What are the anthropogenic disturbance regimes and teleperturbations that matter at the Earth-System level?
In counterpoint to Question #5, which addresses the elements that can be anthropogenically perturbed, it is also necessary to examine the suite of known anthropogenic perturbations to assess which ones have Earth-system level effects, and which ones merely affect the sustainability of human population or other individual species without fundamentally altering the state of Earth system operation. Evidence is accumulating that suggests that anthropogenic carbon emissions are affecting global mean temperature, but there is still not much conclusive scientific evidence that human perturbations can effect the mode of operation of the Earth System. Many connections between human disturbances and Earth-System features can, and have been studied on a more or less ad hoc basis, and rarely with a research design that directly permits one to establish or refute the attribution. Making a convincing case for any such connection is important, since it means establishing an important aspect of Earth
