Sustainability in the Digital Age

Disruption. This one word captures the essence of the world today. COVID-19 has disrupted economies, global supply chains, health systems, travel, education, and so much more. In just a few weeks it changed life as we knew it. But COVID-19 is not a black swan; it was not unforeseen and unexpected. A global pandemic is just one of many global systemic crises that scientists have long predicted would emerge from our disruptions of Earths life support systems [1][3]. Over the last several decades, human disruptions to the climate, the ocean, and all natural ecosystems, have expanded and intensified the risks to human health, security, and prosperity [4]. COVID-19 provides a window into how prepared the international community is to handle the larger crises on the horizon resulting from disruptionsto the climate and other Earth systems.