The capability to integrate human history with a fairly detailed and spatially explicit natural history of the earth over the last 3,000 years now exists.

The goal of this project is to produce an integrated history of the climate, atmospheric chemistry and composition, material and water cycles, ecosystem distribution, species extinctions, land use patterns, human settlement patterns, technological changes, patterns of disease, patterns of language and institutions, wars and alliances, and other variables on earth from several new and existing data sources that would provide a much richer picture of how (and why) the planet has changed in recent times.

This integrated history will serve as an improved basis for studies from various perspectives of the earth´s history and possible futures. It will also be used as a core data set to test integrated models of humans in natural systems.

The subset of models that exhibit skill in replicating the integrated history of humans on earth can then be used to make projections into the future with much higher confidence.

About Professor Costanza
Robert Costanza is Professor of Ecological Economics and Director of the Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Prof. Costanza´s research areas include: systems ecology, ecological economics, environmental policy, landscape ecology, ecological modelling, energy and material flow analysis, social traps, incentive structures and institutions.