The environmental challenges of climate change, energy demands, and natural resource loss continue to mount. World population hit seven billion on Halloween and is projected to go to ten billion if not more. The first decade of the 21st century was the warmest in 130 years of recorded global temperatures and 2010 was the warmest year yet recorded. Extinction rates are 1000 times base rates. The Amazon had the greatest drought in recorded history in 2010. Droughts, floods, wildfires, and probably intense tropical storms are becoming more frequent. These challenges call for action at a planetary scale.

 The “Managing Our Planet” seminar series – developed jointly by George Mason University and the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Brazil Institute – addresses planetary scale problems and solutions.