Reflections on the past and future of whole Earth system science

With unabating climate extremes, evidence of waning biosphere buffering capacity, and surging ocean surface temperature, Earth system analysts are posing the question: is global environmental change accelerating, driven by the depletion of our planet's resilience? No scientist contributed more actively to addressing this question and thus defining sustainable development in the Anthropocene than the late Professor Will Steffen. His contributions to Earth system and global sustainability research gave birth to concepts such as the Planetary Boundaries, Hothouse Earth, Planetary Commons, and World-Earth resilience, and have become guideposts for how Earth system science can inform humanity's Earth stewardship in the Anthropocene.