Passion Earth sciences: unforeseen connections and new points of view to promote interest and passion for Earth Sciences

This research is the result of in-depth work and surprising discoveries on the founding role that the Earth sciences have had on historical events, social dynamics and impacts on culture, far from the usual perception of this discipline. Everyone knows the determining role of this discipline in the understanding of natural phenomena, in the knowledge of dynamics and natural risks and hazards, of environmental protection towards sustainable development. Yet years of teaching students of all ages, of practical activities and laboratory experiences in the various fields of Earth Sciences, to promote knowledge, interest and, when possible, passion for this fascinating discipline, have shown that, if taught and  transmitted without passion it can remain undeniably, inevitably, boring: a discipline that speaks of stones and catastrophes, complex and complicated.

In this research we wanted to highlight a totally different aspect: not so much the richness of themes, of intertwining that the Earth sciences have in various ways with all scientific disciplines, because they are well known to all lovers of the discipline, scientists or enthusiasts, as much as the unpredictable consequences that geological events of all kinds have had on the Earth, on living things, on humankind, our evolution, our history, our culture. Catastrophes then, volcanoes, earthquakes, but also climatic variations, instantaneous or long-lasting events, must therefore be interpreted as causes, unpredictable but indispensable, of events which, at first glance, have nothing to do with earth sciences but which, instead they made the history and culture of humanity.

The Earth sciences become, with this different and somewhat unconventional reading, a founding node of different disciplines, a tool for training and growth of skills, hard and soft, a stimulus of ability and curiosity, and hopefully of passion