Earth Science Literacy
Draft Document Review

September - December 2008

Earth Science Literacy Draft Document is open for community comment

The Earth Science Literacy Initiative is soliciting your input regarding what all Americans should know about earth science.  This is a critical time to facilitate educated decision-making amongst policy makers, educators, and students.  With geoscience at the forefront in identifying and understanding hazards and human impacts, it is an ideal time for the geoscience community to come to consensus in a common message that can address the current challenges.

This draft document was generated through an NSF-sponsored ~350 participant online workshop held here online in May and a 35 participant in person writing workshop held in July that brought together scientists from a broad representation of the geosciences, including mineralogists, petrologists, resource explorationists, sedimentologists and statigraphers, paleontologists, tectonists, geophysists, geomorphologists, low-temperature geochemists and biogeochemists, continental dynamac ists, volcanologists, geoha zard specialists, and members of the freshwater hydrologic science community.

The document complements the efforts of the Ocean, Climate and Atmospheric science communities in defining the big ideas and supporting concepts essential for a literate public. 

This first comment period will be open until November 15.  Comments will be incorporated into a second draft that will include accompanying graphics and be released before the December AGU conference.  The final document will be printed near the end of January.  More information regarding this effort is online at www.earthscienceliteracy.org

***Special Announcement: GSA Town Hall Meeting***

Previous Activities

Online Workshop
Monday 12 - Friday 23 May 2008

The workshop is now over. Thank you to everyone who participated. If you attended the workshop you can use your userid and password to login and read the workshop contents.

If you have just arrived at this page and wish to be kept informed of developments please sign up for the keep me informed list. As the Earth Science Literacy Intitiative (ESLI) develops we will keep you informed. More information will be posted here over coming months.

More information is also available at the Earth Science Literacy Website

Information from the Application Process that closed on Monday 5 May 2008.

Questions from the application process and answers

Comments received on the application forms