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Why Environmental Studies? With historically unprecedented power, we have become chief stewards of the Earth. How can we perform this task well? How can we ensure that future generations will be able to continue good stewardship? Go The Design and Use of this Book The biologist Edward O. Wilson remarks, “If I learned anything in my fortyone years of teaching, it is that the best way to transmit knowledge and stimulate thought is to teach from the top down.” In other words, begin by posing large problems, questions, and concepts of the highest significance and then later, once attention and curiosity are secured, “peel off layers of causation as currently understood . . . in growing technical and philosophically disputatious detail.” Wilson warns, “Do not teach from the bottom up, e.g., ‘first we’ll learn some of this, and some of that, and we’ll combine the knowledge later to build a picture of something larger.’” He concludes that in teaching and learning a large subject, this means to “put it up whole as quickly as possible, show why it matters . . . and will for a lifetime, then dissect to get as close to the bottom as possible.” Go
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About the Book
