Ch. 8: Emergent Properties of CHES

The chapter and readings focused on the concepts of vulnerability and resilience as the dominant emergent properties of coupled human-environment systems.  However, it was clear from the presentations that there are many more emergent properties that have not been explored.  To better understand these, a relevant research question might be how long-term trends (Session 3) can inform how we view the interactions between human and environment systems.  That is, how can we use long-term data sets to establish baselines for various human and environmental indicators (GDP, population, biodiversity, climate, etc.)?  Are they true baselines, or reflections of existing CHES or other interactions with their own emergent properties?