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On 11 November, join us for a thought-provoking lecture by Professor JB Ruhl (Vanderbilt ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��), a pioneering scholar in environmental law, governance, and complex adaptive systems. In this session, Professor Ruhl will examine how Earth is reclaiming dominance over human systems. Drawing on his groundbreaking research, Professor Ruhl will explore how humanity’s brief era of planetary control is giving way to an age where the planet once again sets the terms of our survival and adaptation.

Abstract

The era of human domination of Earth’s ecosystems is coming to a close, and in fact did not prevail for long relative to the presence of homo sapiens on Earth—only about 12,000 of our 300,000 years as a species. On our present trajectory, Earth will soon once again be dominant, forcing humans to adapt like never before or pursue unprecedented interventions (e.g., geoengineering) in Earth system processes. Ironically, the short period of human domination of the Earth system has led to the Earth’s re-domination of human systems, and there soon will be no stopping the forces of change that humans have set in motion. This project explores the history, dynamics, and governance implications of Earth’s redominance. Four phases of human existence precede this new threshold: (1) the long phase of Earth dominance; (2) the rise of unrestrained human dominance following the dawn of agriculture; (3) a period of human self-regulation and restoration to reduce negative ecological impacts; and (4) the emergence of “wicked problems” challenging conventional social-ecological governance regimes. We now are entering (or have crossed into) the era of Earth re-dominance. Importantly, we focus in this project on how this system phase shift presents a new class of intractable governance problems that cannot be solved by further regulating human behavior and making curative restoration interventions. Humans cannot easily move the Earth system out of this new “basin.” Rather, massive interventions in human systems or the Earth system, or both, will be necessary. This has profound implications for human systems and their governance.

About the Speaker

is the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair in Law, Director of the Program on Law and Innovation, and Co-Director of the Energy, Environment and Land Use Program at Vanderbilt ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Law School. His scholarship explores the intersection of law, ecology, and adaptive governance, focusing on how legal systems can respond to complex environmental change.