GeoSpectrum

By Linda Rowan, Director, AGI Government Affairs Program

Hurricane Katrina reminded the nation of the power of nature, the folly of complacency and the high cost of not planning for natural earth processes. Earth science has progressed to the point that predictions and understanding of natural hazards makes mitigation and preparation more cost-effective and efficient than ever before. The earth science community needs to increase their efforts to communicate with policymakers the value of sound science in their planning.

AGI’s Government Affairs program posted an action alert about a week after hurricane Katrina asking for earth scientists with expertise in all aspects of this disaster to volunteer their time and knowledge to public policy planning. AGI will maintain a database of experts who can respond to requests from policymakers for information and advice on disaster prediction and prevention. Many Member Societies responded and the list of experts is comprehensive and very informative.

Many of the earth scientists who volunteered are already actively involved in education, public outreach, policymaking and emergency response. For example, Chuck Rosenfeld, a geologist at Oregon State University who studies coastal flooding using remote sensing, is also a Major General in the Oregon National Guard. Professor Rosenfeld is involved in emergency response with the National Guard and he was the Chairman of the Commission on Natural Hazards Studies during the United Nation’s International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) 1990-2000.

Another volunteer is Dr. Lorna Greening, an energy and natural resource economist, who worked as a petroleum geologist discovering several oil and gas sites before concentrating on energy economics. She has worked for the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Information Administration, USAID, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, several national laboratories, and private clients. She also contributed to the Second Assessment of the International Panel on Climate Change.

It is imperative that earth scientists try to help policymakers with all types of natural and man-made hazards. The geoscience community must find effective means to make compelling arguments for sound mitigation and preparation practices. Earth scientists are citizens first and scientists second; a fact that is often forgotten except in time of extreme need and community cooperation. Now is the time to initiate or continue communications with local, state and federal authorities, to find out their disaster plans and help improve these plans. It will take earth scientists working as individuals and as a community to reduce the threat of natural Earth processes to the human-built environment.