Declaration against war and authoritarianism

for the affirmation of human freedom and dignity

Planet Earth, 26th February 2022

The International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) expresses its solidarity with all the people who are experiencing their present situation with difficulty and fear due to armed conflicts and who are suffering the repression of fundamental freedoms by authoritarian regimes.

We are close to colleagues from our section in Ukraine who are suffering from the invasion of their nation and are trying to resist the barbarism of war. We are also close to those Russian scientists and intellectuals who are courageously manifesting their rejection of war and demanding the right to peace.

Likewise, we cannot forget our colleagues in Myanmar who are experiencing government repression and our colleagues in Afghanistan, including those of the local IAPG section, for the harsh living conditions in which freedom, health and safety are not guaranteed. We are also close to our colleagues in Yemen, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in all those countries in which governments or groups of powers don’t respect the fundamental Human Rights of United Nations.

The IAPG rejects war and oppression for the resolution of conflicts and supports all those who fight for the affirmation of human dignity and for freedom from the oppression of dictatorships and fundamentalisms.

We strongly affirm that all human beings must be guaranteed dignity, freedom and knowledge. Everyone has the right to be able to live in freedom, health and safety and at the same time has the duty to responsibly guarantee freedom, health and safety to other human beings.

We are convinced that power must be implemented as a responsible exercise of community service, for the construction of more just, equitable, inclusive, supportive, peaceful, sustainable and ecologically oriented societies.

The revival of nationalistic models is anachronistic and represents a real threat to humanity, which instead, precisely in the recognition of its unity, albeit in the diversity of the cultures that constitute it, is beginning to cultivate that feeling of planetary citizenship that can accompany it towards a future of solidarity.

We invite the international scientific community, geosciences organizations and beyond, to sign this declaration.

Support this declaration by sending an email to: iapgeoethics@gmail.com

Signatories: https://www.geoethics.org/declaration-against-war

____________________

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

Webinar by IEEE

24 February 2022

(12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET)

Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General) and Ezzoura Errami (IAPG Continental Coordinator for Africa) are panelists of the webinar entitled "Formation of Supportive Networks in the Face of Adversity".

This event is organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is supported by Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS).

As of 2018, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, with more than 423,000 members in over 160 countries around the world. 

"About the Webinar: In view of the unprecedented year that we had during this pandemic, we will bring you powerful and inspirational stories of women around the world. These women scientists will share with us how they benefited from supportive social networks and also how to become a source of support to others. The live event will feature a moderated Q&A panel."

Registration here (free attendance): 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcod-Csqz0tE9JM_qFYfQA7hlz4m1WxZTzk

____________________

Other events on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/events

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

A sad news: Chris King passed away on 17 February 2022

Chris King is no longer with us

With great sadness we inform that our dear colleague and friend Chris King is no longer with us. Chris passed away on 17th February 2022. Chris leaves a huge void in all of us.

The IAPG expresses closeness and the deepest condolences to his wife, his sons and all his loved ones.

Chris was a great geoscientist, who devoted a large part of his brilliant career to geoeducation and to teach geosciences to young people: a great example for all those who believe in the responsibility to transfer knowledge to future generations and contribute to make the world better.

EGU 2018, Vienna (Austria) 

In 2018, the IAPG awarded Chris the first Geoethics Medal, with the following motivation:

"for his valuable contribution in promoting Earth Sciences in society by introducing innovative methods and tools to teaching, aiming at the proactive involvement of end-users based on developing their critical thinking and observational scientific approaches.

Chris King teaches (geo)scientific methods and geological knowledge in an easy, attractive and passionate way, through which he offers clear and careful explanations of geological observations without trivializing the content whilst always paying great attention to the quality of the scientific discourse. 
His efforts in promoting geoeducation are much more than a mission to disseminate Earth Sciences knowledge among students and the general public: Chris King is an excellent example of a geologist who feels and practices his geological activity as a geoethical duty towards society."  

"Chris King, BSc Honours in Geology from the University of Bristol, energetically promotes geological knowledge worldwide among students and the general public, strongly contributing to raising global awareness of the importance of geoeducation and the dissemination of geoscientific methods and information within society. His career began as geologist working in industry (he was a diamond prospector for De Beers for five years, in South Africa, Swaziland and Australia). He then became a school teacher and a university professor (he became Professor of Earth Science Education at Keele University in 2006 and retired in December 2015).

