Geoethics for the Future

Geoethics for the Future: Facing Global Challenges offers a set of points of view on highly topical issues in geosciences and beyond, including societal relevance of geosciences, georesources, sustainable development, geoeducation, georisks, data, as well as philosophical, legal, political, scientific considerations about anthropogenic global changes and the Anthropocene, enabling readers to acquire multifaceted knowledge on topics of global relevance in the 21st Century. This book explores topics vital to our historical moment and the future of human societies, through the analyzes by scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds, emphasizing the need for new cultural and scientific frameworks to address global issues. It aims to foster multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches for problem-solving, by integrating diverse knowledge and visions to effectively tackle urgent global challenges.
Serving as a significant milestone in geoethics, this book provides academics, researchers and students with insights into the ethical and societal dimensions of various challenges arising from human impact on the Earth system.

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
Copyright
List of contributors
About the editors
Acknowledgments
Placet natura regi terram
Introduction: Geoethics for the future
1. The starting point
2. Beyond the turning point
3. A pathway of knowledge
4. A cultural change
5. Towards new horizons
Part I. Ouverture: Grounding geoethics through philosophical analyses
Chapter 1. The divergent philosophical and scientific accounts of the root of human ethics
1. Introduction
2. Philosophical accounts of the root of human ethics
3. The scientific account of the root of human ethics
4. Conclusion
Chapter 2. Order and place in environmental ethics and esthetics
1. The history and uses of “order”
2. “Order” and “disorder”
3. “Place” and “landscape”
4. Disordered values
5. Geoethics, geoesthetics, geotourism
Chapter 3. The relationship between human and nature in modern culture
1. Introduction
2. Human–nature and human–animal relations in western culture
3. Environmental crisis and the crisis of modernity
4. Ecological transition and critical modernity
Part II. Geoethics and the Anthropocene: Defining an ethical framework for Earth system governance
Chapter 4. Making sense of the Anthropocene
1. Introduction: A star is born
2. What the natural sciences say
3. How social sciences and humanities respond to the Anthropocene
4. The golden spike, or when worlds collide
5. Conclusion
Chapter 5. Etiology of the ecological crisis: Building new perspectives for human progress through geoethics
1. Introduction: An epochal transition
2. Ecological crisis as an ontological-aesthetic crisis
3. Looking at the past: The deep roots of the crisis
4. Looking at the future: Possible scenarios
5. Designing a future world through the lens of geoethics: Reflections and proposals
6. Conclusions
Chapter 6. Geoethics and the Anthropocene: Five perspectives
1. Introduction
2. Energy
3. International law
4. Multidisciplinarity
5. Futures literacy
6. Mutually beneficial relationships
7. Epilogue: Geoethics in the Anthropocene
Chapter 7. Challenging buzzideas: Global challenge phrases undermining ethical action
1. Buzzphrasing
2. Planetary boundaries and Earth system boundaries
3. Anthropocene
4. Social–ecological systems
5. Anti-buzzphrasing
Chapter 8. From biophilia to geophilia: A challenging but necessary expansion
1. Introduction
2. Biophilia: The human expression of evolutionary entanglement
3. The role of the physical environment in shaping affiliation with nature
4. Enlarging biophilia
5. Relationships as the focus of an ethical account for the Anthropocene
6. Conclusions
Chapter 9. Geoethics in the Anthropocene: Law as a game changer
1. Geoethics, at the root of the Anthropocene
2. Legal evolution toward geoethics law
3. The effects of legalizing geoethical principles and values
4. Geoethics-informed laws: The discovery process
5. Normative indicators of geoethics
6. Legal evolution trends in the Anthropocene
7. Conclusion: Mainstreaming geoethics
Chapter 10. Matters of environmental politics to inform geoethics
1. Introduction
2. Ecological interactions and environmental political theory
3. Environmental politics coordinates
4. Deliberation and democracy across environmental discourses
5. Conclusion
Chapter 11. Geoethical thinking as geogovernance: A geopolitical theology perspective
1. Technosphere, “dark green religion”, and ecofascism
2. Noosphere and pneumatosphere
3. Geoethics as political theology
4. Epilogue
Chapter 12. Historic perspectives for responsible earth system governance
1. Introduction
2. Historical parallels and past regularities
3. Hindsight and counterfactual history
4. Merchants of doubt and trail-blazers
5. Hope igniting success stories and cautionary tales
6. Remedies for the past
7. Discussion and conclusions
Chapter 13. Earth system governance: A governance perspective on geoethics
1. Introduction
2. The emergence of earth system governance
3. Analytical practice, normative critique, and transformative visioning
4. Earth system governance as a research field
5. The global network of earth system governance researchers
6. Applications and insights
7. Policy impact
8. Critique
9. Conclusion
Part III. Empowering the geoscience—society interface with geoethical perspectives
Chapter 14. Geoscience for Earth stewardship, sustainability, and human well-being: A conceptual framework for integrating planet, prosperity, and people
1. Introduction
2. A planet in peril
3. A planet of prosperity
4. Earth system science: Planetary limits, boundaries, and tipping points
5. The sustainable development goals
6. Human well-being and the well-being economy
