WHY JUSTICE AND GEOSCIENCE MATTER

In this officially “unofficial” Anthropocene epoch, geoscientists play a critical role. As identifiers and documentarians of Earth System change, geoscientists have been instrumental in demonstrating the profound differences between the deep past and the Holocene/Anthropocene present. They have also been instrumental in bringing attention about the rising dangers of these changes to the public and to governments and the importance of timely action. At the same time, geoscientists have also been key facilitators for the extractive industries that are deeply responsible for ongoing Earth system change, particularly climate change.

Failure to recognize the non-stratigraphic signature of the Anthropocene—its profound disproportionately—is symptomatic of deeper and systematic problems across the geosciences.

Why doesn’t—why can’t—geoscience incorporate environmental justice? Understanding the science of the environmental challenges facing a community is as important as understanding the legal, socioeconomic, political and historical settings in which they arise and persist. Although the geosciences are most suited to addressing many environmental issues facing marginalized communities, geoscientist professionals are rarely members of these communities. In fact, the demographic profile of the geoscience community is among the least diverse of STEM disciplines. Furthermore, progress towards greater participation by members of BIPOC communities has been glacial, despite many reports identifying the lack of diversity among students, graduates, as well as geoscientists working in industry and those in leadership roles. Our textbooks reflect a similar absence of diversity. For example, an excellent environmental geology textbook (e.g., Keller, Environmental Geology, 5^th ed) does not include a single case study involving marginalized communities, despite compelling evidence that these communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental assaults.

The impacts of climate change—rising sea levels, rising temperatures, ever-more powerful and destructive storms and floods, shifting patterns of rainfall and drought, more frequent and devastating wildfires—all too frequently have very disparate impacts. At its most fundamental level, climate change is the ultimate environmental injustice—disproportionate impacts created by a few but borne by those most vulnerable and least responsible for their creation. Even worse, the damages of today will be long-lasting, stretching well into the future, thereby raising profound issues of intergenerational equity.

Environmental justice is thus inextricably linked to social justice. There is growing recognition among Earth System scientists for the need to find solutions to global environmental problems that embody social justice and equity. Recent articles melding the Planetary Boundaries framework, planetary stewardship and doughnut economics embrace many of the ideals and goals made explicit by the pioneers of the environmental justice movement in the seventeen Principles of Environmental Justice (“Principles”), articulated more than thirty years ago—but these widely accessed articles (nearly 300,000 views) do not contain a single reference to the Principles and essentially ignore decades of EJ research. It is as if Earth system scientists have lately discovered and colonized a new continent of environmental justice and declared it their own, failing to acknowledge those who preceded them by decades. Much more work remains before the geosciences are fully engaged with the communities and people they can help.

How should this work be done? In the absence of suitable textbooks, individual instructors must take up the obligation of incorporating justice and equity into the classroom. This obligation comes with the recognition that environmental education is political and thus potentially difficult and uncomfortable. The challenges we face as geoscience educators in this Anthropocene present are numerous and often frustrating—we all know this. We know about “the disturbing gap between the potential of Earth science and its low profile in schools.” However, the stakes have never been higher, as all of us teaching and doing geoscience research know better than most—and that’s a point worth emphasizing. It simply isn’t enough to impart basic geoscience principles; they must connect to our student’s lives. What we should strive for is the reification of planetary change at the level of the individual—including where they live. Place matters. The lived experience of our students needs to be reflected in how and what we teach. This presentation provides some suggestions as to how these goals can be achieved, based on my experience teaching classes on the Anthropocene as well as Environmental Justice.