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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE IN
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Dr. Cinzia CervatoDepartment of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences
Iowa State University
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Outline Challenges in achievement of public understanding of sustainability issues The importance of the geological perspective
Geologic time in a wider societal context
Rates and budgets Learning and research opportunities
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Sustainability (Goodland, 1995) Economic sustainability: focus on natural resources (renewable and non-renewable) involved in production and creation of capital
Social sustainability: achieved by community participation and strong civil society
Environmental sustainability: emphasizes natural resources and interactions with life support systems (atmosphere, soil, water)
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Sustainable development
From Adams, 2006, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sustainable_development.svg
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Significance and challenges in environmental sustainability “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN Brundtland Commission, 1987)
Sustainable development: improvement in the quality of human life within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems (World Wide Fund for Nature, 1993)
“Scale/rate” criterion added to allocation of resources and efficiency of use in economic theory
The challenge: A growing human economic system relative to the Earth’s finite ecosystem
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Challenges across disciplines Scales and rates of processes that produce natural resources: geological, biological, ecological issues
Understanding of budgets: economic and environmental challenge
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The importance of the geological perspective Geologic time is one of the most culturally relevant ideas within the history of science
The varied temporal spans of geologic time (e.g., the period since the last glacial maximum, rates of evolution, or the length of time it takes to wear down a mountain) offer perspectives of practical use to business people, decision-makers, and citizens
“Geologic” time vs. “deep” time The geologic framework gives a different perspective both to scales and rates
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Teaching geologic time Sequencing events easier than understanding temporal scales
Rates of geological processes: decay of organic material, plate motion and earthquakes, flooding
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Geologic time: Learning impediments Deep time far removed from human experience
Exponential numbers and ratios Religious teachings: 45% of U.S. population believes that Earth is ~ 10,000 years old
Humans seek ‘a sense of an ending’—a natural bias toward seeing human life as purposeful and meaningful instead of random natural process
Focus on relative sequencing of events in history education
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Geologic time: Teaching strategies 24-hour analogies, stack of dollars between Paris and London
Spatial metaphors, one-dimensional representation of time but geologic time scales are multidimensional (e.g., spiral of time, colors, events on timeline)
Arm width demonstration
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2009 GSA meeting 11http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2008/58/
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Historical perspective: Spatial and temporal revolutions From geocentric to heliocentric Universe: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the telescope (1609)
From Bishop Ussher (1650) to James Hutton (1726-1797) and Siccar Point: “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end” (1785)
Rocks record ‘petrified time’: Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic units
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The Huttonian revolution
Pre-Hutton Post-HuttonDiscipline Mineralogy GeologyLength 6000 years 4.55
billion years
Temporal pattern
Circular Linear
Meaning Teleological
Non-teleological
Ethics Objectivist Historicist
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Time and the private realm Societal relevance of geologic time Natural resources and geologic time
Fossil fuels and ‘peak oil’ Construction materials Topsoil erosion and cost of corn Groundwater depletion
Integrate geologic time in economic planning
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Time and the public realm: science and public decision-making Public policy and broader impact of geologic time Climate change Resource depletion Loss of biodiversity
Decisions placed in the framework of both geologic past and future
Geologic time to inform risk assessment and inventory of resources
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Time in the realm of culture Homo economicus, Western culture and limited natural resources
The wonder of nature from a geological perspective Floods of Glacial Lake Missoula in Montana
Chicago and Laurentide Ice Sheet Yellowstone caldera Local examples of the ‘former world’
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Bringing geologic time into the classroom Motivation, context, and interest Place geologic time in a historical context: history of science
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and reconstruction Likelihood of future hurricanes Geologic history of Mississippi River and delta
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Holocene history of Mississippi River Delta lobes
From Kolb and Van Lopik, 1958Atchafalaya River
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Input/output and budgets A possible reason for public complacency about climate change
Widespread misunderstanding of stock and flow relationships and mass balance relationships (Sterman & Sweeney, 2007)
It applies to economics, accounting, weight loss, radiation balances, carbon cycle and many more
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Budgets and bathtub analogy
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Learning about budgets Introduction to meteorology, spring 2008, n = 179
Under what conditions will the water level rise? 74% correct
Under what conditions will the water level fall? 79% correct
Under what conditions the water level will stop rising? 37% correct
What conditions does the maximum water level occur? 4% correct
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Relative day length and incoming solar radiation
June 22
March 25
December 210.6
1.0
1.4
Sol
ar R
adia
tion
(W/m
2 ) Clear days
A.M. P.M.23
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Incoming vs. outgoing radiation and daily temperature
When is it going to be coldest? And hottest?
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Radiation budgets!
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Budgets and atmospheric CO2 Introduction to geology, fall 2008, n=510
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Results of survey on CO2 budgets Statistically significant differences were observed by: College: Engineering vs. Human Sciences Gender: male vs. female students Year in school and age: seniors vs. freshmen
Parents’ education: most significant for male students
Interest in science, concern about environment, and ‘green’ actions all positive predictors
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Putting it together: the paleoclimate perspective on rates
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/pastcc.html 28
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Atmospheric CO2 rates of change - last glacial cycle
Ahn and Brook, Science, 2008
~ 80
ppm
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Atmospheric CO2 rates of change since 1958
Keeling et al, 2008, http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/sio-mlo.html
~80 ppm
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Opportunities for environmental sustainability Common research between geoscientists, humanists, economists and policy analysts on how to make full use of the significance of geologic time
Emphasize the importance of geologic time, rates and temporal scales applied to natural resources, and budgets across the environmental science curriculum from a cross-disciplinary perspective (e.g., economics, policy, meteorology, human nutrition)
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