Securing Our Future

In an era marked by escalating global crises—climate change, cyber threats, pandemics, and nuclear weapons proliferation—this book introduces a science-based approach to security and global threats. It underscores the necessity of interdisciplinary science and technology to ensure that decisions and actions are grounded in knowledge. This vision seeks to inspire, promote, and facilitate collaboration across all sectors of global society. Building resilient societies and effectively addressing global threats will require substantial resources. Can we afford to save the Earth? Can we afford not to? Four Key Elements: A Science-Based Approach to Security and Global Threats: The book is structured around two key chapters: an opening chapter that outlines this new vision, and a concluding chapter that reflects on how to translate that vision into actionable steps. Evolution of Earth and Society: A review of the development of our planet leading to modern society, with a discussion on global demography and the economy—critical components of global security and resilience. Key Global Communities: An introduction to five global communities—states, cities, the business and scientific communities, and civil society. It examines how each can contribute to building security and assesses their vulnerabilities to various threats. Major Human-Created Threats: A discussion of five large-scale threats created by human activity or arising from human interaction with nature: global warming, natural disasters, biopandemics, nuclear weapons, and cyber threats. This book serves as a call for informed, collaborative action to address the pressing global challenges of our time.