Preface

Almost 150 years ago George Perkins Marsh, in *Man and Nature or the Earth as Modified by Human Action* (1864), took notice on the impact of human activity on the natural environment. Since then, human activities have become a dominant force affecting the functioning of the Earth's biological, hydrological and climatological systems. The use of land, water, air and other natural resources have increased exponentially over the years. With future increases in population, continued technological change and economic development, the demands on the biosphere will continue to grow. With such extensive use, we are now experiencing large scale of transformations that disrupt the functioning of the biosphere and the larger flow of energy and materials on a global scale. We are witnessing significant human-induced impacts on the environment, such as the extensive melting of Arctic sea ice and glaciers around the world, to the depletion of global fish stocks, and the disruption of fresh water ecosystems.

Since Marsh first studied the negative changes associated with agriculture and the development of urban-industrial society, natural and social scientists have continued to explore the local, regional and global dimensions of human-induced environmental change. We now have a much clearer understanding of such adverse human impacts on the environment. Science is increasingly becoming more sophisticated and developing conceptual frameworks and techniques to measure and model environmental changes at all spatial scales. Techniques have emerged such as sediment sampling, ice-core analysis and dendrochronology that help us understand past environmental changes. Geoinformatics with the use of remote sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems and information communication technologies enable us to study current and recent changes. Computers and sophisticated modeling techniques are being developed and employed to predict future environmental change.

Our growing scientific knowledge and understanding of the causes and consequences of human activity on the environment is increasingly influential and necessary for humanity's ability to adapt to such changes. Planners, policy-makers and key decisionmakers require objective scientific information in order to develop appropriate mitigation plans and policies. For example, computer models of global warming and rising sea levels are being employed to develop plans to protect coastal cities and settlements. Studies of environmental change and transformation are, therefore, critical for risk assessment and reducing uncertainties.

While much of the world has been captivated by global warming and climate change, there are, however, many more dimensions to past and current environmental change that the scientific community is bringing to light. Environmental change is occurring at multiple spatial scales: the local, regional and global scale and across all of the diverse ecosystems and bio-physical environments found on the surface of the planet. Environmental change is thus broad, diverse and multidimensional.

The objective of this book is to advance our scientific knowledge and understanding of some of the many neglected aspects of environmental change. We bring together an international group of experts to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of climate change, historical environmental change, biological adaptation to change, land use changes, indicators of change and management of environmental change. The twenty-two chapters in this book represent a diverse, international set of perspectives on environmental change. The contributors come from different parts of the world and different scientific disciplines. They employ diverse theoretical approaches and scientific methodologies to provide on-the-ground accounts of environmental change around the globe. Taken together as a whole, we hope this text expands the discussion of environmental change beyond Europe and North America to other parts of the world, to include voices of academic researchers whose voices and research is not often heard. The result, we hope, is a text that contributes to building bridges amongst researchers around the world from different fields of study and between researchers and environmental policy makers and decision-makers.

> **Dr. Stephen S. Young** and **Dr. Steven E. Silvern**  Department of Geography, Salem State University USA

**Part 1** 

**Climate Change** 

**1** 

Diógenes S. Alves

*Brazil* 

**Two Cultures, Multiple Theoretical** 

**Perspectives: The Problem of** 

*National Institute for Space Research (INPE)* 

**Integration of Natural and Social** 

**Sciences in Earth System Research** 

The integration of natural and social sciences has been recognized as a key aspect of Earth System (E.S.) research, a cross-disciplinary field involving the study of the geosphere, the biosphere, and society (IGBP, 2006; Leemans et al., 2009; Pfeiffer, 2008; Reid et al., 2010; Young, 2008). Because of societal and political correlates between environmental change and socio-economic development, the study of the Earth System has been increasingly ascribed social and political dimensions emphasizing the need for greater collaboration between the social and natural sciences (Beven, 2011; Kates et al., 2001; Leemans et al., 2009; Reid et al.,

The problem of inter-disciplinary articulation between the social and natural sciences is not specific to E.S. research, and its challenges can be traced back to the very origins of the notions of science and social science (e.g. Comte, 1830-1842; de Alvarenga et al., 2011; Latour, 2000, 2004). To a degree, these challenges could be explained in terms of the increasing gulf between two cultures – those of the sciences and the humanities – as suggested by C.P. Snow (1905-1980) in an instigating essay (Snow, 1990 [1959]), due to the high specialization in science and education, and, not less important, to a "tendency to let our social forms to crystallise" (Snow, 1990: 172). More to the point, the increasing importance attributed to the problem has motivated a growing number of analyses concerning the high level of specialization and fragmentation of science and university education (e.g. de Alvarenga et al., 2011; Moraes, 2005; Snow, 1990), but also the societal and political questions concerning research agendas (e.g. Alves, 2008; Kates et al., 2001; Latour, 2000, 2004; Schor, 2008), the disparities between developed and developing countries not just in affluence level, but also in research capacity (Kates et al, 2001; Pfeiffer, 2008; Schor, 2008), and, finally, from a more methodological point of view, the multiplicity of theoreticomethodological perspectives admitted by the social sciences (e.g. de Alvarenga et al., 2011; Floriani et al, 2011; Giddens, 2001; Leis, 2011; Moraes, 2005; Oliveira Filho, 1976; Raynaut &

Yet, in the E.S. field the problem of bringing together social and natural sciences has been a permanent and still unresolved challenge (Alves et al., 2007; Alves, 2008; Geoghegan et al.,

**1. Introduction** 

2010; Saloranta, 2001; Shackley et al., 1998).

Zanoni, 2011; Weffort, 2006).
