Call for Contribution - Annual Assembly European Geosciences Union
12-17 April 2015 Vienna
Session EOS 9: Main-streaming Interest in Earth Science Topics
Convener: Martin Bohle with Marion Burgio, Giuseppe Di Capua, David Grinspoon, Jesús Martinéz-Frias, Cornelia Nauen
Participants at this session will
explore experiences how to mainstream curiosity for earth science
topics or how to appraise them as a matter of public interest.
Participants are invited to tease out
lessons how to achieve main-streaming curiosity for earth science
topics, addressing both successful outreach activities and obstacles.
Experiences from diverse approaches are welcome; i.e. using
traditional or modern media or engaging with arts or story-telling.
Deliberately, the perspective on valuing earth science topics is cast
widely: inviting perspectives on the beauty or particularity of
ordinary or special phenomena, evaluating hazards for or from mundane
environments, or connecting the scholarly investigation with concerns
of citizens at large.
The following reflections illustrate
how experiences from a wide range of earth science topics might be
woven into common threads of the session:
"Weather" is the earth
science topic that gains regular attention in "prime-time",
and consequently, meteorology is among daily interests of citizens.
Why have other earth science topics not received the same sort of
interest? Was it essential that since the early 1950-ties the public
discussion of weather benefited from broadcasting of weather
forecasts? What other examples exist and might inspire opportunities
for connecting earth science topics more firmly with citizens'
interests?
Most traditional earth-centric
story-telling of rural societies has disappeared in the global
urbanisation process. However, the relevance of understanding
functioning of the Earth has increased, be it for economy or values
adapted to the Anthropocene. In the last decade a public discussion
of anthropogenic global change and geoengineering took off building
on the discussions about weather and hazard mitigation, but also
weaving demographics, linguistics and cultural histories into a
richer narrative of change. What teach such interdisciplinary
explorations for main-streaming interest in earth science topics?
Hello Martin, two quick comments, more if inspiration comes...
ReplyDelete1. Just did a review of Tolkien's Legendarium (Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit) with family and the Middle-Earth is as much a character in the Arde (the world of Tolkien's Legendarium). Generation of my parents discovered the topics, but my kids were full into it and link to earth of Dwarfs, to water of Elves and Nature's laws come to them as natural as human's law.
2. I loved your piece of last year (I think) showing how human activities are influencing classical era boundaries (in alpine lakes, I think). It is a compelling argument for the onset of the Anthropocene.
Hello Giorgio - the impact of 'Tolkien's Legendarium' - of which I read (only) The Hobbit many years ago - shows the reseourcefullness of story telling; a resource we have to tap-in; look out for: Martin Bohle. Simple geoethics: an essay on daily Earth science . In: Peppoloni, S. & Di Capua, G. (eds) Geoethics: the Role and Responsibility of Geoscientists. Geological Society,London, Special Publications, 419. First published online [month] [date], [2015], http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP419.3
DeleteJust realised dates of your event coincide with my teaching in Trento. So I will not be far away, but not able to come :-(
ReplyDelete