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  • Cover image of Volume 1, No 1: small tree uprooted from soil surrounded by various education, finance, science, and research icons

    First Steps: Student Research
    Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)

    This inaugural issue of Future Earth celebrates student-led inquiry, creativity, and reflection on sustainability, the environment, and society. Published by Thompson Rivers University and hosted by BC ELN through Open Journal Systems, it highlights the voices of undergraduate and graduate students exploring ecological integrity, social equity, and innovation in our shared planetary future.

    Featuring essays, research articles, and commentary from diverse disciplines—from environmental science and policy to the arts and community-engaged practice—this open-access issue showcases the insight and imagination of emerging scholars. By centering student authorship, Future Earth affirms that student voices are essential to shaping a more just and sustainable world.

  • Special Issue: Ambition vs. Action — Growth, Emissions, and Climate Targets in the Paris Agreement Era
    2026

    This special issue of Future Earth brings together a coordinated collection of student research from the Master of Environmental Economics and Management program (Fall 2025), examining a central question of the Paris Agreement era: why do emissions trajectories continue to diverge from climate targets?

    Using a common IPAT/Kaya analytical framework and World Bank data, each author conducts a national case study to assess how population, economic growth, and technological change interact to shape emissions outcomes. Across major emitting economies and developing nations alike, a consistent pattern emerges—emissions intensity often declines, yet absolute emissions fall too slowly, or continue rising, relative to pledged commitments.

    Together, these papers highlight a defining tension of contemporary climate policy: ambition is widespread, but structural transformation remains uneven and gradual. Grounded in empirical analysis rather than policy rhetoric, this collection invites reflection on credibility, timelines, and the pace of decarbonization required to align growth with global climate goals.

    Detailed AI Usage Log _All Authors

  • Cover image for the Future Earth Student Journal, Special Issue 1 (Summer 2025), titled Explorations in Art and Artificial Intelligence: Reimagining Sustainability Through Student Vision. The background features crocheted textile art in shades of teal, navy, pink, and cream, created by Kaitlyn Bartlett (2024). Overlaid text in bold, stylized font reads “Explorations in Art and Artificial Intelligence,” with the word "Art" highlighted in a contrasting beige. The journal’s title, tagline “A Student Journal on Sustainability and Environment,” and the editor’s name, Peter Tsigaris, appear at the top. The design reflects the creative and sustainable themes explored in the special issue.

    Special issue - Explorations in Art and AI: Reimagining Sustainability Through Student Vision
    2025

    This special issue of Future Earth features ten visionary student artists from Twyla Exner’s course, VISA 3830: Explorations in Art and AI (Fall 2024), whose work was originally exhibited at TRU’s Explorations in Art and AI gallery show. Inspired by the power and originality of their pieces, this collection brings their work into broader view—preserving it and sharing it beyond the walls of the gallery.

    Through generative AI, these students explored sustainability not only as an environmental concern, but as a complex, evolving concept—deeply intertwined with ethics, culture, and technology. Under Twyla’s mentorship, they used AI tools to challenge assumptions, expand their creative practices, and push the boundaries of what art can be and do in the age of artificial intelligence.

    Their work aligns deeply with the mission of Future Earth: to spotlight student inquiry and innovation that reimagines a more just, sustainable, and creative future.

    PDF Special Edition Book (PDF/download)

    Note: This Future Earth Journal Special Issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) to respect the creative rights of the contributing artists.

    This means that you are free to:

    • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.

    Under the following terms:

    • Attribution (BY): You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
    • NonCommercial (NC): You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
    • NoDerivatives (ND): If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

    This license ensures the works in this Special Issue can be shared widely for educational and scholarly purposes, while also protecting the artistic integrity of the contributors by preventing alterations and commercial reuse.