2021
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
This is the Blog of The International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG). The IAPG is a multidisciplinary, scientific platform for widening the debate on problems of Ethics applied to Geosciences. The IAPG is affiliated to the IUGS, AGI, GSA, GSL, CFES, CIPSH, and has numerous agreements for cooperation with other geoscience organizations. For information about the IAPG and geoethics, visit the IAPG website.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
World Logic Day
14 January 2021
The World Logic Day is promoted by UNESCO and CIPSH - International Council of Philosophy and Human Sciences.
Download the IAPG letter of support:
Website of the World Logic Day:
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
UNESCO Lecture Series: Earth Materials for a Sustainable and Thriving Society
26 January - 1 April 2021
The IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics is media partner of the Lecture Series, organized by UNESCO in collaboration with IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences and iCRAG - Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences.
Minerals and other Earth materials are a key component in the development of a sustainable global society, providing essential raw materials for technologies and economic growth while respecting the natural world. This programme of lectures, designed for a global audience, will provide diverse perspectives on Earth materials and their role in society. Leading natural scientists, social scientists, and educators will look at how Earth materials are critical to a sustainable future and how the minerals sector, adhering to best practices, can contribute to society in a socially and environmentally positive way.
The lectures will be delivered in webinar format by recognized global experts who will frame their presentations in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Series will boost knowledge of Earth materials and contribute to better informed local, regional, and international discussions. The lectures will be freely accessible and will be archived for later online access.
Read more:
https://www.icrag-centre.org/news-and-media/conferences-and-events/earthmaterialssustainability.html
Essential information
Dates:
26 January 2021 - 1 April 2021
Registration:
Languages:
All sessions will be conducted in English with live captioning in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili, and Hindi.
Download the information flyer:
Queries about the series:
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Monday, December 28, 2020
Framework for Addressing Racial and Ethnic Equity in Geosciences Professional Societies
The IAPG is a formal signatory of the AGI - American Geosciences Institute document that sets a framework for geoscience societies to proactively cultivate an inclusive profession that both addresses systemic issues and sets priorities aimed at increasing equity for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) geoscientists and addressing issues of intersectionality among race, class, disability status and gender.
Read the document:
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Video of the Conference on Geosciences, Professional Ethics, and Sustainability
The video recording of the conference (in Spanish) by Luisa Pinto Lincoñir (IAPG-Chile coordinator), held on 9 December 2020, is available in the IAPG YouTube channel.
See here:
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YouTube Channel of the IAPG:
IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
New members for the
Task Group on Responsible Mining
This IAPG Task Group is active from 8 May 2017 and in the same year released the White Paper on Responsible Mining (https://www.geoethics.org/wp-responsible-mining). Unfortunately this year Jan Boon (Canada), one of the members of the Task Group and co-author of the White Paper, passed away. Moreover another member, Pekka Nurmi (Finland) decided to leave the Task Group after his retirement. Finally, Nikolaos Arvanitidis (Sweden) and Giuseppe Di Capua (Italy) will continue to serve in the group.
The IAPG continues to believe that responsible approaches and practices are fundamental to assure societal acceptance and environmental sustainability to mining activities.
To this aim the Task Group will receive new inputs from additional members: Marita Ahumada (Argentina), Estelle Levin-Nally (United Kingdom), Vitor Correia (Portugal), and Roberto Lencina (Argentina).
The IAPG wishes to thank these new members who are starting to serve in the IAPG Task Group on Responsible Mining.
More information about this Task Group and its members:
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IAPG Task Groups:
IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Saturday, December 12, 2020
The issue n. 3 - 2020
of the IAPG Newsletter is out!
of the IAPG Newsletter is out!
Summary:
- Geoethics at the vEGU21 (19-30 April 2021)
- Special Issue of the journal Sustainability (Call for papers): "New Advances on Geoethics and Sustainable Development"
- IAPG endorses the eLearning Course "Practical Geocommunication"
- Video of the Webinar on Geoethics for the International Geoethics Day 2020
- New video: Pandemic and Social Inequalities
- Questionnaire "Geoethics in the Geosciences"
- IAPG-UK has a new coordinator
- IAPG-Bangladesh has a new co-coordinator
- Great news from IAPG-Peru
- IAPG signed an agreement for cooperation with GSAf
- IAPG signed an agreement for cooperation with MJD
- Open letter by IAPG-Peru on Peruvian paleontological heritage
- IAPG supports the EDIG Conference on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Geoscience
- Geoethics at the Workshop on Palaeoethics
- Keynote Lecture on Geoethics
- Ethics at the Forensic Geophysics & Geology meeting
- MinerLima 2020
- New article: Geoethics and New Medias: Sharing Knowledge and Values
- From the IAPG Blog: Geoaesthetics: the aesthetic intelligence of the Earth
- From the IAPG Blog: Earth first, Mars later
- From the IAPG Blog: Responsible management of water: a resource that recalls us to dialogue
- Donations
- Emergency Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic
Download the IAPG Newsletter n. 3 - 2020:
https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_66a23d19554a424687c6112b8d9c062e.pdf?index=trueWe invite you to share this post and/or forward the IAPG Newsletter n. 3 - 2020 to your colleagues. Thank you!
