AGU Workshop on Impactful GeoHealth Programs

American Geophysical Union, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Rapid changes to the environment due to climate change and the impact of human beings on the environment is impacting human health. Environmental factors such as extreme heat and cold snaps, flooding, the northward migration of tropical insect-borne diseases, the increasing occurrence of harmful algal blooms, and environmental degradation due to release and/or burial of anthropogenically-generated pollutants originating from waste, manufacturing, and mining are having significant and serious impacts on the health of our nation's population as well as on people around the world. To identify possible solutions, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a professional society of over 60,000 Earth; ocean; and atmospheric scientists, students, and private sector representatives, will survey its constituents and collect input on where the geosciences are best positioned to make fast progress in ameliorating environmental impacts on human health. To accomplish this task, AGU will convene and gather information from diverse subject matter experts including scientists, practitioners, environmental justice leaders, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, education experts, and other stakeholders, including early career scientists on this broad topic. A steering committee made up that includes the AGU GeoHealth leadership will help guide this work. The activities will lead to a set of recommendations and prospects that will collectively: (1) identify high-priority challenges in GeoHealth that can be addressed in the near term (2-4 years); (2) provide a road-map or path for developing programs around these challenges; (3) provide a set of ideas to communicate the importance of GeoHealth internationally; and (4) address the need for training and career paths in GeoHealth. Results of their community survey will be summarized in a report that will be made available to the public. Key outcomes will be the identification of geoscience-related environmental processes that have the highest human-health impacts and are primed for immediate resolution and/or intervention. Broader Impacts of the activity will be to improve our understanding of and better management of environmental impacts on human health. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) will conduct a broad, inclusive, results-driven survey of its constituents, which include scientists and students from across the Earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences. Members from the private sector are also involved. The goal of the information collection exercise is to gather ideas and research areas where geoscientists, communities, and medical professionals can come together to accelerate our nation's ability to mitigate and minimize human health impacts of changes in the environment due to climate and anthropogenic activities. AGU will build off and leverage key resources, leadership, partners, and programs they have already developed in the area of GeoHealth. It will include discussions with participants selected from the AGU College of Fellows New Frontiers Committee, a committee that has already focused on supporting GeoHealth over the past year. It will also include discussions with AGU section leadership, especially in the following sections of GeoHealth, Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeosciences, Cryosphere Sciences, Ocean Science, Global Environmental Change, Hydrology, Education, Earth and Space Informatics, Earth and Planetary Surface Processes, and Science and Society. These sections all include active student and early career members. AGU leaders will also be involved from the AGU Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Effort and its Advisory Committee; from The Thriving Earth Exchange and selected fellows and community members; as well as members of its Community Science Group which includes several relevant partners including the American Public Health Association. Results of this effort will be summarized in a report and posted on the professional society website. An important component of the final report will be the identification of targets that can be addressed in a significant way within a 2 to 3-year timeframe. Information gathering will include online survey vehicles, virtual gatherings, one-on-one discussions with experts, and broad outreach across all fields of geoscience. An important aspect of the survey effort will be engagement of early career scientists and members of groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.