Beyond Warming: The Sustainability Challenge of Climate, Pollution & Disease, Water, and Justice in the Anthropocene

This review argues that the sustainability challenge of the Anthropocene extends beyond climate warming to encompass interacting crises of water disruption, biodiversity loss, pollution, disease, inequality, and governance failure. Building on the Earth at Risk framework, we synthesize recent evidence that global warming is accelerating, marine heatwaves are restructuring ocean ecosystems, terrestrial carbon sinks are weakening, and the hydrological cycle is being destabilized by continental drying, groundwater depletion, and intensifying precipitation extremes. These physical changes increasingly intersect with public health risks, including heat-amplified air pollution, expanding vector- and waterborne disease, microplastic contamination, and degraded ecosystem services that once buffered pollution and pathogens. We emphasize that vulnerability is not determined by exposure alone, but by unequal access to infrastructure, wealth, governance capacity, and political power. The review identifies a widening gap between scientific knowledge and institutional response, arguing that fragmented governance and growth-dependent economic systems remain poorly suited to cascading Earth-system risks. We propose an integrated sustainability agenda centered on rapid decarbonization, ecological restoration, water-centered governance, pollution and disease mitigation, and justice-based institutional reform. A viable future requires societies capable of sustaining human dignity, equity, and resilience within planetary boundaries.