IAPG Newsletter archive:
https://www.geoethics.org/newsletter
IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics:
https://www.geoethics.org
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Keynote Lecture on Geoethics
(4 January 2021, 16:15 CET, via Zoom)
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| John Geissman |
To join the online conference via zoom, please contact Dr. Simon Schneider (simschne@unipotsdam.de) for login information before 2 January 2021.
Download the leaflet (pdf):
Potsdam University website:
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Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Conference on Geosciences, Professional Ethics, and Sustainability
(9 December 2020, 18:00 GMT-3)
Luisa Pinto Lincoñir (IAPG-Chile coordinator) will give a talk (in Spanish) at the University of Chile, entitled "Geosciences, Professional Ethics, and Sustainability".
Registration:
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Monday, December 7, 2020
Geoaesthetics:
the aesthetic intelligence of the Earth
This article was published in ReWriters Magazine, in Italian and English:
* Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome (Italy); Secretary General of the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics; Councillor of the IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences; Member of the Executive Committee of the CIPSH - International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. Email: silvia.peppoloni@ingv.it
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| Silvia Peppoloni |
The Dolomites are coral reefs of an ancient tropical sea, of hundreds of millions of years ago. The continental collision between Europe and Africa raises the seabed and the islands of that sea for thousands of meters during the process of Alpine orogenesis. Today, sculpted like works of art by meteoric agents, they dominate with sharp peaks and crests in the midst of gentle and flared valleys.
On the other side of the globe, the imposing mountain range of the Andes, scattered with volcanic systems, has an origin due to the subduction of the Pacific oceanic crust beneath the South American continent. Flaps of ocean floor plunge to enormous depths, melt due to the high pressures and temperatures, and once transformed into fluid magma they rise to the surface due to the lower density, creating the material on which meteoric agents sculpt and shape the relief, with results of extraordinary beauty.
Geology is essentially the study of how pressure acts over time, shaping matter and configuring space. It is a search for the causes that guide the evolution of a physical place to its current form. The geologist knows “how”, “where”, “when” a mountain was formed, yet, like the majority, he/she may not be able to explain why that vision, that beauty excites him/her. Knowledge increases emotion, but emotion anticipates knowledge through the image of what is beautiful. The natural environment, the mountain, the rock are living, concrete, phenomenological elements, specified in a precise time and space, and at the same time captured in their continuous becoming, in that incessant innate transformation, aimed at achieving a balance, anyway transitory.
Their vision transmits the energy, the force of the Earth, born in the depths of the core and of the mantle, which shapes matter, raises mountains, sculpts the relief, a small part of that primordial energy that gave rise to the whole universe, the same energy that flows in us humans.
The mountain, the “geosymbol” par excellence, an expression of the sacred and the supernatural, a place of extreme solitude, where it is easy to perceive the spiritual and essential strength of nature, appears to us with its lights and shadows, tormented surfaces, ravines winding and sharp profiles. But all these elements are not static, definitively fixed. On the contrary, they express the whole dynamics of the geological process that led to their formation over time, they communicate the unstoppable movement of that powerful energy with precise direction, which already contains and configures a different, new space-time condition.
Looking at the mountains activates a perceptive plane in us which anticipates our mind, which recognizes that force even before rationality provides the logical and scientific explanation for the natural process in progress, that perceptual plane that enables us to intuit (or perhaps just imagine) an intentionality of nature in our continuous search for aesthetic satisfaction.
We are capable of grasping the beauty of matter, the harmony of the natural phenomenon before our emotion is framed in paths of rational knowledge. Geological landscapes excite us, because they connect us again with the dynamics of the whole. Unknowingly, we understand that the energy that moulded that shape, that created that harmony in matter, is in us, we are part of it, it is the same “life” present in every particle of the universe.
That spiritual, deep and ancient way of enjoying beauty without filters and superstructures, without the need for a why and a how, has always been in us. Geological landscapes have memories, they preserve the history of the events that shaped them. The fractures, the folds, the stratifications of the reliefs are signs that the geologist decodes and explains, but while he/she is doing this, those signs reach his/her perception without mediation, transmitting the emotion of the force responsible for their formation.
