1.2 Why Study Earth?

The simple answer to this question is that Earth is our home—our only home for the foreseeable future—and in order to ensure that it continues to be a great place to live, we need to understand how it works. Another answer is that some of us can’t help but study it because it’s fascinating. But there is more to it than that:

• We rely on Earth for valuable resources such as soil, water, metals, industrial minerals, and energy, and we need to know how to find these resources and exploit them sustainably.
• We can study rocks and the fossils they contain to understand the evolution of our environment and the life within it.
• We can learn to minimize our risks from earthquakes, volcanoes, slope failures, and damaging storms.
• We can learn how and why Earth’s climate has changed naturally in the past, and use that knowledge to understand both natural and human-caused climate change.
• We can recognize how our activities have altered the environment in many ways and the climate in increasingly serious ways, and how to avoid more severe changes in the future.
• We can use our knowledge of Earth to understand other planets in our solar system, as well as those around distant stars.

An example of the importance of geological studies for minimizing risks to the public is illustrated in Figure 1.2.1. This is a slope failure (rockslide) that took place in September 2013 along the Twin Sisters Trail, just outside of Estes Park, Colorado. This incident was one of many that took place along the Front Range due to a slow moving weather front that ultimately dumped 17 total inches of rain. The 2013 Front Range flood event resulted in 8 deaths and over $1 billion in damages.