Geoscience and society
This set of survey results explores the multifaceted relationships between geoscience and society, emphasizing the connections between earth science, sustainability, and various societal issues. It looks at how geoscience influences areas such as energy and raw materials development, human health, real estate and infrastructure, finance, and policy-making. The section also highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the earth sciences and shows how it integrates with other academic fields.
Sustainability
Most participants acknowledged the importance of the connection between earth science, societal decisions and resilience, though some noted the lack of understanding on how these topics interconnect. Early-to-mid and mid-to-late career participants highlighted communication as a key factor in building awareness and sharing knowledge. Across all cohorts, participants stressed the strong link between societal issues and critical resource problems. Early-to-mid career participants underscored the need for effective communication, while early and mid-to-late career participants pointed out economic challenges, such as socioeconomic status and resource access. Late career participants also emphasized social issues like diversity, social justice, and equity in linking communities to critical resources.
Participants were generally negative in their outlook on climate change’s influence on the future sustainability of the global resources and economic growth, citing concerns such as societal collapse, political unrest, increased hazards, declining biodiversity, disease spread, and resource scarcity. Mid-to-late and late career participants stressed the importance of climate change’s influence on sustainability, while early-to-mid career participants noted the economic impacts of climate-related challenges. Early and early-to-mid career participants also mentioned the need for adaptation and mitigation strategies to address future climate impacts.
Energy and raw materials
Participants emphasized the essential connections between mineral resources and sustainable development. Early and mid-to-late career participants noted the importance of environmental responsibility in resource extraction, particularly in minimizing environmental impacts. Early and late career participants also noted the importance of sustainable practices, including infrastructure development, urban planning, exploring new sources of raw materials, reducing consumption, and recycling. Early career participants emphasized raising public awareness about the foundational role of mineral resources in modern life, while early-to-mid career participants pointed to technological and scientific advancements, such as in batteries, transportation, and telecommunications.
Participants also recognized the critical role of earth science research in energy development, noting that it is fundamental to discovering and developing energy resources. Early and early-to-mid career participants provide many examples of renewable energy like geothermal and hydrogen development, tidal and ocean current energy, and the growing demand for solar and wind power. They highlighted how technological advancements are driving innovation and increasing efficiency.
Human health
Early and late career participants noted the importance of the connection between earth science and human health, some emphasizing how human well-being is interconnected with earth systems. Participants noted pollution, natural hazards and climate impacts as specific ways in which human health and the earth sciences are connected, with examples of pollution focused on air and water quality issues, and examples of natural hazards centered around floods, fires, extreme heat, volcanic activity, and earthquakes.
Real estate and infrastructure
Participants viewed natural hazard impacts as a key link between earth sciences and real estate value, noting that hazard adaptation, mitigation, and societal awareness are key linkages between the science and real estate valuation. Other comments included the impact of climate change, such as sea level rise and temperature extremes, as well as economic factors like insurance costs, availability, socioeconomic status, and housing prices. Earth science research was seen as influencing infrastructure development through urban planning, land use decisions, and hazard mitigation. Early career participants also mentioned the influence of earth science on building codes and standards, while late career participants noted the need for more research to better inform infrastructure projects.
Finance
Connections between banking and earth science research focused on funding, including investments in energy exploration and development, investor portfolios supporting earth science applications, and the need for financial support for research. One fifth of mid-to-late career and a quarter of early-to-mid career participants expressed uncertainty over the connection between banking and earth science research indicating a lack of understanding of how the two intersect. Early and early-to-mid career participants identified key linkages between banking and earth science through commodities, oil and gas, and critical and rare-earth minerals. Additionally, early and late career participants noted challenges related to transparency and control of resources, while early-to-mid career participants highlighted the role of risk management, such as hazard assessment and insurance.
Policy
Participants underscored the importance of translating scientific knowledge for policymakers, emphasizing the need for informed decision-making and effective policies to enhance societal well-being. Clear communication was highlighted by early, mid-to-late, and late career participants as essential for making science accessible and engaging with decision-makers. Challenges in translating science included a lack of scientific literacy, skepticism, and a disconnect regarding the urgency of the issues and solutions needed. Early-to-mid and mid-to-late career participants noted that science-informed policies could support sustainability, guide land use, protect resources, and reduce environmental impacts. Early and early-to-mid career participants emphasized that such policies could help prepare for future challenges, save lives, facilitate relocations, and incentivize actions. Early-to-mid career participants also emphasized the need for trust between decision makers and scientists and credibility of scientific information.
Intersections of geoscience and other disciplines
Participants described how earth science intersects with other academic fields, noting its inherently interdisciplinary nature and impact on various disciplines. They emphasized the importance of connecting with social sciences and humanities to bridge communication with policymakers, planners, and communities. Late career participants stressed the need for integrating other disciplines into geoscience research, including physical sciences like chemistry and physics. Mid-to-late career participants highlighted connections with computer science and math, particularly through the integration of programming, mathematics, and artificial intelligence in research.
Mid-to-late career responses are not shown due to low response rates.
Early-to-mid career responses are not shown due to low response rates.
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