Thoughts in response to intro environmental geology questions.

What are some components that can be included in a definition of environmental geology?

• using geologic knowledge wisely in human endeavors.
• understanding earth and human system interaction.
• applied geologic problem solving.

Course goals?

• learn about environmental geology.
• to create an informed populace, a necessity for a healthy democracy.
• develop environmental specialists.
• provide knowledge useful in personal endeavors.
• learn new sets of problem solving skills applicable across the board.
• to increase aesthetic awareness.
• to enjoy mental exploration.

What defines a scientific community?

• Thomas Kuhn, paradigm, 4 components
• language
• metaphysics
• values
• exemplars = data and explanations for that data.
• What might some of these be for environmental geology?

Basic questions confronting people?

• What do we want our world to be like?
• How do we balance individual rights versus communal rights?
• To what degree can we control nature?
• What will be the long term consequences of this or that action on the environment and the people living in it?

How do we understand complex natural systems?

• conceptual models of linkages between system components. These models are often known as cycles, the best known of which may be the hydrologic cycle. Other examples are given below. This approach has recently been given the name of earth system science.
• computer modeling. Putting the above conceptual models and relevant data into computers and then observing this model system in virtual operation we can learn what patterns of behavior might be. This approach always needs a very good reality check, which tells us how good our conceptual model is.
• new perspectives of chaos, fractals and fuzzy logic. The relatively new science of chaos and the mathematics of fractals shows how very rich and complex behavior and patterns can sometimes be captured in very simple equations. Fuzzy logic allows us to work with incomplete knowledge more consistently and precisely, and incomplete knowledge often characterizes complex systems.
• collaborative efforts and team work. An important realization is that one individual does not have the mental capacity to understand these systems in their totality - they are just to big and complex. A team approach crossing disciplinary boundaries is required. Team work is critical to environmental science.
• intuition. This includes hunches, inspirations, eureka moments and more. It comes from immersion in and intense familiarity with a system and subconscious analytic capacity we don't fully understand.

What are major earth systems need to understand?

• atmosphere: meteorology.
• hydrosphere: oceanography, limnology, many others.
• biosphere: biology.
• cryosphere: glaciology.
• lithosphere: geology.
• earth system science is a combination of these. Need to abandon the academic tribalism.
• will focus on lithosphere in this course but will need to go wandering through these other disciplines.

Return to Environmental Geology course index.

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