The AGCI classroom is a place to learn about the Earth, how it changes over time, how the air, water, land, and life systems interact, and how humans have become an agent of change on a global scale. You can explore our ever-changing Earth through the six so-called “spheres” that make up the Earth System.

The Earth system is the complex network of properties and processes--geographic, physical, chemical, and biological--that interact to shape the world in which we live. The six spheres of the Earth system are the atmosphere (air), geosphere (land and solid earth), hydrosphere (water), cryosphere (ice), biosphere (life), and a subset of the biosphere: the anthroposphere (human life). 

View this diagram to illustrate the interconnectivity and complexity of the Earth system.
View five principles of global environmental change