Pathways to sustainability: climate changes and transitions societies

Abstract

The human species have an elevated capacity of interference and influence on the global systems. Among the global changes are the climate changes, an increasingly relevant topic for the current societies. In so far as Earth systems are changed by anthropogenic actions, also the climatic conditions of the Planet become more susceptible to changes. This paper begins by introducing the climate changes, explaining the connections between the climate system and the terrestrial and oceanic systems conjugated to the anthropogenic influences, giving attention to the consequences of these influences on the ecosystems and human life. In regard of the global changes, especially in the face of human influence, it requires a transition of current societies, and sustainability is treated here as the ground for this transition. Finally, some concepts of ‘Permaculture’ and the ‘Transitions Movements’ are introduced as possible adaptive responses to climate, and global, changes for an adequate transition to the assumptions of sustainability.