How do I teach Environmental Conservation? Presenter: Dr. Yuri Gorokhovich, Lehman College
Do we need science in Environmental Conservation course ? Things to consider: 1. How many majors take it? 2. What students will remember, “% of CO2 in atmosphere” or “climate is changing and there is an evidence for change such as decrease of ice in Arctic; this can cause a change in ocean currents circulation along continental margins; etc. ”? 3. Do we want students to remember information or learn how to search for it? 4. Do we want to make out of students “believers and followers” or “shakers and movers”? 5. What does it mean to teach science in “Environmental Conservation” course? a. Controversies in many issues; science is relatively new (e.g. climate science, genetic engineering, etc.) b. Can we make students remember in one course all soil types and principles of coastal geomorphology? c. Or we need to establish pre-requisites such as Introduction to Geology, Weather and Climate, Environmental Geology, Introduction to Biotechnology, Statistics, etc.? 6. What about Quantitative Reasoning instead of Statistics and Math?
Environmental Conservation Quantitative Reasoning Task: Family has two cars: old Jeep (10 mpg) and Sedan (25 mpg). They cover daily 100 miles to get to the work. Because of environmental ( a lot of pollution + concern for future generations in terms of non-renewable resources) and economical concerns (gas is getting more and more expensive) they decided to improve the efficiency of their cars. In the dealership they were offered two options: Option 1: Switch old Jeep to sedan with 25 mpg Option 2: Change sedan to hybrid with 50 mpg Which option is better? Why?
So, how will we teach “Environmental Conservation” course ? http://www.amazon.com/Annual-Editions-Environment-12- http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Sides-Clashing- 13/dp/0073515612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352765807& Environmental- sr=8-1&keywords=environment+12%2F13 Issues/dp/0073514519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid =1352765732&sr=8- 1&keywords=Taking+Sides+environmental+issues
Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature “Ye live not for yourselves; ye cannot live for yourselves ; a thousand fibers connect you with your fellow-men, and along those fibers, as along sympathetic threads, run your actions as causes, and return to you as effects.” Rev. Henry Melvill, Golden Lectures, 1855, p.454 Fritjof Capra: The Web of Life (excerpt): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLiRXM2oZ_U
Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature Things to consider: 1. Human history is based on various philosophies/religions (animism, monotheism, Marxism, etc.) that steers our actions, including development of new societies and technologies. 2. In modern societies the development of new technologies (including food production, transport, medicine, etc.) is considered as a main progress (economical determinism). This progress: a. stimulates the use of natural resources (conquering the nature); b. favors utilitarian point of view on natural resources (how useful it is?); c. distracts human mind from the vision of the natural system as a whole (e.g. a thought “which element of the system is profitable/problematic today?”); we lost/losing system thinking element in our science; science now is created to solve problems, not to guide the progress.
Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature Sample Problems / Questions: • Is global warming a catastrophe? • Do we have a population problem? • Is technology a threat to the environment? • Do ecosystem services have economic value? Modern environmental movement : Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring”, 1962. Governmental response : 1967 – US Air Quality Act; 1970 – Environmental Protection Agency was formed (Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, etc.); 1987 – Montreal Protocol (banned the use of chlorofluocarbons, CFCs); 1997 – the Kyoto Protocol (reduce carbon dioxide emissions); 2002 – The UN World Summit on Sustainable Development; 2005 – the UN Millenium Project Task Force on Environmental Sustainability released its report “Environment and Human Well - being: A Practical Strategy”
Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature Examples of environmental conservation topics : • Human Population • Biodiversity • Soils and food security • Fisheries • Freshwater resources • Energy resources • Air quality and pollution • Climate change • Sustainability • Chronic diseases • Consumerism and consumption
Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature The overall goal : Sustainable development, i.e. meet human needs now and provide for the future generations Obstacle to the goal achievement: Tragedy of commons. Garret Hardin. Science 13 December 1968: Vol. 162 no. 3859 pp. 1243-1248 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full “Benefit to one; shared damage among all”
Joke or reality? Mexican fisherman and american businessman
Theoretical (philosophical) principles on the background
Cartesianism: mind and physical body are independent René Descartes View of the world as separated into mechanical (physical) and other (non-physical) components. So-called dualism . Lead to mechanistic approach in science when the whole was broken into pieces and replicated or improved or invented. 1596 - 1650 Episode from “ Mindwalk ” movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO9HDvWt0dU
Environmental Conservation: bad news and good news, but more bad news. Can metaphysics help? Noosphere: myth, reality or metaphysics? Can we introduce students to metaphysics in 21 st century? metaphysics , the philosophical study whose object is to determine the real nature of things — to determine the meaning, structure, and principles of whatever is insofar as it is. Although this study is popularly conceived as referring to anything excessively subtle and highly theoretical and although it has been subjected to many criticisms, it is presented by metaphysicians as the most fundamental and most comprehensive of inquiries, inasmuch as it is concerned with reality as a whole.... (76 of 37,112 words). Encyclopædia Britannica
New thoughts at the dawn of technical revolution: - mind is also physical and a force Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Édouard Louis Emmanuel Julien Le Roy Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1870 - 1954 1863 - 1945 1881 - 1955
Noosphere: nous (greek) = mind, sense, way of thinking In 1922/23 Vernadsky was lecturing in Sorbonne (Paris, France) on his own developed scientific discipline “biogeochemistry” where he described connections between biosphere and litosphere. His lectures were attended by Le Roy and Chardin. In 1927 Le Roy (together with Chardin) in his lectures in Collège de France invented term “ noosphere ”, apparently influenced by Vernadsky. 1927: Le Roy, in “L'exigence idealiste et le fait d'evolution , P., 1927, p. 196” • some human sphere above animal biosphere and continuing of biosphere; • the sphere of reflection of free and conscious invention ; • the sphere of thought itself, the sphere of spirit . 1936: Vernadsky , in “On logic of natural science” • sphere that is the result of biosphere changed by human thought 1938: Chardin , in “The Phenomenon of Man” • the collective consciousness of human-beings , which emerges from the interaction of human minds Sources: Internet as the Factor of the Development of the Noosphere. http://www.ial.org.pl/oldmsh/zdjecia/sesja09_06labo/prezentacje/Zudilina.pdf Few words about the noosphere: http://vernadsky.lib.ru/e-texts/archive/noos.html
Édouard Louis Emmanuel Julien Le Roy, first time used « noosphere » in his book « L'exigence idealiste et le fait d'evolution, P., 1927, p. 196. » Les origines humaines et l'evolution de l'intelligence . Paris, 1928. p.47 « Deux grands faits, devant l'esquels tous les autres samblent presque svanouir, dominent dans l'histoire passe de la Terre: la vitalisation de la matire, puis l'hominisation de la vie. » “Two great facts, ahead of all others seem almost fainted, dominate the story moves from the Earth: vitalization of the matter and humanization of life.”
Vladimir Vernadsky , “Scientific thought as a planetary phenomenon”, 1938 “Biosphere of the 20 th century turns into noosphere, created primarily by the growth of the science, scientific comprehension and social work of humanity that is based on it.” “Problems more often do not fit into the framework of one, already developed scientific direction. We specialize not according to sciences but according to problems .” “Few words about noosphere ”, In: “ Successes of the contemporary biology “ , 1944, 18 (2), p. 113-120 “In reality, none of the living organisms on the Earth is in a free form. All organisms are connected in space and time – first of all by the food and breathing – with surrounding material- energetic environment .”
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