Earth Systems Modules

Earth Systems: Field Camp

Students learn kaitiakitanga from Maori elder Anthony!

Both Rarotonga (Cook Islands) and New Zealand face many of the same environmental issues, i.e. Richard Alley's globe-girdling questions that have ultimately led past civilizations to the brink of collapse. To answer some of these questions, we will explore Rarotonga's and New Zealand's natural environment in a 5-week field intensive camp, using an Earth systems approach. Both Rarotonga and New Zealand are living textbooks with a perpetually changing landscape, impacted by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, debris flows, landslides and floods. These natural processes are spectacularly revealed by the landscape itself and the young geologic record. As a result, an understanding of Rarotonga and New Zealand's past not only yields global insights into active Earth processes, and magnitude-frequency models for hazards assessments, but also provides an invaluable baseline for students to measure how the natural environment has been impacted by humanity.

The 5-week field camp is divided into 5 modules that expose students to an array of environmental case studies and issues that are regional in scale but national and global in their application. The field camp will develop a recognition that environmental problems faced by modern society require a multidisciplinary research approach and channels that attitude into efforts to prepare and train students for a broad range of academic, commercial and/or government careers in a world where geoscience issues will become central to maintenance of a healthy planet and society.

2010 Field Module Descriptions

Field Module 1: Sustainability for Survival - Marine Ecology and Coastal Management of the Cook Islands

Brian measures a baby whale

The Marine Ecology and Coastal Management Module integrates academic principles in marine ecology with applied management tools to investigate the Island System of the Cook Islands. In this aquatic playground, we will evaluate the delicate balance between the health of the barrier reef and marine ecosystem with the well being of the island. Current issues such as elevated nutrient-flux, rising sea levels and increasing sea surface temperatures threaten the barrier reef, we will address how the threat to the barrier reef is a threat to the whole island. This field-based module will expose students to ecological research (i.e., sampling design and techniques, data collection and interpretation) leading to future management strategies for the island.

Field Module 2: Maori perspectives on environmental guardianship or kaitiakitanga

Students learn kaitiakitanga from Maori elder Anthony!

The concept of kaitiakitanga (which loosely translates as ‘guardianship) played a crucial role in traditional Maori society, and is increasingly sought as an environmental paradigm in contemporary settings. As kaitiaki, Maori were responsible for ensuring the viability of land and resources for the following generations. Guidelines and methods were developed to meet the needs and requirements of traditional Maori communities. In this module we will investigate some of the indigenous methods used and the challenges contemporary societies face when assessing how to implement the principle of kaitiakitanga in the 21st century.

Students will be exposed first hand to the concept of kaitiakitanga by investigating environmental issues facing Bay of Plenty communities. Students will use a new model derived from Systems Thinking and Multi-criterion Decision Making and developed to determine if the Mauri or life-force of activities or features, such as the Tarawera river, can be quantified.

Field Module 3: Volcanoes - giveth life and taketh away: Management of volcanic hazards

Mapping lava flows on the side of Mt. Doom!

The North Island of New Zealand is one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth. The magnitude, frequency, and environmental impact of eruptions from 300 thousand years ago to the present can be quantified in both time and space through careful field observations. We will meet with New Zealand experts who monitor and manage these volcanic risks and learn what techniques they use to monitor volcanoes and how they communicate with the public. In this module we will first observe and map the products of volcanic eruptions, then create a hazards map and discuss their impacts on civilization. The module ends with a hazard simulation!

Field Module 4: The science, economics, and politics of geothermal Energy: Uses, environmental issues, kaitiakitanga, and sustainability.

Water sampling at geothermal hot springs

While volcanoes can be deadly for those living in their shadows, the same energy that causes destruction can be harnessed to serve the increasing energy demands of New Zealand. In this module we will take an in depth look at geothermal energy from source to sink! We will understand how heat is transferred in the earth and how New Zealanders currently exploit the resources. As will all resources, geothermal energy needs to be closely regulated to account for economic, cultural, and environmental factors.

Field Module 5: From source to sink: Using environmental field techniques techniqes to understand the fate of contaminants from source (a superfund-like waste site) to sink (a coastal and esturine environment)

Earth Systems Students in Action

This module gave students insight into the complex relationships between Maori Tribes and New Zealand's governmental as the groups fight over a once pristine lake that was taken by the government to be used as a waste dump for a pulp and paper mill. Using observational and environmental field techniques such as surface and ground water sampling and ground penetrating radar, students characterized the hydrogeology of the waste site, sampled the site for inorganic contaminants, and identified buried waste drums, a potential source of contamination.

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