Chris King has contributed (and is continuing tirelessly) to developing excellent geoeducation activities, among them Earthlearningidea, an admirable innovative project on Earth-related teaching-ideas, that he instigated in 2007. This has changed the way that the teaching of geoscience knowledge is seen globally.

As Chair of the Commission on Geoscience Education (COGE) of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), Chair of the Committee on Education of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), Adviser  and past-Chair of the Council of the International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO), Chair of the Earth Science Education Forum (England and Wales), Past-Chair of the Earth Science Teachers' Association (ESTA) and current Chair of the ESTA Secondary Committee, he has achieved an internationally-renowned role as geoeducator in the geoscience community.

As keynote speaker at the International Geological Congress (Cape Town, 2016; Brisbane, 2012) and in many other international conferences held in Austria (2017, 2004), Bangladesh (2009), Canada (2016, 2007, 2003), Italy (2008), Japan (2002), Norway (2008), Nigeria (2016), Russia (2011), South Africa (2016, 2010, 2004), Spain (2010) and Taiwan (2001), he has promoted his teaching methods and activities to a global audience. He is an example of geologist keen to enable his colleagues to educate their students more effectively and to transfer geological knowledge to society. Nearly 300 of the activities developed by Chris and his colleagues have been published and are freely downloadable from the internet, primarily for use in the developing world, but widely used in the developed world as well; they have been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Norwegian, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean, Japanese, Polish, Slovakian and Catalan.

His commitment to geoeducation was rewarded by Honorary Life Membership of the Earth Science Teachers’ Association (ESTA) in 1994. Moreover, in 2003 he was awarded the Geological Society’s ‘Distinguished Service Award’ and, in 2011, the Geologists’ Association’s ‘Halstead Medal’, for ‘work of outstanding merit, deemed to further the objects of the Association and to promote Geology'.

From his career, is clear that Chris King’s efforts in geoeducation have had the goal of serving society: he has used his geological knowledge in his profession of geoscience educator and communicator as part of his fundamental geoethical duty towards the public and in particular, to our younger generations."


A short video to remember the delivery of the Medal to Chris on 27 February 2019, in Beijing (China): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShKJzi9znZ4.

____________________

Geoethics Medal:
http://www.geoethics.org/geoethics-medal


IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
http://www.geoethics.org

IAPG at the 77th IUGS EC Meeting

IAPG at the 77th IUGS EC Meeting

Paris (France)

16-17 March 2022

Giuseppe Di Capua (IAPG Treasurer) represents the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics at the 77th Executive Committee Meeting of the IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences that is held in Paris (France), at the Société Géologique France (Geological Society of France). 

Peter T. Bobrowsky (IAPG Vice-President) and Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General) attend the meeting. Peter T. Bobrowsky will receive the IUGS James M. Harrison Medal. Silvia Peppoloni, as IUGS Councilor, is member of the IUGS EC from 2018. 

The IAPG is affiliated to the IUGS from 2013. 

Read the IAPG Annual Report 2021 for the IUGS:

https://www.geoethics.org/_files/ugd/5195a5_79a26da5bb784a098a6815af3407cdab.pdf?index=true

____________________

Other events on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/events

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

Geoethics at the 3ECEES (The CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS is open)

The Call for Contributions is open

(deadline: 20 March 2022)

3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (3ECEES), 4-9 September 2022, Bucharest (Romania)

​Seismology: Session 13 - Seismology, geoethics and society: risk communication at the service of risk reduction

Conveners: Silvia Peppoloni (INGV/IAPG), Laure Fallou (EMSC), Irina Dallo (ETH Zurich, Femke Mudler (Anglia Ruskin University)

Session description:

