The world that we live in is not well-known.
It's fragile.
It’s rich in biodiversity.
And it’s increasingly impacted by human activities.
Geologists are beginning to call this era the Anthropocene.
Today, our world is in trouble because humans are living carelessly.
We are threatening our very future.
We are, as human beings,
going to have to collectively come together
and address these challenges.
A sustainable future, in my mind, is possible,
but we’re going to have to do many things,
and we're going to have to do these now.
Sustainability really requires that we see the world as one system.
Today, in my field, the geospatial field,
we are seeing technologies emerge that are becoming interconnected.
They're allowing us to measure,
analyze and understand what's occurring on our globe.
We're bringing together geographic information from many sources,
virtually describing everything that is occurring on our planet.
These technologies are being systematically interconnected
with the web,
and opening up,
allowing organizations to be able to see information
and create what I like to describe
as a geographic information system for our entire planet.
This system promises to be a platform
for better understanding and managing our planet,
a kind of nervous system for a more sustainable future.
A central part of this system is content.
We are creating a living atlas of our planet
that provides a massive collection of authoritative data and map layers,
describing information on things like population and the economy.
A wealth of information on natural systems,
including all the -ologies:
hydrology, biology, vegetation
and, of course, the rich biodiversity that sustains us.
This atlas also includes imagery from many sources,
from satellites, aerial photography,
describing the changing human footprint on our planet.
Some of these layers are also almost real-time,
providing information about pollution and weather and land cover.
Remote sensing and machine learning are making it possible for us
to see things like wildfires here in the US,
but also in Greece and Russia,
in Italy and Turkey this year.
This data has been made available by thousands of individual,
trusted scientific government and NGO organizations
who wish to share and make their data available openly.
Recently, my colleagues and I developed a new 10-meter global map of land cover
for the entire planet.
This was computed in less than a week using AI and machine learning.
It has given us a clear picture of land-cover patterns today
and will also be the foundation for us to periodically show change,
update the footprint almost in real time.
Here, for example, we can see in Malaysia
where the demand for palm oil is impacting and consuming natural areas.
In Buenos Aires, we can see the effect of urbanization and sprawl
on impacting natural lands around the city.
In Xingu, in Brazil,
this is a really amazing point,
because it's showing where the government has actually looked ahead
and protected certain areas in special zones
so that biodiversity will be sustained.
GS is also being used to model and forecast our future.
For example, this amazing map of 2050 land cover
predicts, using various statistical means,
the expansion of where the human footprint is going
and how it might impact areas of rich biodiversity.
Organizations around the world are already leveraging this geospatial nervous system
for better planning and decision making.
In the future,
we're going to have to empower virtually every organization
to embrace this new geographic approach.
The geographic approach is a way
to bring all this information together
to see holistically how things are interrelated.
A science-based approach which is inclusive,
that can bring together multiple populations
to be able to create more intelligent actions
and create a more sustainable future.
These kinds of advances in technology and information
are increasingly available,
but it's going to take more than simply technology
to create a sustainable future.
It’s going to require major segments of our society --
organizations, governments, businesses around the world --
embracing this science,
embracing what technology can offer
and using their creative and design skills
to be able to create a better future.
Ultimately, it'll require all of us to integrate this kind of thinking,
this science-based thinking, this geographic-approach thinking,
into the way that we make decisions,
both as individuals
and also in all of our institutions,
locally, regionally,
nationally and ultimately globally.
Like the internet and other pervasive technologies,
this nervous system is going to grow and expand.
It's going to empower our collective response
to understanding and taking action -- not only for climate,
but also all the interrelated challenges that we are facing as a global society.
We have the tools and the science for better understanding.
Now that we can see as much as we can see,
we must act.
Thank you very much.