Dear DMG members,

When I joined the DMG as a student in the last century, I immediately felt welcomed in a familial atmosphere and especially benefited from the support of the society at the beginning of my career. In the following years, I joined a number of other scientific societies, but I have always considered the DMG to be my true home. In this respect, I was particularly pleased when the board proposed to nominate me for the chairmanship and, of course, even more so when you granted me the vote of confidence with your election, with which one starts in the office of a chairman. I am taking over the role from Friedhelm von Blanckenburg, who, with his characteristic tirelessness, his pursuit of genuine improvements, and his sense of practical solutions, has successfully advanced the society. Working with Friedhelm is enjoyable, and I thank him on behalf of the society for his two years as chairman. I am also pleased that he will now continue to support me as my deputy for another year.

Based on my experiences, the DMG is characterized by a lived identification of its members with the society, as well as by a strong commitment from many representatives from all sections and working groups of all ages and career stages. This was evident in the engaged interaction of the many listeners at the multi-generational discussion of GeoMinKöln, as well as at the future workshop in April 2022 in Bad Honnef, and of course also in the consistently high number of participants at the society's annual general meetings.

The probably most important medium of exchange between the members is the DMG email discussion list, which was founded and managed by our unfortunately recently deceased member Dr. Ralf Milke. Ralf had always advocated that the list should exist as an open, unregulated, and uncensored free discussion platform. In my opinion, it works exemplary, with a wide range of members participating in the exchange and almost consistently writing topic-related contributions at a high level with a lot of expertise. Fortunately, the maintenance of the list has now been taken over by Dr. Philipp Gleißner (FU Berlin).

A very lively discussion had developed at the end of November 2022 after we, as the DMG board, had sent a draft statement to the members. This statement was a reaction to a very one-sided positioning from outside the DMG on the topic of natural gas fracking in Germany, to which we wanted to respond promptly. Our draft was initially reviewed by the 35 members of the extended board and advisory board and then made available to all members for comments. This resulted in a whole series of constructive suggestions for the document and predominantly approval from the members, but also a certain number of critical to negative voices. The latter led to a multi-day exchange of arguments and positions on our email discussion list, reflecting the professional spectrum of our members. As the initiators of the statement, the board members decided not to participate in this discussion, as it should be a free, unmoderated exchange in accordance with the good tradition of the list. During this time, we conferred with our sister societies from DVGeo, and thus the revised statement was eventually published as a joint paper by PalGes, DGG, and DMG and linked on all three websites.

I personally followed the debate with interest and in detail, and I regret that in the aftermath of the discussion, two people left the DMG in protest after decades of membership. Such departures diminish the expertise and range of opinions within the society.

For the future, the fundamental question arises as to whether the DMG or the DVGeo should issue statements on socially relevant topics and what the process for developing them should look like. In fact, such a statement is a novelty for the DMG. Regarding the first part of the question, it should be noted that a scientific society should focus on the presentation of scientific findings and avoid political directives. At the same time, it is clear that not every topic discussed in the political public sphere is subject to a taboo as a "political topic." This approach would be tantamount to a self-imposed insignificance of the professional societies. The significant societal relevance of a whole range of geoscientific topics not only gives us the opportunity to contribute constructively but also places the responsibility on us, by virtue of our expertise, to properly inform the public. Therefore, we would like to establish a procedure for developing such statements. The discussion on our list has offered a whole range of suggestions, such as topic-specific expert workshops, as a result of which such statements could be developed after open, detailed, professional, and multidisciplinary discussion and research. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to an online symposium by DVGeo on the topic "Mineral Raw Materials for Energy and Mobility Transition: Critical Research Areas," which will take place on May 26, 2023, and is organized by DMG member Dr. Max Frenzel (Geometallurgy and Economic Geology, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, HZDR). Take the opportunity to contribute constructively there, or feel free to organize a symposium on a current topic yourself!

Please continue to participate in our discussions, engage with the DMG, and take part in the scientific discourse, even tho democracy can sometimes be disappointing because the majority stubbornly refuses to share one's position. Do not leave our circle, but remain combative and, in case of doubt, side with Epicurus, who noted that in a scientific dispute, the loser gains more, to the extent that they learn something.

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Your

Horst Marschall