Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Why a hundred thousand years ? -- 1.2 People and resources -- 1.3 Management and cooperarion -- 1.4 The overall plan of the book -- 1.5 Notes and references -- 2 A Brief History of the Earth -- 2.1 The age of the Earth -- 2.2 Geological timescales -- 2.3 The formation of the Moon and the Late Heavy Bombardment -- 2.4 Continents and plate tectonics -- 2.4.1 Continents -- 2.4.2 Plate tectonics -- 2.4.3 The Earth's magnetic field -- 2.4 Evolution ofthe Earth's atmosphere -- 2.6 Life and evolution -- 2.6.1 The early fossils in the Archean -- 2.6.2 The Proterozoic and the apparition of oxygen -- 2.6.3 The Neo-Proterozoic: the Ediacarans and the 'snowball earth' -- 2.6.4 The Phanerozoic, life extinctions -- 2.7 Conclusion -- 2.8 Notes and references -- 3 Cosmic Menaces -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Galactic hazards -- 3.2.1 The death of the Sun -- 3.2.2 Encounters with interstellar clouds and stars -- 3.2.3 Supernovae explosions, UV radiation and cosmic rays -- 3.2.4 Gamma-ray bursts and magnetars -- 3.3 Solar System hazards -- 3.3.1 Past tracks of violence -- 3.3.2 The nature of the impactors: asteroids and comets -- 3.3.3 Estimating the danger -- 3.3.4 The bombardment continues -- 3.3.5 Mitigation measures -- 3.3.6 Deviation from the dangerous path -- 3.3.7 Decision making -- 3.3.8 Space debris -- 3.4 Conclusion -- 3.5 Notes and references -- 4 Terrestrial Hazards -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Diseases -- 4.2.1 How old shall we be in 1,000 centuries? -- 4.2.2 How tall shall we be in 1,000 centuries ? -- 4.3 Seismis hazards: the threat of volcanoes -- 4.3.1 Volcanoes and tectonic activity -- 4.3.2 The destructive power of volcanoes -- 4.3.3 Volcanoes and climate change -- 4.3.4 Forecasting eruptions.

4.4 Seismic hazards: the threat of earthquakes -- 4.4.1 Measuring the power of earthquakes -- 4.4.2 Earthquake forecasting -- 4.4.3 Mitigation against earthquakes -- 4.5 Tsunamis -- 4.5.1 What are they ? -- 4.5.2 The 26 December 2004 tsunami -- 4.5.3 Forecasting tsunamis and mitigation approaches -- 4.6 Climatic hazards -- 4.6.1 Storms: cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, ect. -- 4.6.2 Floods -- 4.6.3 Droughts -- 4.7 Conclusion -- 4.8 Notes and references -- 5 The Changing Climate -- 5.1 Miscellaneous evidence of climate change -- 5.2 The global climate system -- 5.3 Climates in the distant past -- 5.4 The recent ice ages -- 5.5 Recent climate -- 5.6 Changes in the Sun -- 5.7 Volcanic eruptions -- 5.8 Anthropogenic CO2 -- 5.9 Interpretation of the recent record -- 5.10 The ozone hole -- 5.11 Notes and references -- 6 Climate Futures -- 6.1 Scenarios for future climates -- 6.2 Geographic distribution of warming -- 6.3 Sea level -- 6.4 The 100,000-year climate future -- 6.5 Doubts -- 6.6 Consequences of climate change -- 6.7 Appendix -- 6.7.1 The four main SRES scenarios -- 6.8 Notes and references -- 7 The Future of Survivability: Energy and Inorganic Resources -- 7.1 Energy for 100,000 years -- 7.1.1 Energy requirements for the 100,000-year world -- 7.1.2 Minor energy source for the long-term future -- 7.1.3 Wind energy -- 7.1.4 Solar energy -- 7.1.5 Biofuels -- 7.1.6 Nuclear energy -- 7.1.7 Fusion energy -- 7.2. Energy for the present century -- 7.2.1 Fossil carbon fuels -- 7.2.2 Electricity and renewables -- 7.2.3 From now to then -- 7.3 Elements and minerals -- 7.3.1 Abundances and formation of the elements -- 7.3.2 The composition of the Earth -- 7.3.3 Mineral resources -- 7.3.4 The present outlook -- 7.3.5 Mineral resources for 100,000 years -- 7.4 Conclusion -- 7.5 Notes and references -- 8 The Future of Survivability: Water and Organic Resources.

8.1 Water -- 8.1.1 The water cycle -- 8.1.2 Water use and water stress -- 8.1.3 Remedial measures -- 8.1.4 Water for 100,000 years -- 8.1.5 From now to then: water and climate change -- 8.2 Agriculture -- 8.2.1 Increasing productivity -- 8.2.2 Present and past land use -- 8.2.3 Population -- 8.2.4 Agricultural land and production -- 8.2.5 Irrigation -- 8.2.6 Fertilizers and pesticides -- 8.2.7 Top soil -- 8.2.8 Agriculture for 100,000 years -- 8.2.9 From now to then -- 8.3 Forests and wilderness -- 8.3.1 Deforestation -- 8.4 Conclusion -- 8.5 Notes and references -- 9 Leaving Earth: From Dreams to Reality ? -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Where to go ? -- 9.2.1 The case of Venus -- 9.2.2 The case of Mars -- 9.2.3 Other worlds -- 9.2.4 Interrtellar travel -- 9.2.5 Space cities? -- 9.3 What to do with the Moon? -- 9.3.1 The Lunar Space Station -- 9.3.2 The Moon as a scientific base -- 9.3.3 The Moon for non-scientific exploitation -- 9.3.4 Resources from outside the Earth-Moon system: planets and asteroids -- 9.4 Terraforming the Earth -- 9.4.1 Absorbing or storing CO2 -- 9.4.2 Cooling down the Earth -- 9.5 Conclusion -- 9.6 Notes and references -- 10 Managing the Planet's Future: The Crucial Role of Space -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 The specific needs for space observations of the Earth -- 10. 2.1 The Earth's Interior -- 10.2.2 Water: the hydrosphere and the cryosphere -- 10.2.3 The atmosphere -- 10.2.4 The biosphere -- 10.3 The tools and methods of space -- 10.3.1 The best orbits for Earth observation -- 10.3.2 Geodesy and altimetry satellites: measuring the shapes of the Earth -- 10.3.3 Global Positioning Systems -- 10.3.4 Synthetic Aperture Radars -- 10.3.5 Optical imaging -- 10.3.6 Remote-sensing spectroscopy -- 10.3.7 Radiometry -- 10.3.8 Monitoring astronomical and solar influences -- 10.4 Conclusion -- 10.5 Notes and references.

11.Managing the Planet's Future: Setting-Up the Structures -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 The alert phase: need for a systematic scientific approach -- 11.2.1 Forecasting the weather: the 'easy' case -- 11.2.2 The scientific alert phase: the example of the IPCC -- 11.2.3 Organizing the space tools -- 11.3 The indispensable political involvement -- 11.3.1 The crucial role of the United States, China and India -- 11.3.2 A perspective view on the political perception -- 11.3.3 The emotional perception: the scene is moving -- 11.4 Conclusion: towards world ecoligical governance? -- 11.5 Notes and references -- 12 Conclusion -- 12.1 Limiting population growth -- 12.2 Stabilizing global warming -- 12.3 The limits of vessel-Earth -- 12.4 The crucial role of education and science -- 12.5 New governance required -- 12.6 The difficult and urgent transition phase -- 12.7 Adapting to as static society -- 12.8 Notes and references -- Index.