Young Professionals

Last month the world’s political and industrial leaders gathered in Egypt for COP27. This annual event convened by the United Nations is an opportunity to engage in dialogue on the topic of climate change and to discuss a coordinated global response. If you’ve been paying attention for any length of time, you know that the topic of climate change and meetings like COP divide AAPG members. An individual member may or may not agree with the proposed policies or the concerns expressed at COP. But for many of our members worldwide, the topic of climate change and its impact on our industry and profession is existential – it has or will directly impact their careers and ability to practice their profession. That is why we must discuss this topic.

If you have attended any AAPG function or convention recently you have seen that we are striving hard to ensure that diversity and inclusion are upheld in everything we do. What does diversity and inclusion entail, and why are we striving hard to factor it into our planning? Does it skew our planning in favor of one group or another? Is it a quota system mandated by the government? Are we doing this just to be “fair”? Finally, why does an old silver-haired dinosaur such as myself champion the importance of diversity and inclusion within AAPG?