A Finite World, Earth Sciences, and Public Trust

The beginning of the 21st century has coincided with our recognition that life-sustaining earth cycles are remarkably fine-tuned, and that humans have developed technological abilities to perturb these cycles. Also, inspired by the gifts of freedom and democracy, humans have given themselves laws to exploit nature for profit. The upshot is that nature’s balance, governed by immutable physical laws, is being confronted by social laws driven by human aspirations. This conflict and its implications to the human relevance of the earth sciences are explored in the context of an extraordinary tradition of European culture known as public trust.