Welcome to the Geology Department's Web Page on the Piedmont Environment

The Department of Geology is operating this web page as part of a program to understand the environment of the North Carolina piedmont and adjacent areas. Because we are concerned about both the effect of people on the environment and the effect of resources and the environment on people, the program encompasses the human, as well as technical aspects, of our interaction with the earth. We will place this study in an historical perspective, ranging from the ways in which the earliest inhabitants used resources, the effect of the piedmont on colonial life, and such modern topics as North Carolina's reliance on nuclear energy, changing patterns of land use, and various sources of pollution.

This web page is largely an opportunity for people with similar interests to contribute specific suggestions on ways in which each of us can act to improve the environment. We believe that dissemination of this type of knowledge is more effective than many of the large programs that consume money and resources without providing practical results. Thus we invite people and organizations with suggestions to send us short statements in styles similar to the ones that we have already placed there. If asked, we will also be glad to include mail and email addresses, phone and fax numbers, and the URLs for web pages. We can place links from this page to email or web pages. The easiest way to send the suggestions is to the email address below, but we can also enter short statements sent by regular mail if they are particularly interesting.

People interested in a global view of the human and scientific aspects of environmental issues can obtain information from the book People and the Earth, published by Cambridge University Press in 1998, and a corresponding website. The book was written by John J.W. Rogers, recently retired from UNC, and P. Geoffrey Feiss, now Dean of Arts and Sciences at the College of William and Mary. Both authors are placing new text and diagrams on the website at William and Mary, which has the URL www.wm.edu/FAS/faculty/People_and_Earth. This website contains links to the Cambridge University Press home page for ordering information and to other pages that discuss similar topics.

We look forward to hearing from you.

John J.W. Rogers
Department of Geology, CB# 3315
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3315
Phone: 919-962-0695
Fax: 919-966-4519
email: jrogers@email.unc.edu

We thank Bret Johnson for originally suggesting the format of this web page.