People, say hello to my friend – and fellow Salzburg Global Fellow – Martin Bohle, @martin here on the platform. Martin is moving on to a new life in a few months, and we are honored by the fact that he wants Edgeryders to be a part of it.
Martin started out as a physical oceanographer, but his interests have shifted over the years. His next goal is geoethics: “understanding the ethical implications of the intersection between society and the non-living earth”. This is potentially highly relevant for our community, especially the part that is deep into climate change prevention/adaptation. For example, I would love to be part of a serious debate about the society of a possible, future geo-engineered Earth.
We will be exploring research opportunities together in the coming months. People who are interested in geoethics are invited to come forward: we will scheme, and make moonshot plans, and set sail for new horizons, as we always do.
Hello Martin and welcome! Geoethics: I think we had better all be interested in that. I am no oceanographer, but I do live near the pacific ocean and I have an advanced scuba card.
Hi @martin what a great news! I think I know what makes Alberto and us be very happy to have you on board - we’re always exploring new ways and the rewards of working with interesting people is a bottomless well.
What about you, what are your personal hopes from this collaboration?
See you soon, most probably at another dinner party in Brussels
Dear All - thank you for welcoming me. I have prepared a short text to introduce me and my interests. best regards, Martin
What does it mean ‘geoethics’ … & more.
What: Geoethics is about the responsible conduct of geosciences and their societal relevance wherever human activities interact with the Earth system. Geoethics is conceived with the operational criteria of addressing the deeds and values of the human agent as part of the Earth system; more (IAPG): www.geoethics.org/
Who: I am a physical oceanographer by education who worked in Belgium as a science manager at the European Commission. My PhD is from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, Switzerland where I studied the hydro dynamics of Lake Geneva. My research interests are societal geosciences and I’m still curious about geophysical fluid dynamics. As Research Scholar at the Ronin Institute (New Jersey, USA) I’m cooperating with the International Association for Promoting Geoethics (Rome., Italy); more: ResearchGate D-4508-2014.
Some more detail:
Within the last decade, the notion of ‘geoethics’ has been used by geoscientists to address aspects of the responsible behaviour of professionals in geosciences and the societal relevance of geosciences.
Geosciences or Earth-sciences refer to a range of applied and fundamental research fields, as well as engineering disciplines and related commercial undertakings. Together these different activities address the functioning of the Earth systems as well as the use and management of abiotic resources. In that professional context, thus emerging from a baseline of applied research, scholarly work has recently focused on the interfaces between geosciences and the social sciences or humanities.
Ongoing inquiries into geoethics address: What should be considered as ‘geoethics’ in an operational sense as an actor-centric virtue-ethics, either for geoscientists or citizens, and what is addressing on a wider scope of thinking (e.g. geosophy) about geoscience and its interactions with society and the natural world, for the benefit of geo-professionals and citizens.
Dear All - to share a bit more about my interest. Together with peers, I prepared two contributions for the EGU2019 Assembly in Vienna (8-12 April); a big (> 10.000 people) gathering of geoscientists. We, fellows from [IAPG] (see my post of 21 December), have a tiny contribution with our session (and course) about geoethics. Below links to these two contributions. I welcome your comments and questions. This is work in progress. best regards, Martin
