Climatic Change, Aquatic Science, Multiple Shifts in Paradigms

✍ Scribed by Dieter Gerten

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 39 KB
• Volume: 93
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1434-2944
• DOI: 10.1002/iroh.200711043

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This paper discusses some recent paradigm shifts in the basic and applied aquatic sciences. Examples for these shifts in thinking are the recognition of climate‐driven synchronies in lake dynamics over large geographic domains, the existence of global‐scale teleconnections in the water system through “virtual water trade”, and the gradual replacement of engineering solutions to water resources management. Furthermore, it is discussed how these scientific breakthroughs relate to the recognition that global climate and environmental change is real, which itself can be considered a paradigm shift. Since these academic paradigm shifts are gradually entering the public discourse, it can be speculated whether they eventually add up to an even more fundamental “sustainability paradigm shift” across all sectors of society.

If philosophy does not resolve any scientific problem, science, in its turn, does not resolve any philosophical problem

Nicolás Gómez Dávila (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)