About GPI

What We Are

Geology in the Public Interest (GPI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in the Seattle area comprised of geologists and engineers who are educated and experienced in earth science, engineering, and mineral resource development, and who have extensive background working in developed and developing nations around the world.

What We Do

We apply our skills to further the common good and enable the resolution of environmental and social challenges that may not be addressed otherwise. We do this by:

• Building bridges to further collaboration between geoscientists and other disciplines,

• Working to enrich public understanding of the earth sciences and how they can be utilized at the grassroots level to protect future generations,

• Advising resource-poor communities on measures they can take to advance their resilience and sustainability, particularly those communities that live with a legacy of natural resource exploitation, and

• Facilitating the judicious application of geoscience and geoengineering where they can make a significant impact in mitigating environmental and social deficits.
  

Where We Work

There are many places where geologists and engineers are needed to solve geoscience-related problems that affect people and the environment, and we aim to work in all of them, wherever we are needed. Geologic hazards (landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes) affect people significantly in developing countries, such as in Central and South America, but they can also be critical in the developed world, including portions of the United States. The need for dependable access to clean water is a life-and-death issue in many impoverished or arid areas, as is the need for environmental restoration to remove contaminants that originated from past industrial practices. Collectively, we have experience in nearly all of these places; we need not put geographic limits on our work.

For example, in many countries centuries of mining and smelting have left a legacy of mining wastes and soils polluted with mercury, arsenic, and other toxic elements. With profits from mining long since removed to other places, the people who live in these areas struggle to exist in despoiled landscapes that affect their health and ability to create and sustain economies in which they can thrive. We believe that mining and resource recovery in the 21st century does not need to follow the same trajectory as mining in previous centuries. Advances in technology and technique, and awareness of environmental impacts and long-term consequences, afford real opportunities to both obtain the materials on which an economy can be built and concurrently preserve and restore the environment. Such a situation is present at a number of sites in South America, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, where years of mining have left tens of thousands of tons of mine tailings that in similar settings elsewhere have been used to recover valuable elements. Wastes that now contaminate the countryside could locally provide valuable byproducts that could help fund clean-up and provide economic opportunities. All locations of past mining exhibit at least some of this potential.