If resilience and seismic risk reduction have been largely discussed over the past decade, becoming catch-all concepts that are sometimes devoid of their initial meaning, they are nevertheless important realities and goals for geoscientists and disaster managers. Risk communication is a key aspect to improve the reaction of a community hit by an earthquake. In fact, good risk communication, made throughout the earthquake cycle, motivates its audiences to take preventive and even life-saving actions. In addition, if designed appropriately, it can also prevent the spread of earthquake misinformation. For these reasons, it would be fundamental a framework of reference ethical principles and standards for orienting those who deal with risk communication in conducting their activity as functionally as possible and being fully aware of their responsibilities. In this perspective, geoethics represents an opportunity for scientists dealing with geohazards and georisks to grasp the importance of their activity under an ethical and social perspective. It can also be a way for increasing the awareness of the populations that live in seismic prone areas to improve their knowledge on earthquakes and then to be better informed about the virtuous behaviors that can save their lives. This session welcomes contributions that explore:

• Good practices and different means of communicating dynamic seismic uncertainties (e.g., format, medium, stakeholders, cultural context, temporality, information).
• Efficacy of education campaigns and innovative initiatives.
• Good practices to counter earthquake misinformation.
• Ethical and social responsibilities in risk communication and education.
• Framework of reference for ethical principles and standards to guide geoscientists in carrying out their professional and research activities.

We invite everyone dealing with those and related issues to hand in a contribution, namely researchers in geo- or social science, practitioners, journalists, educators, and policy makers. The diversity of participants will enrich the discussions of this session.

The session is sponsored by the International Association for Promoting Geoethics (https://www.geoethics.org), and received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

- Session description

- Call for Contributions Submission for Seismology

- 3ECEES website

____________________

Other events on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/events

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

IAPG has a new Vice-President, Continental Coordinator for North America, IAPG-USA co-Coordinator

Read here about the new members of the IAPG Executive Council and the new IAPG-USA co-Coordinator

Peter T. Bobrowsky

IAPG has a new Vice-President, Peter T. Bobrowsky. He replaces Susan Kieffer who decided to step down from this role. Previously, Peter was IAPG Continental Coordinator for North America. He is an engineering geologist specializing in natural hazards, mapping, sedimentology/stratigraphy, drift prospecting, aggregate studies and interests in geoethics, geoheritage, medical geology and forensic geology. Currently an Emeritus Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. Author/coauthor of some 500 publications. Former Vice President and Secretary General of IUGS, President of the International Consortium on Landslides, President of the Geological Association of Canada and President of the Canadian Quaternary Association. Currently an active supporter and contributor to “outreach and education” he annually delivers dozens of lectures to various public groups around the world. Here the Curriculum Vitae of Peter.

We wish to thank Susan Kieffer for the valuable contribution to develop geoethics, to promote the IAPG and to manage the Association in its ten first years of living. She is our first Legendary Member.

Vince Cronin

IAPG has a new Continental Coordinator for North America, Vince Cronin. He replaces Peter Bobrowsky who was appointed as new IAPG Vice-President. Previously Vince was IAPG-USA co-Coordinator. 

Vince Cronin has been interested in geoethics since the 1980s when he worked on engineering geology projects under the supervision of former California State Geologist Dr. Jim Slosson.  Cronin earned degrees in geology from Pomona College (AB, '79), Dartmouth College (AM, '82), and Texas A&M University (Ph.D., '88).  For most of his career, he has been a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Baylor University.  Professor Cronin and his students' diverse research included Himalayan geology, plate kinematics, geodesy, paleoseismology, neotectonics, and the identification of potentially dangerous seismogenic faults. He is the current editor of the AGI/NAGT Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology — widely used in the US.

David Mogk

Finally, IAPG has a new IAPG-USA co-Coordinator, David Mogk, who is also member of the IAPG Board of Expert for Geo-education and Teaching Geoethics. David is Professor of Geology and former Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University. He is a metamorphic petrologist by training, with research interests in genesis and evolution of Archean continental crust, mid-crustal petrogenetic processes, and spectroscopy of mineral surfaces. He has worked in mineral exploration for precious, base and industrial minerals, and has also worked on environmental remediation of mine sites. For the past 25 years he has worked to promote excellence in geoscience education. He was program officer in NSF’s Division of Undergraduate Education; Chair of GSA’s Education Division; worked to establish the Digital Library for Earth Science Education and the National Science Digital Library; has been co-PI of the On the Cutting Edge Program for geoscience faculty professional development; has served on the EarthScope and EarthChem advisory boards; was a panelist on NRC Board On Science Education panels on Integrating Research and Education in Biocomplexity Projects, Promising Practices in STEM Education, and Discipline-Based Education Research; and is co-editor of GSA Special Paper volume on Earth and Mind: How Geologists Think and Learn About the Earth and Field Geology Instruction: Historical Perspectives and Modern Approaches. He is past chair of the U.S. National Committee for Geosciences to the IUGS where he worked to promote development of geoheritage sites. For the past decade he has led the initiative in the United States to promote Teaching Geoethics Across the Geoscience Curriculum including website development of Teaching Geoethics Across the Geoscience Curriculum:

