WHY WE LIKE IT: THE ENVIRONMENT is one of those books you read with the highlighter pen held at the ready. This is an extensive journey through the mind and thoughts of an eminent biologist, who starts off by telling us: "This collection of essays is dedicated to the young students who will be tomorrow's professional leaders. My hope is that having seen the enormity, complexity, and social implications of environmental degradation, these youngsters and their parents will insist that colleges educate students with regard to these serious matters, not train them in the cosmetic arts."
Does a nobler sentiment exist?
In one hundred essays spanning well more than 400 pages, Wallace
explores the environment from a number of vantage points, some of which may seem
tangential to a biologist's view. But as he repeatedly points out, nothing is disconnected
from anything else when considering environmental impact. The world is basically a sealed
room, a space capsule, and what happens at one end of the capsule affects folks at the
other end of the capsule.
I worked my way through the hundred essays determined to take advantage
of Wallace's understanding of genetics and biology (he is a former professor of both
disciplines.) Each essay is a fascinating eye opener; each is filled with ideas and
assertions that raise as many questions as are put to rest. Each essay prompted me to
spend more time in exploration. And though Wallace spent fifty years studying and teaching
genetics and biology, he's right, I think, when he says science is not enough.
On the other hand, let's not ignore it, either.
AUTHOR'S COMMENTS: The essays that make up THE ENVIRONMENT and its sequel, THE ENVIRONMENT 2, although intended to be individually interesting and instructive, constitute an argument for the creation of an intensive and comprehensive multi-instructional course on environmental literacy in every college and university. The nature of the world of which we are stewards must become more important to students, their parents, and their instructors than merely learning a trade by which to eke out a comfortable existence.
READERS SAY... Following Bruce Wallace as he works his
way through the labyrinth of issues that surround our continued existence on this planet
is rather like accompanying an expert spelunker through his favorite cave. His is the only
light, and wherever he glances, its beam brings something strange and unexpected into view
or plunges into a chasm at your feet where you expected to see a solid floor. An
unforgettable journey of glimpses and echoes of a life in science.
---Daniel Quinn, author of ISHMAEL THE ENVIRONMENT is a collection of
thoughts of a wise, humane, provocative, and broadly knowledgeable scientist.
---John A. Moore, author of SCIENCE AS A WAY OF KNOWING These essays are the fruits of years of
careful thought by a distinguished biologist about the web of social, ethical, technical,
political, economic, and cultural strands by which environmental issues are woven into the
fabric of human society.
---Richard K. Bamback, R.C. Moore Medallist In these essays, addressed to concerned
students and their parents, Wallace emphasizes that colleges and universities have yet to
respond effectively to the altered instruction that is needed for today's students if they
are to be effective, knowledgeable leaders 20-40 years hence.
---Paul R. Ehrlich, author of THE POPULATION BOMB
READ
AN EXCERPT:
Men of the Jewish faith commonly wear small skull caps, yarmulkes, thus separating themselves from heaven. This cap is seen so often, especially in the academic circles within which I move, that it scarcely invites comment.
Why, if my avowed concern is instruction in environmental literacy, do I
spend time discussing religious or cultural trappings? Because, if human beings are to be
kind to and protect the natural world---the environment---they must first be kind to and
protect one another. Otherwise, the earth and its limited resources are conscripted--as in
the name of God, itself--into supporting one, the other, or both sides of each violent
conflict. Our fellow organisms, especially large mammals, cannot withstand the stress that
our wars and preparations for war impose upon them.
Samuel C. Heilman,
writing for the Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in January 1996
specified how orthodoxy is converted into fundamentalism. His words apply to both Muslims
and Jews: Here, outlined in
capsule form, is one of the major threats to environmentalism. Fundamentalism of any sort
tends to undermine any understanding that an exploding population of human beings
(coupled, that is, with the desire of all persons to live in the style that modern
technology allows) threatens the natural world, our home. Problems that are associated
with the inability of finite earth to accommodate the hopes and aspirations of all people
will be solved (if, indeed, they are solved) only through empathy,understanding,
collaboration, and compromise. back
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