1. Geoethics in the City AMRyan Dalhousie University   You are part of a research team - metals in city soils, and you will be collecting samples from private homes to do this work.  The hypothesis is:  soils from nearest the house itself will have relatively higher levels of lead and other metals (from paint used in these older houses)  …than soils from beside the roadside (which have collected metals from car exhausts, gasoline fumes, etc)  … or ambient soil samples, away from either point source contaminant.

2. KEY ASPECTS  Authentic case  Tackle ethical issues WHILE learning and doing the science  Decision-making involves…  Critical, divergent, and open thinking  Science-related ethics  Group (and personal) ethics  Social responsibility and communication “The time is always right to do what is right” (Martin Luther King)

3. GOALS  Apply newly-learned geoscience knowledge and skills, AT THE SAME TIME as identifying and making explicit ethical issues in a real-world geoscience context.  Understand ethics and societal issues not separate from our science, but rather integral to it.  Practice systematic decision-making, to establish ethical courses of action  Recognition of the complexity and uncertainty involved in geoethical decisions, as well as consideration of the consequences of their action or inaction.

4. Glacial effects Coastal city >200 years old Small-scale industry Coal-burning

5. acidic slates and quartzites “soil”

6. Where ethical decision-making arises…   I - You and the rest of the research team sample a number of locations*  II - prepare the samples for analysis**  and analyze the samples*** III - some samples have levels that are as high as 10x guidelines for some metals. You had told homeowners that you would share the results with them****

7. The Task – Pt I …The “Ethics”  Small group or groups  Sample homeowner’s soils  Contacting homeowners  Establishing methodologies  Scientific principles involved  Societal considerations  Contact protocol  Privacy  Respect for property and “leave no trace”, etc  Where to take samples?  How to take samples?  How do they treat the samples?  Consistency in sampling techniques and recording  Appropriate methodologies  Data recording  Other?

8. The Task – Pt II……The Ethics  Preparing and storing samples  Analysis  Recording data  Appropriate methods  Appropriate preparation  Identify assumptions and limitations (cost, etc)  Care in handling samples  Duplicates  Machine monitoring  Contamination  Accuracy in recording data  Other?

9. The Task – Pt III… …The Ethics  Representing the data – tabular and graphical  Synthesizing the findings  Communicating the results  Choice of representation  Data to include and exclude – rationale  Comparison to guidelines, etc  What to do with duplicate data?  Limitations of the study?  How to communcate responsibly to homeowners?  Other?

10. Instructional Strategies: Decision-making   What are the facts involved ?   What are the various possible solutions or approaches to the issue at hand?   What are outcomes or consequences?   What is the likely or possible impact of each solution ?  Evaluate each of the potential solutions in terms of outcomes, likely impact, and values by considering the following:  HARM  PUBLICITY (media, etc)  DEFENSIBILITY (to community, etc)  NOT IN MY BACK YARD  COULD I LIVE WITH MY DECISION  PROFESSIONAL  COLLEAGUE  ORGANIZATION Modified after: Davis, M., Developing and Using Cases to Teach Practical Ethics : Teaching Philosophy, Volume 20, 1997, 353-385

11. REFLECTION…. By the students In the BROADER CONTEXT… Is there a need for “bigger” change? (Thanks to my students for pushing my thinking!) http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/making.pdf

12. Personal Reflection  The more difficult questions:  How do we best inform the homeowners?  What can we, or should we recommend?  There are no human subjects, BUT… the results may impact humans, SO…  Should we seek ethics approval through our research ethics board?  And finally… what are the BOUNDARY conditions?