User-friendly toolkits for geoscientists: how to bring geology experts to the public

Abstract

A growing number of countries are committed toreduce their carbon emissions and are transitioning towards renewable and clean energy sources, leading to an in crease in demand formetals and minerals. This is especially the case for a short list of what are called "critical minerals" which are considered essential to economic development, including the transition to a low-carbon economy and national security. There liability of their supply chain raises concerns considering geological scarcity, difficulty to extract and/or political factors influencing their availability. At the same time, public awareness and perception of geoscience are eroding and there is more and more reluctance towards mining projects, even from traditionally favourable communities. To face this challenge, promote public interest and outline the contribution of geological science to society, geoscientists of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC-Québec) have designed and put together a portable display that includes a suite of mineral and metal samples considered critical for the sustainable success of Canada's transition towards a clean and digital economy. The display is a user-friendly toolkit that can be used by any GSC geoscientists during outreach activities, in classrooms as well as during public open houses. It comes with straightforward pedagogic material and content, along with presentation scenarios. To broaden and adapt the workshops to specific expectations, additional toolkits were developed and all are contained within easy to carry travel cases. These cover a variety of topics and can be presented as stand-alone displays or be used complementary to one another. For example, the "Mines and minerals" collection may serve as a supplement to the "Critical minerals" display to present every day objects in which minerals are used as well as ores amples from active mines to illustrate the intertwining between mining activities and our everyday lives. Another display covers the ever-popular fossils thematic with the "Sedimentary rocks and fossils" collection and gives an opportunity to address key geoscience themes such as life evolution and biological crisis along with groundwater reservoirs and resources. The "Magmatic rocks" display touches on the formation of rocks from magmas, the different types and active processes of volcanoes, and discusses the risks and benefits related to volcanic activity. Hopefully, these four ready-to-use portable displays will encourage more GSC geoscientists to engage in public oriented activities to make geosciences more accessible, change perceptions and offer an overall tangible scientific experience for people.