We need the great scientific institutions of the world to unite in recognition of this common research cause - a scientific mission to help save planet Earth. We must take at least some of the one trillion US dollars spent on new weapons each year and invest that money into scientific investigation of the Earth system and the impact of human perturbations. An order of magnitude increase in our knowledge base is needed to ensure that our efforts at building a sustainable world have a solid foundation. Concluding Comments As a scientist I have increasing respect for the insight on our environmental situation that emerges from the experiences and common sense of members of the general public. For example, there is a very widespread concern amongst the average person at the deteriorating state of the world's forests.
People feel a great loss is being suffered and a great wrong being committed.
Given the important function they perform in regulating atmospheric carbon, their on-going clearance and degradation is a matter of grave concern. However science cannot help us in this mission to save planet Earth if we care little for the larger community of life and the suffering of our fellow human beings, or if we do not want to find an appropriate balance between technology and nature - but once we have decided what path we want to be on and where we want to go, science can tell us what we have to do to get there. Ultimately, this is why we need an Earth Charter - to chart the path we wish to follow. Having done this, science then becomes an invaluable travelling companion. A new estimate of changing carbon storage on land since the last glacial maximum, based on global land ecosystem reconstruction.