Gus Speth's (2005a) <http://www.yale.edu/forestry/bios/speth.html>
authoritative "Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the
Global Environment," has been previously discussed on the PHYSOC list
[e.g., Hobson (2004), Hake (2004)].
In scanning the 2005 printing of that book (which contains a new
afterword on climate change), I came across Speth's quote of Mooney &
Ehrlich (1997) that speaks to the failure of science education at all
levels to address the importance of natural ecosystems (my CAPS):
". . . ignorance of the services that natural ecosystems supply to
the human enterprise - of the reasons that the economy is a wholly
owned subsidiary of those systems - AMOUNTS TO A CONDEMNATION OF
SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND THE PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA."
For a recent report on the Bush administration's indifference to
environmental problems see Linden (2006). But does the educationally
deprived electorate care?
"Climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today -
more serious than the threat of terrorism."
David King, chief scientist, United Kingdom
Daily, G.C., S. Alexander, P.R. Ehrlich, L. Goulder, J. Lubchenco,
P.A. Matson, H.A. Mooney, S. Postel, S.H. Schneider, D. Tilman, &
G.M. Woodwell. undated. "ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: Benefits Supplied to
Human Societies by Natural Ecosystems," online at
<http://www.wms.org/biod/value/EcosystemServices.html>. It is stated
that much of the information in this report is derived from Daley
(1997a).
Speth, J.G. 2005b. "The Heart of the Matter," Environment: Yale
magazine, December; online at
<http://www.yale.edu/forestry/about/heart_of_the_matter.html>.". .
.Speth writes: "environmental management is the new business of
bringing our human enterprise into harmony with the natural world of
which we are a part. . . . it's the most important thing in the
world."