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Earth systems engineering and management


Earth systems engineering and management (ESEM) is a discipline used to analyze, design, engineer and manage complex environmental systems. It entails a wide range of subject areas including anthropology, engineering, environmental science, ethics and philosophy. At its core, ESEM looks to "rationally design and manage coupled human-natural systems in a highly integrated and ethical fashion" ESEM is a newly emerging area of study that has taken root at the University of Virginia, Cornell and other universities throughout the United States. Founders of Earth Systems Engineering & Management are Braden Allenby and Michael Gorman. In the UK, the Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research (CESER) at Newcastle University has a large ESEM programme, led by Professor Richard Dawson.

For centuries now, mankind has been utilizing the earth and its natural resources to advance civilization and develop technology. "As a principle [sic] result of Industrial Revolutions and associated changes in human demographics, technology systems, cultures, and economic systems have been the evolution of an Earth in which the dynamics of major natural systems are increasingly dominated by human activity".

In many ways, ESEM views the earth as a human artifact. "In order to maintain continued stability of both natural and human systems, we need to develop the ability to rationally design and manage coupled human-natural systems in a highly integrated and ethical fashion- an Earth Systems Engineering and Management (ESEM) capability".

Over the past five years, the concept of Earth Systems Engineering and Management has been developed by a few individuals. One of particular note is Braden Allenby. Allenby holds that the foundation upon which ESEM is built is the notion that “the Earth, as it now exists, is a product of human design”. In fact there are no longer any natural systems left in the world, “there are no places left on Earth that don’t fall under humanity’s shadow”. “So the question is not, as some might wish, whether we should begin ESEM, because we have been doing it for a long time, albeit unintentionally.


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