Preface

It is my distinguished pleasure to introduce this volume devoted to geoethics and edited by Silvia Peppoloni and Giuseppe Di Capua, for two main reasons. First and foremost, the volume is a collection of papers presented during the ‘Geoethics’ scientific session at the 8th Italian Forum of Earth Sciences that was held in September 2011, in Turin, Italy. The Forum singled out sustainability – “Earth Sciences for sustainable development” – as its main theme, thus highlighting the key role of the geosciences with respect to important issues for the present, and in particular, for the future of our society. Resources and energy, climate, water, impact reduction of natural hazards, new materials, and protection and conservation of cultural heritage are all aspects of interest where a (geo)ethical approach is strongly needed. [...]