7. Conclusions
Chapter 15. Geoscience–society interface: How to improve dialog and build actions for the benefit of human communities
1. Introduction
2. AGU case study #1: The new ethics of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
3. AGU case study #2: Ethical considerations and guidance for community science
4. AGU case study #3: An ethical framework for climate intervention research
5. Conclusion: Convergent science/geoethics opportunities for the future
Chapter 16. The key groups of interest in geoscience for sustainability
1. Introduction
2. The concept of stakeholders
3. Geoscience and its stakeholders
4. A deep dive into who are geoscience stakeholders: Four quadrants of active or needed relationships
5. The challenge to engage nontraditional or new geoscience stakeholders
6. Geoscience and sustainability
7. Geo-centered professional associations and sustainability
8. Stakeholders of geoscience in the future
9. Conclusion: New beginnings
Chapter 17. Significance and insights from indigenous communities in Latin America: Cultural and societal factors and challenges in UNESCO Global Geoparks
1. Introduction
2. Latin American indigenous communities
3. Ancestral indigenous knowledge and geoethical considerations
4. Conclusions
Chapter 18. Delivering critical raw materials: Ecological, ethical, and societal issues
1. Background
2. Challenges
3. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
Chapter 19. Critical minerals and rare earths elements: Ethical and societal considerations
1. Introduction
2. Strategies and policies: Setting the scenery at EU and global level
3. Promoting sustainable and ethical minerals development
4. Developing a framework including ethical considerations
Chapter 20. The future of mining: Technical progress and its implications
1. Introduction
2. Prologue: The social, economic, politic, and technological contexts
3. The big paradox
4. Technologies shaping the future of mining
5. Social trends and challenges shaping the future of mining
6. Conclusions and outlook
Chapter 21. Strategic planning toward sustainable urban planning models? The case of municipal directors in Denmark
1. Introduction
2. The Danish planning system and the existing land-use regulation in climate planning
3. Strategic leadership in towns and municipalities
4. The main components of sustainable and low-carbon urban planning models
5. The case of municipal directors in Denmark: New approaches to sustainable urban planning
6. Strategic planning and low-carbon planning dilemmas
7. Conclusion
Chapter 22. Multihazard analyses and their implications for the defense of society against natural phenomena
1. Introduction
2. Multihazard scenarios: Concepts and real cases
3. Uncertainty in hazard assessment
4. Geoethical procedure to reduce uncertainty
5. From scientific knowledge to decision-making
6. Conclusion
Chapter 23. Responsible volcano risk management
1. Introduction
2. Basic cost–benefit analysis
3. The role of geoethics in cost–benefit analysis
4. Responsible volcano tourism management
5. Counterfactual volcanic crisis simulation
6. Conclusions
Chapter 24. Risk communication in a rapidly evolving environment: The ethical and societal challenges
1. Introduction: Risk communication challenged by misinformation
2. The issue of misinformation in disaster management
3. The dynamics of misinformation across the communication chain: Technological and ethical perspectives
4. Conclusion: How to shape risk communication for disaster management
Part IV. Geoethics to shape new educational models for future planetary citizens
Chapter 25. Geoscience education: Changing paradigms
1. Introduction: The need for paradigm shift
2. Changing the attitudes of geoscientists toward their societal role
3. From the reductionist paradigm toward the holistic Earth system approach
4. From environmental awareness to environmental insight
5. Moving from the essentialism-based teaching culture toward the learning instinct paradigm
6. A transformation in teaching culture at both school and university levels
7. Conclusion
Chapter 26. A global geoscientific skills gap is threatening a sustainable future
1. Introduction
2. Surveys
3. Is there really a skills gap? Trends in the geoscientific workforce
4. Trends in geoscience education
5. Why are we losing students?
6. Do current trends in geoscience education and employment threaten our geoethical obligations?
7. Conclusion: How do we bring students back to geoscience?
Appendix 1: Global survey of geoscience tertiary education demographics: For employers of geoscientists
Appendix 2: Global survey of geoscience tertiary education demographics: For geoscience lecturers
Chapter 27. Educating on sustainable development in Latin America: Lights and shadows
1. Introduction
2. Education for sustainable development: Challenges and opportunities
3. The context of sustainable development in Latin America
4. Education in sustainable development in Latin America
5. Nonformal education
6. Education and sustainable development in postpandemic conditions in Latin America
7. Concluding remarks
Chapter 28. Effective strategies, data, and tools for teaching geoethics
1. Introduction
2. Why teach about geoethics?
3. How to teach about geoethics?
4. Critical thinking about maps and geospatial data
5. Everyday good and bad maps
6. Representations of spatial data and imagery
7. Copyright and reputation
8. Location privacy
9. Sharing maps and data
10. Codes of ethics
11. Conclusion
Chapter 29. Engaging the climate crisis with art
1. Introduction
2. Scientific communication through art
3. Art and design
4. Radical imagining
Index

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Geoethics for the Future

Facing Global Challenges

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Silvia Peppoloni

Giuseppe Di Capua