What is it about?
Geophysics can make a bigger impact when we recognize, measure, and talk about the benefits it brings to society, the economy, and the environment. Sharing this value clearly can inspire young people to become geophysicists and encourage professionals to apply their skills in new ways—supporting long-term careers and even sparking entrepreneurship. One powerful way to highlight this impact is by linking geophysics to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) created by the United Nations in 2015. To show these connections, the Geophysical Sustainability Atlas was created. It shows how geophysics supports each SDG, with real examples and ideas for collaboration. This atlas helps people see the role geophysics plays in building a sustainable future and gives geoscientists and decision-makers a clear picture of both current achievements and future possibilities—making geophysicists visible as key players in shaping a better world.
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Photo by Katja Anokhina on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This empowers geophysicists to understand and explain to others how their specific work in all disciplines and sub-disciplines of geophysics contributes to advance specific SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), within the 17 SDG framework. It is an easy tool to highlight our profession is an important component of SUSTAINABILITY, and helps in showcasing our contributions in a summarized, direct, meaningful, exemplified, ... and even beautiful way!
Perspectives
When this Atlas was published, I was mesmerized of how impactful this was. I received messages from all over the world thanking me and my co-authors, Anna Shaughnessy and Emer Caslin for explaining and simplifying the concept of how to map what geophysicists to the 17 SDGs. This was definitely a seminal work, which 2 years later evolved into a UNESCO publication, expanding the work done to all disciplines in geosciences. I am proud of this article, and if you are a geophysicist, you should be proud too! Few technical disciplines have this tool to guide about their contributions toward sustainability. The Atlas has been translated into Serbian, Swahili, and is in the process of being translated into Spanish.
Dr. Maria Angela Capello de Passalacqua
University of Plymouth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Geophysical Sustainability Atlas: Mapping geophysics to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, The Leading Edge, January 2021, Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
DOI: 10.1190/tle40010010.1.
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