{"id":660002,"date":"2024-04-02T19:59:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T02:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=660002"},"modified":"2024-03-27T14:08:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T21:08:38","slug":"humans-as-a-species-have-been-highly-successful","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/humans-as-a-species-have-been-highly-successful","title":{"rendered":"Humans as a Species Have Been Highly Successful"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[463771,381322,11022],"tags":[1301,279122,275902,1291,26502],"arcnews_issues":[488602],"class_list":["post-660002","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-sustainability","category-thought-leader","tag-biodiversity","tag-climate","tag-climate-science","tag-conservation","tag-ecology","arcnews_issues-spring-2024","arcnews_sections-gis-people"],"acf":{"short_description":"With humanity at an inflection point, we must choose to stand up and create a sustainable future.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Let\u2019s face it, as a species, humans have been highly successful. Our innovations and achievements in science, technology, and culture have supported the overwhelming success that has also led to an exponential growth of the human population, currently estimated at more than 8.0 billion.\r\n\r\nThe impact of this ever-burgeoning population has also led some people to call the current era the Anthropocene Epoch. This domination of the planet is now threatening Earth and our collective existence. Human-induced climate change is stimulating ecological instability.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s my sense that we humans are living recklessly\u2014that we\u2019re living beyond our means and our collective actions are substantially altering our Earth\u2019s surface, atmosphere, and oceans. This simply isn\u2019t sustainable. Some say we may not even have a future.\r\n\r\nBut I believe humanity is at an inflection point. We must choose to stand up and create a sustainable future. We must take collective responsibility for imagining, designing, developing, and implementing solutions that sustain the planet."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":660032,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"However, we need to move quickly. There is no time for political polarization or ceaseless discussion. We have very little time to choose before there will be no choice available.\r\n\r\nFortunately, we already have a powerful tool: the geographic approach. It\u2019s the key to holistically solving problems and the foundation for positive action. Sustainability starts with geography\u2014it begins with seeing the world as a single ecosystem.\r\n\r\nThe technology for implementing the geographic approach is GIS and it is advancing rapidly. The work of organizations using GIS is becoming interconnected into a geospatial infrastructure of distributed servers\u2014a system of systems. This is making information pervasively available and expanding the capability for action.\r\n\r\nGIS furnishes the tools for integrating and analyzing data; devising and evaluating solutions; and collaborating and communicating the information that can guide the actions that create a sustainable future. As GIS professionals, we will continue to have an essential role to play in creating this future.\r\n\r\nLet us strengthen our shared commitment to the planet. 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