https://serc.carleton.edu/geoethics/index.html.

​

See the new IAPG Executive Council:

https://www.geoethics.org/executive-council

IAPG national sections:

https://www.geoethics.org/sections

______________________

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

https://www.geoethics.org

IAPG celebrates the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General) interviewed by the IUGS60 initiative

UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science

11 February 2022

It's the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science. 

The International Union of Geological Sciences - IUGS interviews some of the fantastic women in geoscience (Videos can be seen on https://iugs60.org/iugs-women-in-geoscience-event/).

 

Among them Dr. Silvia Peppoloni, our IAPG Secretary General!

Silvia is a geologist, researcher at the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia), Rome (Italy)

#geoethics #geoética #IUGS60 #IDWGS #WomenInSTEM #Earth #Science #WomeninScienceDay

____________________

Events on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/events

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

IAPG supports the Oxford Geoheritage Virtual Conference 2022

The Oxford Geoheritage Virtual Conference (OxGVC) will be held online, is free to attend, and open to all!

"The first OxGVC of 2020 was setup in response to the cancellation of a number of meetings due to COVID-19. In 2022, the meeting returns, once again providing a online space for the discussion and promotion of all topics within geoheritage. We hope OxGVC will continue to bring together the geoheritage community, wherever you may be in the world."

​This conference is supported by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Charnwood Forest Geopark, ProGEO and the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics.

Registration and Abstract Submission is now open - check out the website for more information: 

https://www.oxgvc.co.uk/

#OXGVC

____________________

Other events on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/events

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

Just published in the journal "The Future of Science & Ethics" (in Italian)

Peppoloni S. and Di Capua G. (2021). Geoetica: un’etica per la relazione tra gli esseri umani e la terra (Geoethics: an ethics for the relationship between humans and the Earth). The Future of Science and Ethics, 6, 42-53. https://doi.org/10.53267/20210104 

Abstract:

Human beings live in a globalized society, dematerialized in its spatiality and temporality, technologized, increasingly homogenized in cultural forms and economic structures, with increased inequalities in the recognition of human rights and in the possibilities of self-determination and access to natural resources. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the criticality and potential of the globalized society. Anthropogenic environmental changes, which modify the physical-chemical-biological characteristics of the Earth system, pose a similar if not more serious threat to the habitability of the planet by humanity and many other living species. Addressing such changes urgently requires strong international cooperation among States. At the same time, it needs that human communities share principles and values on which to base new forms of relationship between human beings and nature. In this perspective, geoethics is proposed as global ethics for a complex world, founded on the principles of dignity, freedom and responsibility.

Download here

____________________

Other publications on geoethics on the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/publications

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

IAPG Annual Report 2021 for the IUGS

The IAPG Annual Report 2021 for the IUGS - International Union  of Geological Sciences is now available for the download.

The report (47 pages) contains:

• Overall objectives of the IAPG
• Relate goals to overall IUGS scientific objectives
• How has the IAPG been actively involved with IUGS related activities
• Structure and organization of the IAPG
• Interaction with other International organizations and projects
• IAPG chief products
• IAPG chief accomplishments 2021 and plans for 2022

The IAPG annual report was prepared by Giuseppe Di Capua (IAPG Treasurer).

Download the IAPG Annual Report 2021 (pdf version):

https://www.geoethics.org/_files/ugd/5195a5_79a26da5bb784a098a6815af3407cdab.pdf?index=true

____________________

IAPG Annual Reports:

https://www.geoethics.org/annual-reports

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org