Sustainability is an attitude first

In a circular economy, design is about more than just creating a sustainable product. In this system based on eliminating waste and minimizing the use of resources, the design process is aimed at preserving the value of products and materials and keeping them in the economic system for as long as…

Understanding soil biodiversity driven processes function, and delivery of ecosystem services, are crucial to promote knowledgeable functional diversity management to prevent crossing tipping points. We discuss options to prevent passing tipping points, by the governance of “functional diversity” across the biophysical, economic, and societal levels using southwestern Amazonia as blueprint. One of the main challenges to prevent crossing ecosystem thresholds of one state to the other is the rapid and often irreversible nature of tipping points. Additionally, in coupled natural and human systems, the impact of tipping points is not always recognized as a threat, and people usually see no reason to change their behavior towards ecosystem degradation as long as their livelihood, health, or economy are not impaired perceptibly. As such, addressing tipping points is complex, and requires a multi factorial analysis, and integration of natural and social sciences to understand the underlying processes governing ecosystem health and good science communication to engage society.