future prospects of human societies, humankind is faced with the challenge of taking into account in its actions not only the particular dynamics of its social and economic systems but also the dynamics of the Earth system as a whole.

Earth system analysis based on computer modelling and macroscopic observation is the means by which a course may be steered that will better account for the environmental consequences of societal developments than has been the case in the past.