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Preface | November 3

On Adapt: Sustaining Relationships

By Jacqueline Ohm

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Note: Special thanks to everyone who contributed their research, their editing skills and their constant source of encouragement to get this volume and website to life.

Five years have passed since our last published volume and with it, a great deal of change: cultural systems, communities, media of communication, and emerging initiatives. Five years brought on a global pandemic, an increase in political extremism and polarization, a proliferation of communication across borders, and climatic events of intensity. Five years brought adjustments, alterations, and altercations.

Five years allowed the journal to re-establish itself: we would also adapt and adjust. Motivated by the gap in publication, we decided to relaunch Earth Common Journal with a fresh design, both physically and digitally. We adapted our online presence to include a newly created independent website, earthcommonjournal.com, which presents multimedia research in immediate and salient ways. In turn, our physical publication adapted to mirror our website’s design and match contemporary publications. Inspired by the power of a relaunch, we took this thematic energy and used it as the issue to inspire this year’s collection of authors and articles. The theme, adapt, became the subject matter for volume 8.

In volume 8, we look at cultural and technological modifications as our year’s round of authors uncover how accommodations, adjustments, and alterations affect our current environmental climate. From sustainable energy practices in Iceland to elephant conservation efforts in Thailand, our authors present short and long-form research that illustrates recent adaptive movements by organizations and individuals, both online and in-person.

Adapt may be the specific theme for volume 8, but it will remain a central theme for the journal. Climate adaptation will take the place of climate change as one of the three guiding topics for the academic journal. We want to evolve from the issue of legitimizing climate change towards the initiatives, impacts, and inspirations of humanity and the rest of the natural world’s capabilities of adapting to a changing climate. We know that the ability to adapt is one of the most vital indicators of a species’ survival. By highlighting our collective ability to do so, we help communicate the possibilities for our continued survival while presenting opportunities and calls to action for our readership to contribute to and share with others.

After all, we are earth common.

-Jacqueline Ohm, Managing Editor

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About the Author

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