Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Preserve, a huge interior water conservation area, to help both the Ever-
glades and the development of Florida's west coast. “It was a heady begin-
ning to a career,” Socolow says. “I had found a way to combine my social
concern and my science, and I didn't look back.” Along with that discov-
ery, there was another major development in his life that year: the birth of
his first child, David. His second child, Seth, was born 2 years later.
Socolow's personal awakening to the environment that summer of 1969
coincided with a larger burst of national awareness of the Earth's fragility.
We had seen the first photos of our planet taken from space. Environmen-
tal issues commanded the public's attention. President Nixon created the
Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
At Yale, Socolow's perspective had shifted. “Look at this environmental
science—why didn't I learn it when I was learning physics? Why aren't
there examples that convey environmental reality in the physics text-
books?” he wondered.“And, so, why not provide a supplementary text and
try to bring environmental problem solving into introductory science
courses?” With John Harte, he proposed the volume that was published 2
years later as
Patient Earth.
The double meaning of the title was intentional: the Earth is patient with
us, who mistreat it; and it is a patient, deserving of our care.The topic was
a compilation of case studies representative of environmental conflicts or
collisions of values that its authors thought were likely to recur for many
years. Topics included urban blight, population control, resource manage-
ment, conservation, the ecological impact of the military, and alternative
uses of land. The topic explored philosophical and moral aspects of envi-
ronmental issues as well as scientific ones, and it promoted social activism
by individuals and citizen groups as well as action by legislatures and courts
to remedy the problems described.
In 1969-70, in addition to editing
Patient Earth,
Socolow learned about
the environmental research conducted by faculty in other Yale depart-
ments—biologists, geologists, economists, and professors in the School of
Forestry. For the academic year 1970-71, Socolow had a Yale University
Fellowship, a kind of sabbatical. He pondered his next career move and
considered offers of research positions at science policy centers newly cre-
ated at Harvard and Cornell. Ultimately, Marvin Goldberger, the Princeton
professor who first awakened Socolow's interest in the environment
through the Everglades study, persuaded him to join Princeton's faculty, as
