Recent assessments of Earth system integrity highlight the deteriorating resilience of our planet, with planetary-scale human pressures pushing the Earth system into the uncharted territory of the Anthropocene. Earth resilience – the capacity of the system to resist, recover, and regenerate – is increasingly under pressure by global warming, weakening land and ocean carbon sinks and nonlinear dynamics across the Earth system. Of particular concern are tipping elements: large-scale components of the Earth system that can undergo abrupt, often irreversible state shifts once critical thresholds are crossed.
Examples include the Greenland ice sheets, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, monsoon systems, and major ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest or boreal forests. Rising anthropogenic pressures, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land-use change, increase the likelihood of crossing such thresholds. Their interactions may trigger tipping cascades, where the destabilization of one element increases the risk of others tipping, thereby amplifying Earth system change and undermining long-term Earth resilience.
Importantly, the Earth system is now co-shaped by human–Earth system feedbacks, where human activities both drive and respond to biophysical change. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and land-use intensification contribute to destabilizing Earth system dynamics, while societal responses—such as mitigation policies, technological innovation, or behavioral shifts—can either reinforce unsustainable trajectories or create stabilizing strong feedbacks. These feedbacks can act nonlinearly, with the potential to delay, accelerate, or even redirect entire Earth system trajectories. In this context, research is uncovering the potential for rapid social tipping points, which could accelerate decarbonization and foster transformative pathways towards global sustainability to revitalize and regenerate Earth resilience.
In this session, we invite contributions on all topics relating to Earth resilience, planetary boundaries, tipping points in the Earth system, positive (social) tipping, as well as their interactions and potential cascading domino effects. We particularly welcome studies that use Earth system modelling, conceptual approaches, or data-driven analysis to investigate nonlinear dynamics, abrupt shifts, and tipping points, as well as contributions exploring social tipping processes and their role in shaping a more sustainable future.