https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/conference/ Recent content in Conference on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 14 Sep 2017 12:06:06 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/comment-providing-resources-future-generations-technical-and-human-challenges/ Thu, 14 Sep 2017 12:06:06 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/comment-providing-resources-future-generations-technical-and-human-challenges/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/comment-providing-resources-future-generations-technical-and-human-challenges/RFG-2018_Logo_stacked_CMYK.jpg" alt="Credit: RFG 2018." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Credit: RFG 2018.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Earth is a remarkable planet, providing us with a comfortable place to live and the energy, minerals and water to sustain our societies. Geoscientists understand the dynamic processes within, and at the surface of, our rocky planet that shape our unique home. Plate tectonics and related processes have operated throughout much of Earth&rsquo;s history, leading to repeated amalgamation and breakup of supercontinents; the building and erosion of mountain ranges thousands of kilometers long; the constant delivery of massive quantities of sediment from the continents into adjacent sedimentary basins; and disruptive and hazardous events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and violent storms. These and other geological processes have moved and concentrated metals, minerals, hydrocarbons and water. The resulting concentrations of natural resources were so obvious that ancient humans recognized and exploited them beginning more than 10,000 years ago.</p>