We need your support! Recently, earth science has been under pressure at several faculties in the Netherlands, including the VUAmsterdam. We need to continue to show the importance and relevance of earth science for our society, especially in present times of climate change, energy transition and shortage of raw materials. It’s time to raise our voice!
You can express your support for maintaining the current earth science educational programs and the academic research groups in the Netherlands by liking this message. With your backing we will share our concerns with policymakers and administrators at the universities and show that earth science is at the heart of the transition towards a sustainable society.
Earth science plays an essential role in dealing with multiple unprecedented challenges of the 21st century. Therefore, right now, it is extremely important to educate earth science, develop a skilled workforce and support a strong research base. This will help equip us to address the global challenges we face. We need earth scientists and researchers.
Why earth science matters:
- A secure supply of fresh water is vital to human health and well-being. Hydro- geologists and hydrologist help meet this need, through their understanding of water systems and aquifer behaviour, as well as identifying and mitigating water contamination.
- Modern industry, technology and consumer products require a vast array of minerals and metals, both abundant and rare. Their extraction and trade forms a major part of the global economy. As the demand for resources grow, innovative technologies are required to locate and extract minerals and to use them more efficiently.
- Energy transition depends largely on the development of sustainable energy sources, including geothermal. Also, energy storage in the subsurface is an important topic.
- The geological record contains abundant evidence of the ways in which Earth’s climate has changed in the past. That evidence is highly relevant to understanding how it may change in the future, and the likely impacts of anthropogenic carbon emissions.
- Knowledge of earth science is also required for Carbon Capture and Storage and how we can adapt to changing environmental conditions in for instance coastal areas.
- Understanding soil conditions and how buildings, infrastructure (including levees and dikes) and people interact with the subsurface is essential to assuring public safety and well-being, delivering value for money and meeting the challenges of living with environmental change.
- Centuries of industrial and urban development in Europe have left their mark on our land, water and atmosphere. Pollution can spread and interact across the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere, all of which are interconnected.
- Environmental policy and management based on an ‘ecosystems services’ approach depends on taking a truly holistic view of ecosystems and the environment. The importance of geology and the geosphere to environmental protection and ecosystem service provision are all too often overlooked – in fact geosphere shapes our landscape, interact with the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and sustain living systems.
- Geohazards, such as flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and tsunamis, can have devastating effects on populations, economies and landscapes. Understanding and effectively communicating the risks, impacts and mitigation of these hazards is essential for reducing human suffering and solid planning preventing disasters.
- Human activity has had dramatic impacts on landscape, the subsurface and Earth systems, driving significant atmospheric, chemical, physical and biological changes. Understanding of these systems is critical to prevent further damage and to remediate negatively impacted systems.
- In recent national and European policies earth science issues are increasingly prominent. For instance, water en bodem sturend agenda in the Netherlands, the Critical Raw Materials Act and the #GreenDeal in Europe and many Nature Based Solutions require detailed knowledge based on earth sciences. This also applies to the understanding of the planetary boundaries.
Please support earth science and like the message on KNGMG LinkedIn. #earthsciencematters