If wrinkles fix the physiognomy of a face as an effect of the perpetuation of an expressive habit that remains imprinted on the skin, in the same way the discontinuities engraved in the rock communicate the expression of the character of those places, their physical identity. And then the idea of the natural environment as a simple reality to be exploited, controlled and managed is cancelled in us, and our spiritual and emotional relationship with the physical place emerges overwhelmingly, as well as the perception of its identity, its sacredness, satisfying our ancestral need to establish an emotional and aesthetic bond with the natural environment that surrounds us, leaving us suspended in timeless moments.
This luminous intuition almost leads us to imagine the existence of an intrinsic intentionality in nature, its aesthetic intelligence. We are stimulated to go beyond the belief that there is a simple physical-chemical necessity in natural events, an inevitability of geological forms, which wants them to be created in that way to give identity to a dynamic quantum developed according to a precise natural evolutionary law. The river that digs the hard rock of its bed, the mountain that rises powerfully from the seabed, the relief that reveals its deep layers, the volcanic stone that flaunts its fiery red colour, up to the simple crystal that grows reaching to break the rock that embeds it, all things in nature tend to develop their potential to the maximum, occupying all the space they need and can, all the space they need “for being”. And in this continuous movement, where the transformation between energy and matter is incessant, it really seems that the aim is the harmony of forms, of the one in the whole and of the whole in the one. And for those who benefit from it, the value of this experience lies all in the recognition and enjoyment of that harmony.
Reading the book Genesis by Sebastião Salgado (publisher Taschen), entering the beauty of his wonderful photographs discovering mountains, deserts, oceans, can help us understand that there is a way to rewrite our emotions, rethink sensations that the earth, nature and life can communicate, following new storytelling that becomes a bridge between science and spirituality.
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Friday, December 4, 2020
New video:
Pandemic and Social Inequalities
Silvia Peppoloni contributed to the celebration of the World Philosophy Day of UNESCO, on 20 November 2020.
She was invited to take part in the "Late night with philosophers" event and she gave a talk on pandemic and social inequalities.
Silvia Peppoloni, PhD geologist, is researcher at the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, member of the Executive Council of the International Council of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH), councillor of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
See the Video posted on the UNESCO YouTube Channel:
Website of the World Philosophy Day 2020:
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/philosophyday
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Geoethics at the
Workshop on Palaeoethics
(15 December 2020, 14:00-17:00 GMT)
Daniel DeMiguel (IAPG-ECST spokeperson) gives a presentation entitled "Geoethical issues in Palaeontology at a glance" at the Workshop (virtual) "Palaeoethics from the Field, to the Museum, and to Publication" (14:00-17:00 GMT), organized by The Palaeontological Association and hosted by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (UK). This is a free event.
Website:
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
MJD and IAPG signed an Agreement for Cooperation
MJD (Maden Jeologları Derneği - Turkish Association of Economic Geologists) and IAPG (International Association for Promoting Geoethics) signed an Agreement for Cooperation on 1 December 2020. The agreement expresses a mutual desire to cooperate on a range of themes in the field of geoethics. It helps to assure a continued IAPG–MJD cooperation and coordination on issues of common interests in Turkey, in particular, the following:
- Theoretical aspects of geoethics;
- Analyses of geoethical problems and dilemmas, also through case-studies;
- Co-organization of scientific events on geoethics;
- Production of relevant publications.
Both organizations will establish a liaison to ensure good information flow and cooperation.
IAPG and MJD agree to act on geoethics:
1) To promote joint initiatives and events in Turkey on themes of common interest through their webpages, social networks, and publications;
2) To foster cooperation in projects and activities on themes of common interest;
3) When appropriate, involve respectively MJD and IAPG in their publications and in scientific meetings/congresses on ethics and geoethics in geosciences organized by MJD and IAPG, and in projects.
Finally, IAPG and MJD agree to publish their logos and links to homepages in their respective websites.
MJD agrees to support the "Cape Town Statement on Geoethics" (that contains the Geoethical Promise, an Hippocratic-like oath for geoscientists, https://www.geoethics.org/ctsg) and agrees to be included in the list of 26 supporting organizations of the statement.
MJD (http://www.mjd.org.tr/) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2011 with more than 400 members, focused on the advancement of the mineral exploration discipline and support exploration geoscience. Its aims are to improve the mineral exploration knowledge and understanding of the exploration business, to promote earth science education and awareness, professional excellence and ethical standards in the mining business. The association’s primary activities are supporting mining and mineral exploration business in specific; organizing scientific meetings, training and conferences; promote best technical and ethical practice in the exploration and mining business. Other activities include contributing state’s regulatory drafts associated with mining issues, training and courses on exploration related subjects and maintaining network on mineral exploration communities and fostering public awareness of geoscience. The MJD has several committees on various topics including Training-Education, Ethics, External Affairs, Women’s committee, Social Activities and Networking. The MJD is also an official representative of European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and one of its international Vetting Committees serving the Eurgeol applications from Turkey. MJD is also involved and contributed in several EU geoscience projects.
