GEOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: ENGAGING STUDENTS IN A NEW PARADIGM FOR EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATION

The term sustainability (to imply wise use of natural resources) emerged in the 1980’s after the publication of Our Common Future, a report by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development examining the implications of globalization on environments and cultures. The term sustainable development was defined to mean development that meets the needs of the present without limiting opportunities for future generations. We suggest that a new paradigm for geoscience education is needed to address these themes in this time of great planetary change. Many of the issues underpinning the challenges of sustainability are relevant to earth scientists engaged with research on global environmental change during the Anthropocene. Development and natural resource exploitation are major drivers of geologic change and are significant issues in the Anthropocene. Conservation, urban ecology, geology, and environmental science and policy are all closely aligned with sustainability. However, sustainability studies builds on these efforts by incorporating “equity” into what some term the three e’s: environment, equity, and economics. The challenge presented by those concerned with sustainability is how to maintain a reasonable standard of living within socially equitable conditions (especially with regard to developed vs. developing world contexts) while transforming our planet into a more environmentally sustainable place. Within this context, 5 themes emerge that are appropriate areas for merging the geoscience and sustainability curricula:

1) Global Climate Change and Its Impact on Surface Processes and Environments

2) Erosion, Sedimentation, and Soil Formation

3) Water, Mineral and Energy Resources

4) Geochemistry and Geochemical Cycles

5) Land Use, Land Use Change, Geoengineering, and Human Agency

In the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability at Hofstra University new approaches to teaching provide sustainability studies students earth science concepts they need to understand ecosystem and earth system services, while training geoscience students to see geological processes and Earth systems through the lens of sustainability. We believe that this model can be used by others involved with developing geology curricula that meet the needs of our time in the Anthropocene.