Decolonizing Earth Science

The origins, development and practice of the Earth Sciences hasĀ been closely tied to colonization, but these ties rarely are acknowledged, discussed, critiqued or used as a basis for rethinking present day practices and trends. In this article, I deconstruct the historical, functional and dynamical relationships between colonialism and geology using methods from complex systems science, discuss how these relationships have developed over time, and explore practical methods for how Earth Science might be decolonized.