Earth Science Week starts today, with a theme this year of "Understanding Climate Change" and I expected to be blogging to this issue. But I ran across a post by noted author ("Sand") and geologist Michael Welland at his blog "Through the Sandglass" on the topic of "Earth Science Week - sand and the nine big ideas."
Michael linked the role sand plays in each of the 'Big Ideas' put forth through the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI - www.earthscienceliteracy.org). It's an insightful and clever path that helps tie all nine Big Ideas into a compelling rationale for the importance of the Earth sciences.
It helped me realize that the Big Ideas really tell the whole story of the Earth sciences in a remarkably concise and understandable narrative. More than that, they tell vignettes that collectively establish the elements of the scientific process. And further, they open the readers mind to the realization of the world around us as a dynamic and continuously changing system in which humans play an increasingly important role.
The Big Ideas are worth repeating, so here they are:
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1. Earth scientists use repeatable observations and testable ideas to understand and
explain our planet
2. Earth is 4.6 billion years old
3. Earth is a complex system of interacting rock, water, air, and life
4. Earth is continuously changing
5. Earth is the water planet
6. Life evolves on a dynamic Earth and continuously modifies Earth
7. Humans depend on Earth for resources
8. Natural hazards pose risks to humans
9. Humans significantly alter the Earth
To the veteran geologist they may seem self-evident or mundane but the authors of the ESLI probe deeper.
In just Big Idea #1, the ESLI folks point out that Earth scientists use scientific principles from biology, physics, chemistry, and math to understand how the planet works in order to find solutions to society's needs. We use an understanding of the past to forecast the Earth's future and use technological advances, breakthroughs in interpretations, and new observations to continuously refine our understanding of Earth.
Last week I was lecturing in New England about my experiences in Kansas earlier this decade in the battle over teaching evolution. One of my tenets is that the broad mis-apprehension of what evolution and science are were key to the public acceptance of attempts to remove them from the schools. Science was repeatedly depicted as a government-sponsored religion zealously guarded by a priesthood terrified of new ideas such as creation science and Intelligent Design.
It seems to me that someone who has a deeper understanding of how science and how Earth science in particular work, is less vulnerable to be misled by this kind of politically-motivated propaganda. On the other hand, a number of my colleagues who are extremely knowledgeable about this concept argue that expecting improving public understanding of science will eliminate the attacks on science, evolution, climate change and other areas, is wishful thinking.
For me, I like the Big Ideas in the Earth sciences. I intend to use them in talking with politicians, decision-makers, the news media, and other non-scientists. They lay out what our science is, why it works, and why it matters. In the end, that's what so many of us are trying to do.