GeoLog

Navigating the tides of change: A strategic foresight into a post-petroleum future by 2040

Asmae Ourkiya September 15, 2025

Image by Zbynek Burival Source: Unsplash

Today, as we mark the anniversary of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded in Baghdad on September 14, 1960, by five oil-producing nations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Venezuela, and with the European Union setting ambitious climate targets for 2040 , the global energy landscape stands at a critical juncture. A century profoundly shaped by fossil fuels is ...[Read More]

Earth Science Week: What can you do to celebrate energy resources for our future?

Asmae Ourkiya September 10, 2025

Welcome aboard Planet Earth by Grace Shephard Source: Imaggeo

As the air grows crisp and autumn’s colors begin to emerge in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, I’m reminded that we’re approaching a special time of year for those of us who love the Earth. It’s Earth Science Week (October 12-18, 2025), and this year, the theme Energy Resources for Our Future feels incredibly personal. Our lives are powered by energy, and this week is a chance to look a litt ...[Read More]

Is the climate crisis also a literacy crisis? Time to move from data dumping to co-creating knowledge with communities

Asmae Ourkiya September 8, 2025

Photo by Nino Maghradze. Source: Unsplash

Today, September 8th, marks International Literacy Day with the theme “Promoting literacy in the digital era”, so it’s a moment to pause and consider the multifaceted nature of literacy. Beyond the foundational ability to read and write, literacy encompasses the capacity to comprehend, evaluate, and apply information within various contexts. It is this broader understanding of literacy ...[Read More]

The existential modeling crisis – and how to overcome it

Lucia Layritz September 5, 2025

Photo depicting wildflowers and resprouting shrubs after a desert wildfire, taken by the author, Lucia Layritz

Recently, we had a big name in fire ecology visiting our institute. He had come, among other things, to look for records of a certain fire-adapted shrub in my university’s herbarium. While myself and a colleague helped him go through the stacks of pressed and archived specimens, I asked him why there were so little contributions to the herbarium in recent years. His response was: “People sto ...[Read More]