Teaching and learning about ethical aspects of environmental science with graduate students

Humans and their environment are inherently linked, especially in coastal and estuarine regions, and scientific and social values often must be balanced in ecosystem management and decision-making. Graduate students discuss these balances in a 1-credit seminar offered via the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science (MEES) program, an inter-institutional program within the University System of Maryland. The MEES program uses an interdisciplinary approach to train students in scientific discovery, integration, and application to generate new knowledge and to solve environmental problems, including social sciences. In the seminar, graduate students examine these problems through the lens of Geoethics, the ethical, social and cultural implications of geoscience research and practice, using a case-study approach. After a brief introduction to the concept, students develop a list of topics to examine throughout the seminar. In Spring 2020, these topics included climate-change communication, field harassment, community-based science, sustainability science, and preserving biodiversity. At the end of the semester, students give a presentation on ethical aspects of their own research.