Diana Dalbotten & Gillian Roehrig 
Future Earth 
Advancing Civic Understanding of the Anthropocene

Earth now is dominated by both biogeophysical and anthropogenic processes, as represented in these two images from a simulation of aerosols. Dust (red) from the Sahara sweeps west across the Atlantic Ocean. Sea salt (blue) rises into the atmosphere from winds over the North Atlantic and from a tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean. Organic and black carbon (green) from biomass burning is notable over the Amazon and Southeast Asia. Plumes of sulfate (white) from fossil fuel burning are particularly prominent over northeastern North America and East Asia. If present trends of dust emissions and fossil fuel burning continues in what we call the Anthropocene epoch, then we could experience high atmospheric CO2 levels leading to unusual warming rarely experienced in Earth’s history. This book focuses on human influences on land, ocean, and the atmosphere, to determine if human activities are operating within or beyond the safe zones of our planet’s biological, chemical, and physical systems.

Volume highlights include:

* Assessment of civic understanding of Earth and its future

* Understanding the role of undergraduate geoscience research and community-driven research on the Anthropocene

* Effective communication of science to a broader audience that would include the public, the K-12 science community, or populations underrepresented in the sciences

* Public outreach on climate education, geoscience alliance, and scientific reasoning

Future Earth is a valuable practical guide for scientists from all disciplines including geoscientists, museum curators, science educators, and public policy makers.

Table of Content

Contributors vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

1. Welcome to the Anthropocene

Patrick Hamilton 1

2. The Anthropocene and the Framework for K-12 Science
Education

Fred N. Finley 9

3. Teacher Professional Development in the Anthropocene

Devarati Bhattacharya, Gillian Roehrig, Anne Kern, and Melinda
Howard 19

4. Climate Literacy and Scientific Reasoning

Shiyu Liu, Keisha Varma, and Gillian Roehrig 31

5. Evaluation and Assessment of Civic Understanding of Planet
Earth

Julie C. Libarkin 41

6. Community-Driven Research in the Anthropocene

Rajul E. Pandya 53

7. Geoscience Alliance: Building Capacity to Use Science for
Sovereignty in Native Communities

Nievita Bueno Watts, Wendy Smythe, Emily Geraghty Ward, Diana
Dalbotten, Vanessa Green, Mervyn Tano, and Antony Berthelote
67

8. New Voices: The Role of Undergraduate Geoscience Research in
Supporting Alternative Perspectives on the Anthropocene

Diana Dalbotten, Rebecca Haacker-Santos, and Suzanne
Zurn-Birkhimer 77

9. Shaping the Public Dialogue on Climate Change

William Spitzer 89

10. Opportunities for Communicating Ocean Acidification to
Visitors at Informal Science Education Institutions

Douglas Meyer and Bill Mott 99

11. City-Wide Collaborations for Urban Climate Education

Steven Snyder, Rita Mukherjee Hoffstadt, Lauren B. Allen, Kevin
Crowley, Daniel A. Bader, and Radley M. Horton 103

12. On Bridging the Journalism/Science Divide

Bud Ward 111

Index 121

Color plate section is located between pages 88 and 89.

About the author

Diana Dalbotten, National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, University of Minnesota, USA.

Gillian Roehrig, STEM Education Center, University of Minnesota, USA.

Patrick Hamilton, Science Museum of Minnesota, USA.