IAPG has 7 affiliations, 24 agreements for cooperation, 4 partnerships:
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Ethics at the
Forensic Geophysics & Geology meeting
One day meeting
(2 December 2020, 09:00 GMT)
Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General) will give a presentation entitled "A White paper on Ethics in Forensic Geology" at the one day meeting on Forensic Geophysics and Geology organized by the Geological Society of London. In the second part of the presentation, Rosa Maria Di Maggio (IUGS - Initiative on Forensic Geology) will present a case study.
This meeting will capture shared interests between the geological, environmental science, engineering, geotechnical, mining and archaeological communities with those working in the fields of serious crime investigation, environmental law and mineral/metal fraud.
We remind you that IAPG and IUGS-IFG have an agreement for cooperation and have joined forces in a IAPG/IUGS-IFG Task Group on Geoethics in Forensic Geology to draft the White Paper.
Download the programme of the one day meeting:
https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_963f0c1abe294200bb6452fa9f71ca98.pdf?index=true
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Geoethics at the EGU 2021
The call for abstracts is open
(deadline: 13 January 2021, 13:00 CET)
Don't miss to submit abstracts for the following sessions for the next EGU 2021:
Session EOS4.2: Geoethics: Geosciences serving Society
Convenership: Silvia Peppoloni and Giuseppe Di Capua
Session EOS3.2: Climate literacy: Learning, education, methods and roadmaps
Convenership: David Crookall, Giuseppe Di Capua, Lydie Lescarmontier, Robin Matthews, Frank Niepold
Details (session and short course descriptions, links for abstract submission):
In 2021, the IAPG will celebrate 10 years of its sessions on geoethics at the EGU General Assembly.
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Thursday, November 26, 2020
The open letter by IAPG-Peru (in Spanish) warns about the proposal for a Law on the Paleontological Heritage of Peru: recent parliamentary initiatives proposed that the administration of paleontological heritage is assigned to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. Fossil protection would be assigned to personnel with no expertise in paleontology. In this perspective the use of fossils for scientific purposes would be strongly hampered. For these and other reasons, this law will be detrimental to scientific development in Paleontology, leading to arbitrariness, bureaucracy and corruption. Within this framework, the Open Letter of IAPG Peru calls for action by citizens and authorities to consider fossils as a scientific heritage.
Download the open letter by IAPG-Peru:
Support the open letter (go to the online form):
Picture credit: https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/paleover.html
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
New paper:
Geoethics and New Medias: Sharing Knowledge and Values
by Vida Drąsutė, Stefano Corradi, Silvia Peppoloni, Giuseppe Di Capua
Abstract:
Today’s widespread diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has accelerate the access and circulation of information. Although relevant benefits have been produced thanks to the incredible spread and speed of information, on the other hand this speed has also enlarged the demand for content, causing a tremendous downfall in accuracy and veracity of information. This phenomenon is particularly visible in the domain of scientific journalism. To counteract this negative consequence, geoethics indicates engaging in science communication as one of the responsibilities of a geoscientist. However, even if the relevance of this duty is almost universally recognized, generally geoscientists lack the proper digital skills to effectively use new media. As most of the content shared and consumed on the internet is delivered through new platforms, we contend that geoscientists should be trained in specific digital skills in order to improve the effectiveness of their science communication. Within this study, firstly, the above mentioned considerations will be proven discussing the current state of scientific journalism and the relevance of teaching geoethics at higher education level. Secondly, an analysis of the most needed digital communication skills for geoscientists will be conducted. Finally, building on the results reached in the previous sections, it will be presented a suggestion on the best way to include digital skills courses within the framework of geoethics and geosciences. The innovative aspect of this research lays in its multidisciplinarity, as it links geosciences, science communication and ICTs. Moreover, as training in geoethics has not been implemented in the geosciences curricula, yet, this paper aims to spread its knowledge and provide guidelines to its implementation at Higher Education.
Download the paper (pdf):
This paper can be cited as follows:
Drąsutė V., Corradi S., Peppoloni S., Di Capua G. (2020). Geoethics and New Medias: Sharing Knowledge and Values. In: 10th The Future of Education International Conference – Virtual, Conference Proceedings, Filodiritto Editore, Bologna, https://conference.pixel-online.net/FOE/files/foe/ed0010/FP/6590-SCI4598-FP-FOE10.pdf.
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