Report from Geosciences and Society Summit
Dr. Meighan Boyd participated as a meeting facilitator at the Geosciences and Society Summit held in March. This exciting summit brought together scientists, stakeholders, and experts from a variety of sectors including research institutions, medical geologists, engineers, petroleum geologists, community program directors, religious institutes, and members of the AGU Thriving Earth Exchange. The aim was to share knowledge in order to improve collaboration, increase transparency and also begin to ask and answer questions about how the geosciences can benefit the public good with consideration for human and environmental health, social justice, and natural resource management.
The summit included an excellent virtual Keynote by Director of the UN Sustainable Development Network, Prof. Jeffery Sachs of Columbia University, and a second keynote by Jane O’Meara Sanders, Founder of the Sanders Institute. Summit participants worked in groups to address questions throughout the event in order to create a collection of actionable points for geoscientists and stakeholders with an eye towards the sustainability and resilience.
Panels included architect Yolanda Cole, designer of the new carbon neutral AGU headquarters building, AGU CEO Chistine McEntee, Dr. Joel Gill (British Geological Survey), and member of the International Association for Promoting Geothics (IAPG) Prof. Vincent Cronin (Baylor University, USA). The summit was conceived and planned by Jeff Greenberg (Wheaton College, USA) and Greg Wessel (Geology for the Public Interest, USA), and supported by the AGU. There will be more work continuing from this first GSS summit so if these issues are exciting for you, keep an eye out on the AGU website for more information.
Geocience and Society Summit Homepage: https://connect.agu.org/gss/home
International Association for Promoting Geothics (IAPG): http://www.geoethics.org/
Thriving Earth Exchange “AGU's Thriving Earth Exchange advances community solutions. We help scientists, community leaders and sponsors work together to solve local challenges related to natural resources, climate change and natural hazards.”: https://thrivingearthexchange.org/
