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Request for Assistance/Sensitization of School Pupils about Hazards and Sustainable Development
From: Gerald Ernst <plumeman2000@xxxxxxxxxxx>Request for Assistance/Sensitization of School Pupils about Hazards and Sustainable Development
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Dear friends and colleagues,
RE : Request to VOLCANO-LISTSERV for assistance for any
educational resources
to help explore how to best sensitize College students and
local communities
about Earth System hazards and risks,
and about sustainable
development
Some of you may remember how engaged I have been over the
years (1991-2012) in volcanology and geohazards research (ash fall and other
pyroclastic hazards, eruption mechanics research, volcano remote sensing and
explosive eruption microphysics and meteorology, ash and international air
traffic safety…etc..), training and teaching at the University of Bristol (UK)
for 12 years, closely cooperating with colleagues including in the UK, France,
Spain, Germany, USA, Cameroon, etc.. and ultimately I was back in Belgium
working at the University of Ghent for 9 years, where I have been trying with
colleagues internationally to contribute to setting up new collaborative and
participative volcano hazard-related efforts with our colleagues across Africa
from Cameroon to Tanzania (majorly extended by colleagues in E Congo and
in Ethiopia). I am glad to confirm that
wonderful efforts have hit target thanks to the work of many colleagues across
Africa and worldwide and that some are also actively being pursued by young award-winning
Belgian colleagues in particular (eg. Prof. M Kervyn and his group at VUB,
Brussels). Prof. Kervyn is also innovating wonderful research in relation to
analogue modelling and indeed pioneered the most exciting research I have been
privileged to be associated with since returning to Belgium. He is continuing
to innovate now in collaboration with one of our young and upcoming colleagues,
Sam Poppe, who is already serving the community through his leading efforts
with the IAVCEI young volcanologists’working group.
After training in quality management, non violent
communication (NVC) and professional coaching in the past 2 years, aspects of
which could helpfully be applied during volcanic crises or in teaching and
training contexts for young volcanologists, and as I like major new challenges,
I have now been engaging in a complementary direction, that of sensitizing our
college students (12-1 8 y old’s), and ultimately I hope the wider
population through participative action local community projects starting here in
Belgium, to sensitize (or collect data) on:
- environmental hazards and risks,
- environmental degradation and ways of living and working
more sustainably and ethically on our planet.
Hence I am now teaching math, physics and chemistry to young
people in College, each day feeling that I am doing much more than this,
actually making essential observations in a suitably small-scale and relevant
human lab.
It seems to me that our classrooms are ideal natural labs (including
to subsequently apply insights during volcanology crises or in relation to
environmental disasters generally) to explore how communication or
participative actions could become much more effective, how crises can be
resolved at times when people are under pressure, stressed out or in conflict
with each other.
I am currently
exploring how to set up a project that could contribute to sensitizing our
students and eventually the local population of E Belgium through diverse
activities integrated across the college school curriculum (language and
philosophical classes, geography, history, economics, applied mathematics and the physical, chemical
or social sciences…) about the crucial issues here-above-mentioned.
Of course, means are currently more than extremely thin on
the ground to develop anything in the College school system anywhere in
Belgium, even if small funding possibilities may ultimately be identified
(especially if we could demonstrate a first successful across-the-board project
on this) from the Belgian Ministry of Education or ultimately from the EU.
Besides I no longer have free access to scientific
literature that could also help us with this effort.
So I am appealing to your assistance in case some of you
could spare, or directly or indirectly help us with relevant:
-
inspiring
posters (planet Earth from space, plate tectonics, environmental remote
sensing, volcanic and generally geological processes on other planets…),
-
educational documentaries (DVDs),
-
wide-audience educational powerpoints,
-
wide-audience sensitising publications in either
French, English, Dutch or German (as we can work with our teenagers in various language
classes…)
-
small lab experiment material that you could
spare (or are getting rid off) whether for illustrating hazards in physics or
measuring pollution in field or lab chemistry classes, bearing in mind we
cannot afford any shipping costs (beyond token costs that I may be able to pull
out of my own pocket).
-
free access to published literature (as I am now
in a near-zero funding high school context)
-
if you happen to be in educational publishing (eg.
CUP, OUP, Academic Press, New Scientist, Scientific American, BBC Science
Education, Smithsonian or National History Museum publishing, etc.., we would be delighted to
serve as a pilot school testing out innovative educational resources
-
or anything else you could think of and that may
prove helpful (like offering to come and give a talk to our students and
colleagues even though we are in remote E Belgium ?)
-
of course anything to do with volcanoes and
volcanic eruptions always inspires many of our students; illustrating how
beautiful Earth System is, also instills the seeds of environmental awareness
and sustainable attitudes in our students or the wider population.
Here in Belgium and across the world I believe that I am not
alone in saying that we are being increasingly hit by hazardous phenomena that
are direct consequences of anthropogenic changes related to accelerating global
warming and other aspects of climate change and environmental degradation that
is occuring worldwide. The next 20 years, in my opinion, will not be too much
time to prepare and to become actively engaged in raising the consciousness of
humankind about environmental disasters that are increasingly hitting us all
and preparing the ground for resuming solidarity networks and participating
actions in advance of what I believe will be substantial if not extreme hardship
for a substantial proportion of world population.
Of course, I would be
interested in exploring resuming research collaborations where we could jointly
survey our students or colleagues upon their perception or awareness of
hazards, risks and environmental issues, before and after sensitizing / educational
sessions. The human factor of volcanic (or of other geohazard or climate-change-related
risks) remains, in my opinion, the Achilles’heal in risk quantification so
perhaps this may also lead to some helpful data and insights for many of you to
tackle volcanic risk quantification accurately and for the first time comprehensively
(and thus meaningfully). For what is the meaning of a risk equation that is
leaving out half the factors ?
I look forward to hearing back from those who may wish to
assist or advise us, and to resumed interactions with old friends and
colleagues.
Finally, I also would like to wish a belated happy 65th
birthday to my former prof, mentor, colleague and long-time friend, Prof. RSJ.
Sparks. Steve has contributed so immensely to our science and community through
his lifework in volcanology and far beyond its boundaries across the Earth and
Environmental Sciences, and I must admit that I am completely ignorant as to
whether this important event was celebrated across our community beyond the local
UK or Rhode Island communities. So in case, I have missed the boat, happy
birthday Steve, and thank you for inspiring us all for many lifetimes to
come !
Greetings to all,
Prof. Gerald GJ. ERNST
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Postal address for sending any material and for
correspondance :
Gerald ERNST
Rue du TOMBEUX, 49
B-4801 STEMBERT (VERVIERS)
BELGIUM
Email : plumeman2000@xxxxxxxxxxx
Phone : +32 (0) 479.773.720
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