Our shared goal is to understand, predict, and respond to human-caused environmental change at local to global scales. To take on this challenge, we strive to investigate the complexity of the global system, including the interactions, synergies, and feedbacks that link the oceans, atmosphere, land surfaces, and freshwater systems. A global perspective has emerged that challenges the research community to view and study the planet as a singular, highly-interactive system, moving past disciplinary approaches to evaluate the interactions among chemical, biological, and physical processes across the Earth's surface. Through the graduate and undergraduate programs, we will train a new generation of scientists that comprehend the multiple facets of environmental processes, and who are able to think synthetically, evaluating change in our oceans, water, air and land processes as part of an integrated and connected system. This is the directive of the Earth System Science Department, carried forth by faculty representing many interdisciplinary areas, talented graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, and experienced and creative research staff. We are distributed in laboratories and offices across the Stanford campus, with the department headquarters based in the Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy building.