Why Diversity? Keynote Presentation

The historical lack of diversity in the geosciences limits the perspectives, experiences and innovative approaches that can be brought to bear on a wide variety of critical problems that face us in the 21 st century – problems that the geosciences are well poised to address. Driven by audience participation, this panel will address the role of the earth sciences in a rapidly changing world and our increased awareness of the complexity and interconnectedness of earth processes. Many of these challenges have solutions with societal impacts on diverse communities. Moreover, effective solutions to global problems will involve all of the residents of the planet in one way or another. Implied is the need to involve local communities as well as global communities in finding solutions to problems, and this requires a diverse geoscience workforce that reflects the world in which we live.