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Should "EarthCaches" be renamed "GeologyCaches", so that the concept of Earth Science is better represented?


Nick - Cacher

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I am curious. I like Geology, but it's only one aspect of the field of "Earth Science". It also includes biology, meteorology, hydrology, etc, etc., and I like some of these fields too. I feel like calling these geocaches "EarthCaches" misconstrues how people interpret Earth Science. Since these caches are supposed to be educational, I'm thinking by not calling them "Earth" but rather "Geology", it would be better representation.

 

What do others think? Does anyone else think it would be helpful to the field of Earth Science if Geocaching.com renamed these "GeologyCaches"?

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Does anyone else think it would be helpful to the field of Earth Science if Geocaching.com renamed these "GeologyCaches"?

 

I don't think it was Geocaching.com that came up with the name EarthCache. I think it was the Geological Society of America, who started the concept, formed EarthCache.org and worked with Groundspeak to have EarthCache listed on Geocaching.com.

 

Certainly, GSA's definition of Earth Science may be different than someone who wants to place a biological science or a meteorology cache. On the other hand they don't seem to want to limit this "pure" geology. I believe they want to emphasize the importance of geology in understanding other earth sciences. So biology and meteorology could be the basis for an EarthCache so long as the influence of geology in these places is pointed out as part of the cache. I've see a few EarthCaches that explain how the geology impacts the flora and fauna in an area. And of course there are many fossil EarthCaches that teach about paleo-biology or even about evidence of climate change in the distant past.

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Chances are w/all of the established Earthcaches it would be much easier to incorporate a more expansive view of Earth Sciences into the existing format. Granted, I’ll agree that the present use of the term “Earth Science” is primarily focused on Geology. Given the sponsorship of EC’s, the GSA, where the “G” stands for “Geologic” Society of America, a change such as this would be a difficult venture. Perhaps the root of all of this is nothing more than an academic stance much like the arguments among Engineers vs. Geologist or Geologist vs. Geographers.

 

What I have trouble understanding is if one were to expand EC’s to incorporate more earth sciences, why then would this not also reflect in the knowledge base for EC’s and the general public? I’m sure this would help teachers in interesting more students in the Earth Sciences…

 

One thing that my career has taught me is that is very difficult to get those in the position of authority to change or broaden their scope of coverage. Good Luck…

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I would prefer a broader interpretation of the subjects allowed for Earth Caches, but clearly that is not likely to happen. Although many exisitng earth caches have nothing or little to do with geology, but that may be a regional (European?) issue.

 

In the absence of a broader interpretation, using a clearly restrictive name would clarify the matter from the start, and tell people with non-geological contributions to back off. That saves a lot of frustration, and helps to keep the club exclusive, since that seems to be the goal here.

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