Learning Skills - Environmental Science - page 4

test the conclusions? Are there other, more reasonable
conclusions?
Try to identify and assess the assumptions and beliefs
of those presenting evidence and drawing conclusions.
What is their expertise in this area? Do they have any
unstated assumptions, beliefs, biases, or values? Do
they have a personal agenda? Can they benefit finan-
cially or politically from acceptance of their evidence
and conclusions? Would investigators with different
basic assumptions or beliefs take the same data and
come to different conclusions?
Do the arguments used involve logical fallacies or de-
bating tricks? Here are six examples. First, attack the
presenter of an argument rather than the argument it-
self. Second, appeal to emotion rather than facts and
logic. Third, claim that if one piece of evidence or one
conclusion is false, then all other pieces of evidence
and conclusions are false. Fourth, say that a conclusion
is false because it has not been scientifically proven
(scientists can never prove anything absolutely, but
they can establish degrees of reliability, as discussed
on p. 22). Fifth, inject irrelevant or misleading infor-
mation to divert attention from important points.
Sixth, present only either/or alternatives when a num-
ber of options may exist.
Become a seeker of wisdom, not a vessel of informa-
tion. Develop a written list of principles, concepts,
and rules to serve as guidelines in evaluating evi-
dence and claims and making decisions. Continually
evaluate and modify this list based on your experi-
ences. Many people believe that the main goal of edu-
cation is to learn as much as you can by concentrating
on gathering more and more information—much of it
useless or misleading. I believe that the primary goal
is to know as little as possible. That is, you need to
learn how to sift through mountains of facts and ideas
to find the few nuggets of wisdom that are the most use-
ful in understanding the world and in making deci-
sions. This takes a firm commitment to learning how
to think logically and critically, and continually flush-
ing less valuable and thought-clogging information
from your mind. This topic is full of facts and num-
bers, but they are useful only to the extent that they
lead to an understanding of key and useful ideas, sci-
entific laws, concepts, principles, and connections.
The major goals of the study of environmental science
are to find out how nature works and sustains itself
( environmental wisdom ) and to use principles of environ-
mental wisdom to help make human societies and
economies more sustainable and thus more beneficial
and enjoyable. As Sandra Carey put it, “Never mis-

take knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a
living; the other helps you make a life.”

Trade-Offs
There are no simple answers to the environmental
problems we face.
There are always trade-offs involved in making and im-
plementing environmental decisions. My challenge is
to give a fair and balanced presentation of different
viewpoints, advantages and disadvantages of various
technologies and proposed solutions to environmental
problems, and good and bad news about environmen-
tal problems without injecting personal bias.
Studying a subject as important as environmental
science and ending up with no conclusions, opinions,
and beliefs means that both teacher and student have
failed. However, such conclusions should be based on
using critical thinking to evaluate different ideas and
understand the trade-offs involved.

Help Me Improve This Topic
I welcome your help in improving this topic.
Researching and writing a topic that covers and con-
nects ideas in such a wide variety of disciplines is a
challenging and exciting task. Almost every day I learn
about some new connection in nature.
In a book this complex, some errors are bound to
arise—typographical mistakes that slip through or
statements that you might question based on your
knowledge and research. My goal is to provide an in-
teresting, accurate, balanced, and challenging topic
that furthers your understanding of this vital subject. I
have also attempted to balance the arguments offered
on various sides of key environmental issues.
I invite you to contact me and point out any re-
maining bias, correct any errors you find, and suggest
ways to improve this topic. Over decades of teaching,
some of my best teachers have been students taking my
classes and reading my textbooks. Please e-mail your
suggestions to me at
[e-mail]
Now start your journey into this fascinating and
important study of how the earth works and how we
can leave the planet in at least as good a shape as we
found it. Have fun.

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never
fail you.
F RANK L LOYD W RIGHT