About

The Earth Commission's international project focuses on updating the Safe and Just Earth system boundaries for a sustainable future for all. It builds on foundational work by Rockström et al. about planetary boundaries, Earth system boundaries and recently Diamond and others who have explored the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. The goal of this specific project is to advance the current understanding and implementation of strategies to stay within the Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries for novel entities, including chemical pollution. 

To learn more, read our blog post!

Team

Ph.D. Candidates
Anna Shalin
  • Ph.D. Candidate in Earth Sciences, University of Toronto
  • M.Sc. Environmental Science, ETH Zürich
  • B.Sc. Environment & Toxicology, University of Toronto
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My doctoral thesis aims to explore safe and just Earth system boundaries for novel entities as part of the broader goals of the Earth Commission. I am using big data approaches to compile a global database of environmental contaminants and assess exceedances of safe benchmarks for these chemicals. I am also using machine learning to identify emerging contaminants of concern.

Publications:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WvJi08wAAAAJ&hl=en

Fun fact: I competed at the 2024 "Concours de Castells" aka Human Tower Championships in Tarragona, Spain. If you don't know about castells, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo_EKYPNjQE

Visiting students
Lin Boynton​
  • M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • B.Sc. in Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Illinois, United States

I’m part of the Earth Commission project focused on assessing safe and just Earth System Boundaries for novel entities, including chemical pollution. My goal is to investigate the global or cross-regional impacts of chemical pollution on human populations based on existing biomonitoring data to influence science policy and business. This involves harmonizing global biomonitoring data for comparison to vetted benchmarks, with an emphasis on assembly and inclusion of data from low- and middle-income countries, to enable a comprehensive meta-analysis.
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Publications:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9944-3834

Fun fact: I’m part of an association, PLEIAD Kollektiv, that explores how art can bridge the climate knowledge-action gap. Always happy to chat!
Miguel van der Velden
  • M.Sc. Cultural Geography (Climate Adaptation Governance). University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. 
  • B.A. Sustainability-Society and Journalism. University of the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Australia.
I’m working with the Novel Entities group on developing a transformational framework to support "just transitions" in the chemicals sector. The work responds to the challenge of novel entities being introduced too rapidly, broadly, and with high complexity, requiring systemic change rather than isolated solutions. The framework will be illustrated through one or two case studies that model possible transition pathways.

Fun fact: My favourite pastimes are snorkelling, skin diving, and free diving—any kind of swimming in the sea, basically.
Matthis Schäfer
  • M.Sc. Student in Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • B.Sc. In Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

I am contributing to the Earth Commission project focused on assessing safe and just Earth System Boundaries for novel entities, including chemical pollution. In collaboration with Lin Boynton, I assess the cross-regional impacts of chemical pollution on human populations using biomonitoring data. This work involves harmonizing biomonitoring data and comparing it to vetted benchmarks, with a particular emphasis on compiling data from low- and middle-income countries to address reporting gaps and support a comprehensive meta-analysis.

Fun fact: I love long hikes and other outdoor activities. I am also new to film photography.