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?

http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Sides-Clashing-Environmental-Issues/dp/0073514519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352765732&sr=8-1&keywords=Taking+Sides+environmental+issues

http://www.amazon.com/Annual-Editions-Environment-12-13/dp/0073515612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352765807&sr=8-1&keywords=environment+12%2F13

So, how will we teach “Environmental Conservation” course ?

“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

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.

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”

Environmental Conservation and Science: - interaction between humans and nature

Joke or reality?

Mexican fisherman and american businessman

Theoretical (philosophical) principles on the background

René Descartes

1596 - 1650

Cartesianism: mind and physical body are independent

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO9HDvWt0dU

Episode from “Mindwalk” movie:

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 21st 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

1870 - 1954

1881 - 1955

1863 - 1945

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Édouard Louis Emmanuel Julien Le Roy

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky

New thoughts at the dawn of technical revolution: - mind is also physical and a force

Noosphere: nous (greek) = mind, sense, way of thinking

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

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.

« 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.”

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

“Biosphere of the 20th 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.”

Vladimir Vernadsky, “Scientific thought as a planetary phenomenon”, 1938

“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.”

“Few words about noosphere”, In: “Successes of the contemporary biology“, 1944, 18 (2), p. 113-120

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “The Phenomenon of Man”, 1938

“To harmonise objects in time and space, without presuming to determine the conditions that can rule their deepest being: to establish an experimental chain of succession in nature, not a union of “ontological” causality; to see, in other words, and not to explain – this, let it not be forgotten, is the sole aim of the present study.” “…’mechanical interaction’ in the definition of the partial centers of the universe given above is replaced by ‘consciousness’.” “…we may be sure that every time a richer and better organized structure will correspond to the more developed consciousness” “… we find the fundamental condition characteristic of primordial matter – the unity of plurality.” “Much more coherent and just as extensive as any preceding layer, it is really a new layer, ‘the thinking layer’, which , since its germination at the end of the Tertiary period, has spread over and above the world of plants and animals. In other words, outside and above the biosphere there is the ‘noosphere’.” “We saw geogenesis promoted to biogenesis, which turned out in the end to be nothing else than psychogenesis.”

Conclusion:

Philosophical category of noosphere in my opinion is the key element of possible solution to many environmental problems. It presents our consciousness and scientific knowledge as two main forces that changed and continue changing the planet. Our consciousness and scientific knowledge affect the most important elements of our society that can cause environmental improvement: education, policies and economic interests.

Recognizing noosphere is a challenge to our modern technocratic society