Living on this planet at a time of great changes, the general public should have a fundamental understanding of earth science concepts, according to specialists from many fields who contributed to the report Earth Science Literacy Principles: The Big Ideas and Supporting Concepts of Earth Science.

A product of the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI), which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Earth Science Literacy Principles was developed in workshops that brought together earth scientists from many fields, including mineralogists, petrologists, sedimentologists, paleontologists, geophysicists, geomorphologists, biogeochemists, volcanologists, geohazards specialists and hydrologists, among others.

On each of the topics, the document was reviewed by leading scientists. Major geoscience and earth science education organizations have endorsed the report, which can be downloaded as a pdf file or as a text document.

Each of the nine big ideas is backed by supporting concepts comparable to those underlying the National Science Education Standards and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Benchmarks for Science Literacy. Among the nine big ideas, which the report states every citizen should know, are:

-Earth scientists use repeatable observations and testable ideas to understand and explain our planet.

-Earth is 4.6 billion years old.

-Earth is continuously changing.

-Life evolves on a dynamic Earth and continuously modifies Earth.

A press announcement from NSF quotes the report as saying: “Even modest changes to Earth’s systems have had profound influences on human societies and the course of civilization. . . . Understanding these systems and how they interact is vital for our survival.”

The developers expect the report to be influential in scientific, educational, and political circles. Michael Wysession, chair of the earth science initiative and a geoscientist at Washington University in St. Louis, says. “New textbooks and curricula are already being developed using the report.”