All geoscience practices have evident repercussions on society. Geoscientists have knowledge and skills to investigate, manage, and intervene on the geosphere, defined as the component of the Earth system constituted by the land surface, the solid Earth, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, and the atmosphere. This implies ethical obligations. The adoption of ethical principles is essential if geoscientists want to best serve the public good. Ethical responsibility by all geoscientists requires a more active role while interacting with society. Geoethics, which investigate the ethical, social, and cultural implications of geoscience research, practice, and education, represents a new way of thinking about and practicing earth sciences, focusing on issues related to the relationship of the geoscientist with the self, colleagues, and society in the broadest sense. In this paper, we define some of the main values relevant to geoethics.

The concept of sustainability has been redefined over the past two decades, with growing realization that simply avoiding most impacts to human and environmental resources is not enough to counter the long-term losses created by current and past economic activities. The production of mineral resources and fossil fuels would seem to be activities that cannot, by definition, be sustainable, but extractive industries provide necessary contributions to society. By holding extractive industries to higher standards than we do today, they can become part of a globally sustainable approach that will benefit society far beyond the sites of resource extraction. Truly sustainable living in the future can only be accomplished if the current effect of our presence is restorative (net positive impact) rather than just impact-neutral. One way for the mineral industry to participate is for companies to accumulate a capital fund (by saving a portion of the annual depletion) that is used to mitigate damage and restore habitat to a greater extent than would be required to mitigate impacts from current activities alone. This form of sustainability thus becomes restorative. Restorative sustainability requires that all current impacts be evaluated using full-cost accounting. Global impacts cannot be ignored, and the values of priceless things must be honored by preventing their destruction. With respect to social resources, all stakeholders must have a say, and full disclosure is required. Active acceptance by society over multiple generations is important, and costs incurred to ensure true sustainability must be accepted as a cost of doing business.

Rapid industrial development along Thailand’s eastern seaboard has increased pollution and environmental degradation in this densely populated region of the country. A growing problem is illegal disposal of industrial waste in abandoned borrow pits in many locations, especially in the capital Bangkok and its neighboring provinces. Previous work has identified the most likely illegal dumping sites in Chachoengsao Province. The focus of this work was to establish an impact assessment of potential dumping sites using a geographic information system (GIS) in order to create a patrolling and monitoring program for areas at highest risk. The impact assessment is based upon exposure and sensitivity factors of the illegal dumping sites. The exposure factor attempts to quantify the likelihood of illegal dumping; it includes distances from borrow pits to the nearest villages and highways, as well as the areas of the borrow pits. The sensitivity factor assesses the probability of environmental contamination; it includes site topography, ground permeability, aquifer characteristics, and distances to the nearest rivers. GIS was used to compute distances and to overlay other site characteristics. Variables within exposure and sensitivity factors were weighted based upon previous studies and recent expert analysis to compute exposure and sensitivity indices. Maps were then created in GIS for particular exposure and sensitivity factors, and overall impact assessment maps were constructed to indicate zones with low, medium, and high risk. These assessment maps could be adopted by local and regional governmental agencies, as well as local citizens, as part of preventive measures to conserve the local community and environment. Identification of high-risk areas can contribute to the initiation of a monitoring and patrolling program to prevent illegal dumping and preserve environmental and natural resources.

Abstract Volcanic eruptions pose a significant risk to human lives, property and infrastructure, despite rapid advances in monitoring and early warning science and technology. Some elements of risk – such as the number of people living close to volcanoes – are increasing, and the unpredictable nature of eruptions may overwhelm the local response capacity and turn into a disaster, sometimes requiring international assistance. To deal effectively with these crises, the international humanitarian community needs a global, science-based early warning system that should assimilate the state-of-the-art monitoring and early warning techniques, as well as being able to provide a preliminary impact assessment, and issue appropriate and relevant alerts. Current volcano warning systems are either only local in context or are not suited to the needs of global early warning. In this paper we propose an outline for a volcano warning system aimed at issuing alerts to the humanitarian aid community. It is designed as a four-level system, incorporating the latest monitoring and hazard modelling techniques that are applicable on a global scale. Alerts are mainly based on the predicted humanitarian impact of the modelled hazards. Systematic handling of volcanic manifestations, such as thermal signals and ash clouds from space-borne instruments, make it possible to create such a system. The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), a joint effort by the United Nations and the European Commission, has been operating in a similar spirit for other natural disasters for a number of years and could fulfil the role of the desired volcano system. This paper discusses the needs and issues of this undertaking.