Many aspects of our planet are changing rapidly due to human activity. Over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in other comparable period of time. All these changes, including climate change, land use change, pollution and biodiversity loss are strongly interrelated and cannot be seen in isolation. Because their impacts influence the entire planet, the combined changes are commonly recognized as global environmental change. This summer school will focus on how global change affects principal processes, compartments, interactions of the earth system. The summer school will combine general principles of earth system science with cutting-edge scientific insights. Specific topics that will be covered include:
• Global change observations and trends
• Earth system compartment interactions
• Complex systems and resilience
• Scenarios and modeling potential impacts
• Uncertainty, and communication
