Earth Science Week has been held every October since 1998 for the rock-lovers among us to celebrate together. Each time it has a different theme, and for 2012 the theme is "Discovering Careers in the Earth Sciences." Geoscience touches everyone's lives, and wherever you look in it there's a career waiting.
Careers are a major focus for the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the founder of Earth Science Week. I will point you to the AGI's Geoscience Currents page for data on recent salaries and job categories. But good salaries and job opportunities aren't the things that attract young people to the geosciences, according to a recent AGI survey of students. For the great majority of students it was one of two things: they came to college already knowing that geoscience is cool, or a gifted teacher of Geology 101 showed them that geoscience is cool.
Earth Science Week is a way of spreading around that initiation experience to the wider public. Between October 14 and 20, here are some of the things you might consider. First, of course, is to follow the Earth Science Week Facebook page for new announcements.
Go out and play on No Child Left Inside Day, on Tuesday, October 16. The AGI has an activity guide for teachers in case you're rusty.
EarthCaches are a special type of geocache that focus on the rocks and processes beneath the landscape. Instead of trading trinkets in a hidden box, you learn a lesson to take away with you.