Sustainability goals will be met only if we change the way science intersects society. Over the next decade, we have a window of opportunity to radically redefine our relationship with the planet to reduce risks of dangerous global changes on Earth’s life support systems. The science of earth stewardship requires interdisciplinary collaboration among many natural and social sciences, including climate, earth, and ocean science, environmental sciences, ecology, psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology. Our program, the Earth Stewardship Initiative, seeks to combine all of these fields into a cohesive, adaptable project that can benefit communities and ecological sites across the country.

 

The first Earth Stewardship Initiative took place during the ESA 2014 annual meeting in Sacramento, and focused on the American River Parkway. In 2015, we built off of that success and transitioned the project over to Baltimore, MD for the ESA 2015 meeting. We will run a third program in Portland, OR. The overall goal of the Earth Stewardship Initiative – to connect communities with ecologists, urban planners, and designers, and student fellows to promote social and ecological resilience and revitalization -- builds on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals to provide a vision for a sustainable and equitable future