Nuovi strumenti per l'affermazione di una cultura geologica per l'ambiente

Abstract

Global and national data are presented to show the heavy impact of selected natural disasters on environmental and human reality, and which attract general attention on the objects of geological scientific research. The double role of the scientific community - namely, to understand natural phenomena and to spread "environmental awareness" in order to reduce social vulnerability - is emphasized. Causes and possible solutions for a more adequate geological culture are discussed, with particular attention to the not easy dialogue between geologists and non-geologists; new ways to improve mutual scientific understanding are proposed. With this particular purpose in mind, the role played by scientific images as a tool for this mutual understanding and exchange of ideas and as a powerful aid in forming a geological culture and in generalizing scientific knowledge, is examined. Strategies and examples are proposed in order that scientific institutions adopt visual instruments in their research.