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Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace pp 67–88Cite as

Contextual Changes in Earth History: From the Holocene to the Anthropocene — Implications for Sustainable Development and for Strategies of Sustainable Transition

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Part of the book series: Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace ((HSHES,volume 10))

Abstract

Human activities have changed many of the key parameters of the Holocene geological epoch of the recent past so much that we now live in the Anthropocene. New perspectives in earth system science suggest that sustainable development and plans for transitions to a sustainable peace now have to consider the possibilities of rapid phase shifts in the biosphere. Constraining human activities to within a safe operating space defined by key ecological boundaries in the earth system is key to sustainability but planning has to recognize that rapid shifts may be coming. The implications of this suggest that sustainability planning has to think beyond notions of national security and recognize that human actions are shaping the future configuration of the planet and hence changing the geopolitical context. Adopting a perspective of geopolitical ecology with a focus on global economic production rather than only on traditional ideas of environmental protection is key to the future if planetary stewardship of the Anthropocene is to be successful.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Political Economy of Climate Change, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Simon Dalby

  2. Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Simon Dalby

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  1. AFES-PRESS, AG Friedensforschung und Europäische Sicherheitspolitik, Mosbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Hans Günter Brauch

  2. (UNAM), National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Úrsula Oswald Spring

  3. Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    John Grin

  4. Res. Group Climate Change and Security, Hamburg University ZMAW, Hamburg, Germany

    Jürgen Scheffran

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Dalby, S. (2016). Contextual Changes in Earth History: From the Holocene to the Anthropocene — Implications for Sustainable Development and for Strategies of Sustainable Transition. In: Brauch, H., Oswald Spring, Ú., Grin, J., Scheffran, J. (eds) Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace . Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43884-9_2

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