发表于2024-11-13
Miller pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2024
How I Became Involved In 1966, I heard a scientist
give a lecture on the problems of overpopulation and
environmental abuse. Afterward, I went to him and
said, "If even a fraction of what you have said is true, I
will feel ethically obligated to give up my research on
the corrosion of metals and devote the rest of my life to
research and education on environmental problems
and solutions. Frankly, I don't want to believe a word
you have said, and I'm going into the literature to try to
prove that your statements are either untrue or grossly
distorted."
After six months of study, I was convinced of the
seriousness of these problems. Since then, I have been
studying, teaching, and writing about them. This book
summarizes what I have learned in almost three de-
cades of trying to ufiderstand environmental princi-
ples, problems, connections, and solutions.
My Philosophy of Education I agree with Nor-
man Cousin's statement: "The first aim of education
should not be to prepare young people for careers, but
to enable them to develop a respect for life." In our
lifelong pursuit of knowledge, I believe we should do
three things. The first is to question everything and
everybody, as any good scientist does. Second, each of
us should develop a list of principles, concepts, and
rules to be used as guidelines in making decisions, and
to continually evaluate and modify this list as a result
of experience. This is based on my belief that the pur-
pose of our lifelong pursuit of education is to learn
how to sift through mountains of facts and ideas to
find the few that are most useful and worth knowing.
We need an earth-wisdom revolution, not an information
revolution.
Third, I believe in interacting with what I read. I
do this by marking key sentences and paragraphs with
a highlighter or pen. I put an asterisk in the margin
next to something I think is important, and double as-
terisks next to something that I think is especially im-
portant. I write comments in the margins, such as Beau-
tiful, Confusing, Bull, or Wrong. I fold down the top
corner of pages with highlighted passages and the top
and bottom corners of especially important pages.
This way, I can flip through a book and quickly review
the key passages. I urge
with this book.
you to interact in such ways
Key Features This book is designed to be used in ii
troductory courses on environmental science. It trea
environmental science as an interdisciplinary stud
combining ideas and information from natural sc
ences (such as biology, chemistry, and geology) an
social sciences (such as economics, politics, and ethic
to present a general idea of how nature works an
how things are interconnected. It is a study of conne~
tions in nature.
After major environmental problems are di~
cussed, various solutions to them proposed by a var
ety of scientists, environmental activists, and analysl
are given. A range of possible solutions--some of ther
highly controversial--is provided to encourage you t
think critically and make up your own mind.
Each chapter begins with a brief Earth Story, a cas
study designed to capture interest and set the stage fc
the material that follows. In addition to these 19 cas
studies, 53 other case studies are found throughout th
book; they provide a more detailed look at specific er
vironmental problems and their possible solutiom
Sixteen Guest Essays (five of them new) present an ir
dividual researcher's or activist's point of view, whic
are then evaluated by two critical thinking question~
In this book I use scientific laws, principles, mo~
els, and concepts to help us understand both enviror
mental and resource problems and their possible sok
tions, and how these concepts, problems, and solution
are connected. I have introduced only those concepi
and principles necessary for understanding the mate1
ial in this book, and have tried to present them simpl
but accurately. The key principles and concepts used i:
this textbook are summarized inside the back cover.
My aim is to provide a readable and accurate ir
troduction to environmental science without the us
of mathematics or complex scientific information. T
help ensure that the material is accurate and up-tc
date, I have consulted more than 10,000 researcl
soffrces in the professional literature. In writing thi
book, I have also benefited from the more than 200 e~
perts and teachers who have provided detailed rc
views of the editions of this and my other four book
in this field (see list on pp. ix-x).
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Miller pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2024