The egs is a network of independent scientists and experts solving problems in environmental geosciences. The network serves as a clearinghouse for questions from individuals and companies, offering advice, solutions, literature surveys and excursions.

A perfect way to comprehend complex environmental problems is going into the field and looking at clues and evidences.

To foster this idea the egs organises transdisciplinary environmental excursions and offers guidance to individuals and groups interested in understanding our environment, its degradation and remediation.

All excursions are prepared by recognized experts in an individual and interactive way. They provide comprehensive documentation and serve as guides to make every excursion an exciting learning experience for everybody. Participants of our excursions are professionals, students and individual groups interested in how our environment works an how it can be managed in a sustainable way in line with the ideas of the Rio Convention.

If you would like to participate in an egs-excursion, propose your own excursion idea or learn more about the egs-Network of Independent Geoscientists please contact us (registration info 0.03MB).

This excursion introduces the historic development of the terrain formerly separated by the Wall. Sites and buildings are visited to discuss major historic events, the degradation of the terrain and its revival after the fall of the Wall. The investigation measures taken to analyse the complicated ground conditions are explained as well as the reconstruction work leading to exciting challenges for architects, engineers and artists (information sheet 0.03MB).

 

Degradation of an industrial region and its renaissance: The International Building Exhibition IBA Emscher Park, Germany. 1 day or 2 days, if demanded on bicyle / during summer.

Since the 1980s, the time when the coal and steel crisis hit the German Ruhr District, a process of structural change is taking place in the region. Old abandoned industrial sites are remediated and re-vitalised. Many of these projects have been supported by development funds of the European Commission, on one hand because of the economical stimulation that goes along with rehabilitating industrial wasteland, on the other hand because of the exciting ecological concepts submitted by the redevelopers. For the first time, large-scale projects in line with the Rio-Declaration of 1992 were to be realised in the Ruhr District.

 

Brazil appears to be a country of extremes: Covering about twice the area of Europe it offers along its 7400 kilometres of Atlantic coast some of the finest beaches right next to the poorest Favelas. Although the spectacular rainforest is known for its unique biodiversity and its vital function for the climate of our planet, it has been reduced to only a fraction of its original size due to logging, mining and urban sprawl. Although the average per capita income defines Brazil as a country in transition, searching with its new government the "Third Way", still fifty percent of the national income is distributed among the upper ten percent of the society whereas the poorest ten percent receive not even one hundredth of the revenue. The excursion aims at discussing such contradictions by addressing three aspects characteristic for countries in transition: environment, poverty and communication. During this excursion, the links between these three aspects will become clear and strategies will be introduced to harmonise sustainable resource exploitation with poverty mitigation. Critical and independent news media stimulate this process with reports and documentaries.

 

About two million years ago, a meteorite crashed into southern Ontario, creating an enormous crater today known as the Sudbury Basin. In the 19th century, mines were started to exploit the minerals that separated during the impact. This added considerably to the ongoing degradation of the landscape that already suffered because of extensive logging. Over the years, a once densely forested region was turned into barren land, later referred to the Sudbury "moonscape". The people of Sudbury, concerned about the rapid degradation of their natural environment, launched an unprecedented campaign to reclaim their land, to remediate environmental scars and to revitalise the eco-system. During the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the United Nations Local Government Honours Award was presented to the Municipality of Sudbury for its remarkable Land Reclamation Initiative. This excursion aims at understanding aspects of geology, mining and environmental protection. During this excursion, the links between these three aspects will become clear and strategies will be introduced to rehabilitate and maintain natural environments.

Cuisine and cellar of a region depend on the geological setting, too. That is especially true for wine, but also for other ingredients of a tasty meal. Three examples from the geologically different regions Vosges, Kaiserstuhl and the Black Forest were chosen to drawattention to regional specialties. We stay at Waldhotel Fehrenbach in Hinterzarten in the high Black Forest. Here we enjoy the fi ne Black Forest cuisine with selected herbs, cooked by chef Josef Fehrenbach and his team. Our additional day trips will lead us to Alsace and to the Kaiserstuhl. By preparing a complete meal we apply our new experiences (information sheet 0.03M).

Rocks and water are shaping the Alps, giving them a unique unmistakable colouring glamour. Why don‘t we define the potential of a landscape by its colours and ask: What is the colour of rock? What is the colour of water? But also: What is the colour of the degradation of landscape? What is the colour of environmental protection? With this 4-days journey of discovery we want to try to investigate this unique Alpine landscape scientifically and perceive it aesthetically: as a composition of rock, water and colour (information sheet 0.03MB).