URGE- Unlearning Racism In Geoscience

Hi y'all,

I wanted to draw your attention to a new initiative: URGE- Unlearning Racism In Geoscience (https://urgeoscience.org/). This NSF Funded program seeks to help geoscientists learn how to create more equitable spaces through coordinated local groups (called "Pods"). 

Here's a brief overview of the mission, more detail at https://urgeoscience.org/.

"Many geoscience programs and societies are currently having conversations surrounding racism. These conversations are inspired by recent reminders (e.g., the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery) that the injustices in society are reflected and perpetuated in Geoscience. Morris et al., (2020) appropriately describe the effects of racism on the careers of black, brown, and indigenous Geoscientists by stating that “in place of mass incarceration, there is mass exclusion [and] in place of police brutality, [geoscience] careers are killed through forced attrition and under-investment.” Like the rest of the world and academia, the Geosciences need to unlearn racism.

We designed a community-wide journal-reading and policy-design curriculum to help Geoscientists unlearn racism and improve accessibility, justice, equity, and inclusion (AJEDI) in our discipline. We call this program Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE; www.urgeoscience.org). URGE’s primary objectives are to (1) deepen the community’s knowledge of the effects of racism on the participation and retention of black, brown, and indigenous people in Geoscience, (2) use the existing literature, expert opinion, and personal experiences to develop anti-racist policies and strategies, and (3) share, discuss, and modify anti-racist policies and strategies within a dynamic community network and on a national stage. By meeting these objectives, we hope that Geoscience departments and societies will be able to implement a well-researched crowdsourced group of anti-racist policies."

 Congratulations to the excellent PIs and coordinating crew!