EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Society Asks,
Geologists Answer: Two Centuries of Providing Solutions
Aaron W. Johnson, CPG-12229
awj@aipg.org
Vitor Correia was one of the first people I met
when I came on as AIPG’s Executive Director. Vitor was the president of the European Federation of Geologists at that time, and he went on to found the International Raw Materials Observatory, where he continues to serve as the Secretary General. Vitor provides a unique perspective regarding the role that geologists play in modern society. One of the things that I have heard him say most often is that geologists are “solution providers.” Vitor sees our profession as critical in finding the raw materials that society will need as we move into the future. Vitor’s idea of geologists as solution providers inspired me to look more deeply into the historical role geologists have played as society has evolved.
By the late 1790s, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. The resources available via artisanal min- ing, farming, and logging were insufficient to meet the needs of a growing industrial society. Enter William Smith, a surveyor working on the Somersetshire Canal. Smith noticed patterns or similarities in rock units. He studied those similarities carefully and began to map the surface distribution of rocks in the area. He went on to create what is widely regarded as the first true geological map, a product that often is referred to as “The Map that Changed the World.” At the same time, James Hutton, a Scottish farmer and gentleman, was working on his book “A Theory of the Earth” which outlined the basic principles that underlie modern geology. It is no coincidence that modern geology was born at the time society began to place increasing demands for resources. Modern geology and the geological profession came to be, at least in part, in response to these societal demands.
By the early 1800s, society had begun to make other demands. The first anti-whaling protests occurred in the early 19th century. It is not a coincidence that society began to switch from whale oil lights to gas lights at about the same time, with the first gaslight installed in London in 1807, followed by installation in Baltimore in 1817 and Paris in 1820. Society had decided that it wanted to move away from commercial whaling and the use of whale oil. It was geologists that went out and found the methane sources necessary to meet society’s needs. In the late 1850s, when the Bessemer process was perfected, steel became a much larger part of modern industrial society. When society decided that steel was valuable, it was geolo- gists that went out searching for iron. No longer would bog iron deposits or even the Clinton-type iron depos- its that are present in the Appalachians be sufficient
32 TPG •
Jan.Feb.Mar 2026
to meet the needs of industrial society. Geologists went exploring for iron and found banded iron forma- tions on nearly every continent. Once again, society decided what was valuable, and geologists went out to find those materials society needed. Then, work- ing with engineers and corporations, those resources were brought to market and manufactured into items that society required.
In the early 20th century, society truly began to modernize, and the automobile became ubiquitous. Copper usage increased dramatically as electricity and indoor plumbing became widespread. Cities required concrete, asphalt, and a copper-based power grid. Society demanded asphalt, gasoline, concrete, and electric wiring. It was geologists that went out and found the raw materials necessary to meet the needs of society. We identified aggregate and limestone. We found copper deposits. We explored for new sources of oil and gas to meet ever-growing demand. We did the hard work to find the materials that were neces- sary to meet the new demands placed by society.
The publication of Silent Spring in 1962 was a water- shed moment, helping to usher in the modern envi- ronmental movement. In a roughly ten-year period between 1967 and 1977, political leaders around the world signed an entire industry into being with a few strokes of the pen. The establishment of Earth Day in 1970 coincided with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States. These events were followed in quick succes- sion by the London Convention on the Dumping of Marine Wastes, the Paris Summit, the United States Clean Water Act (all in 1972), and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the United States Endangered Species Act and the adop- tion of the First Environmental Action Program by members of the European Economic Community in 1973. Actions in Australia included the Environmental Protection and National Parks and Wildlife Acts of 1974. This global movement indicated a fundamen- tal shift as western society decided that it valued a cleaner environment and that it wanted to address the legacy of 150 years of unfettered development. It was geologists that stepped into the breach. Geologists are ideally suited to work in the environmental industry because we have to know a little physics, some chemistry, some biology, and most of all, we understand how the Earth works. We understand
Continued on p. 34
www.aipg.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
