Our ever more densely populated planet Earth offers future generations both challenges and opportunities. Most of the easy solutions have been applied already. New, smart solutions should now be found which require much more ingenuity and innovative thinking based on science and technology. Fortunately, our knowledge of the Earth has grown rapidly in recent decades, providing us with new opportunities to resolve or at least reduce impact of current challenges.
We continue to benefit greatly from what the Earth offers and we rely utterly upon its resources and power to sustain our lives and societies. If we apply these resources more effectively, there would be sufficient for all while increasing living standards for many. That can only be realized if we expand our knowledge base of the Earth and make better use of what we know now to find smart or perhaps unconventional solutions for many of today’s societal problems.
We need to rethink our way of life, our habits and our respect for the Earth. With a world population growing by another 30% by 2050 and at the same time reaching the limits of various natural resources, we must comprehend and manage the natural environment. We should develop a more balanced view of our planet and work towards new solutions for societal problems based on a sound knowledge of an ever-changing Earth. Any proposed solution must work towards a sustainable future for societies with a clear and positive spirit of cooperation between all groups involved. The Earth Science Matters Foundation will demonstrate that human ingenuity is able to cope with many of the current challenges and that there is also good news about the Earth.