This editorial is written by Natasha Dowey and Hazel Beaumont of the Geoscience for the Future team. We love geoscience and want to promote our discipline far and wide! You can contact us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @GeoForTheFuture or email us at geoforthefuture@gmail.com
What a year! Back in January, when Natasha started Geoscience for the Future with our very first blog (‘We need to talk about Geoscience’), we could never have predicted the rollercoaster ride 2020 would turn out to be.
Our mission was to create a place for Geoscientists to shout about all the amazing things we do; from talking about sustainable development to hunting down resources vital to renewable energy, from explaining how to study catastrophic landslides to talking about how 65 million years old bacteria can help model climate change.
But then 2020 got crazy and we soon realised there was a lot more than geoscience to talk about.
The C-word
Since March, the Covid-19 pandemic has tragically turned the world upside down, impacting millions of lives, particularly those in poorer communities.
The pandemic has also brought significant changes to the working lives of many, altering how we work and how we learn. The pandemic meant geoscience students were unable to learn out in the field, long regarded as a critical staple of our subject. But, although stressful for both educators and students, this change has also been an opportunity for geoscience educators to create innovative virtual teaching resources that are more inclusive, and can be used to make geoscience more accessible in the future.
Black Lives Matter
In May, the brutal killing of George Floyd sparked global outrage, and renewed calls for equality in all walks of life. Twitter events such as #BlackInTheIvory gave a voice to those experiencing structural racism within academia, and sparked a wave of networks promoting more diverse representation across STEM, such as @BlackInGeoscience.
We feel strongly about equity and diverse representation in geoscience, and the events of 2020 made us even more determined to advocate for diversity in geoscience, with articles on women’s bodies in fieldwork, equity for geoscientists from ethnic minority backgrounds, making fieldwork more inclusive to students with disabilities, and Black in Geoscience week.
Geoscientists Unite
Over the summer, the decline in Geoscience student enrolment was hitting (the geoscience) headlines in a big way, and GeofortheFuture took part in the Geological Society’s The Future of Geoscience Summit. This was followed by two further events by the Geological Society and FutureGeo to bring the geoscience community together to discuss the decline of geology students at A level and degree level, and the importance of promoting geoscience.
In June, Hazel joined Geoscience for the Future, creating an awesome team even more dedicated to communicating the power of Geoscience to the world! Together we started plotting, and in September launched our #AskAGeo outreach programme, which aims to connect students and teachers with real-life geoscientists. We currently have over 40 geoscientists listed in our hub, providing a great outreach resource of knowledge and experience for schools.
Our #AskAGeo flyer. Drop us an email if you would like a pdf version to share!
In November, we were lucky enough to have Laura Roberts join our team as a partner in crime, collaborating with us on science communication to help us push our outreach programme. Her blog has been our most popular yet, and we are very glad to have her aboard.
A massive thank you!
And now here we are in December. It may be the festive season as we write this, but Covid-19 is still a massive concern and the world doesn’t feel as full of light as it normally would. However, we are raising a glass to getting through a rollercoaster of a year. Here’s to you all, for contributing your amazing stories to our site, for taking the time to read our blogs, for getting involved in our network, and for supporting us with every like, retweet, click and view. We have had over 13 thousand users on the website, and over 1.02 MILLION impressions on Twitter. Our most popular blogs have been read over 1000 times.
And the year is ending on a positive note for geoscience; this week, geologist Professor Chris Jackson became the first black scientist to present a Royal Institution Christmas lecture, and the Geological Society of London published this important statement on geoscience and climate change. Perhaps 2021 will be the year when geoscience finally convinces the world of it’s role as a progressive part of the solution, rather than being seen as part of the problem.
What does 2021 have in store for us at Geoscience for the Future? Well, we will continue to promote how important our subject is, and have big plans for next year, so watch this space. As ever, if you want to join our mission and share your story, please get in touch!
Happy new year, one and all!
Blog Roundup!
A list of all the wonderful blogs we’ve had this year!
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:
- Anya Lawrence on how to make fieldtrips more accessible and inclusive.
- Lynsey MacLeary on how to make science communication clearer and more engaging.
- Anjana Khatwa on paving the way for equity in geoscience.
- Sara Beroff on womens bodies in the field .
- Jodie Fisher on getting girls into geoscience.
Earth’s resources:
- James McFarlene on sustainable mining in the UK.
- Mike Simpson on sustainable management of our most precious resource; water.
- Sarah Gordon and Rose Clarke on Responsible Raw Materials.
- Rebecca Paisley on mining and its importance in building our low-carbon future.
Hazards:
- David Cavell on the importance of building equitable partnerships when working in an area devastated by a volcanic eruption.
- Zoe Mildon on earthquakes and their faults.
- Anika Braun on landslides and their impacts.
- Ailsa Naismith on why we should involve the stories of locals when studying volcanoes.
Future Thinking:
- Laura Roberts on how geoscience links to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Emily Dearing Crampton-Flood on how fossil bacteria can tell us about climate change.
- John Macdonald on how may reduce the amount CO2 in our atmosphere by using slag.
- Munira Raji on machine learning and artificial intelligence in geoscience
Careers:
- David McNamara on how his geoscience degree helped him in the geothermal industry.
- Catherine Owen on why she thinks geoscience in schools is on the decline.
Planetology:
- Steven Banham on life on Mars.
- Gemma Richardson on solar storms and space weather.
Virtual geoscience and lockdown life:
- John Howell on virtual models and how these can be used to complete virtual fieldtrips.
- Charlie Bristow on virtual sedimentary logs and their importance in a changing world.
- James Speed on home schooling his daughter during the COVID school lockdown