I was recently asked if there are supplemental resources I recommend to students wishing to familiarize themselves with the historical and geographic contexts of environmental affairs. I do indeed have several recommendations, many of which I use myself.
If you need to bone up on the basics of history and geography, I recommend Geoffrey Barraclough’s The Times Atlas of World History (1993), as well as Patrick O’Brien’s Concise Atlas of World History (2002). The combination of text, charts, graphs and maps is dangerously absorbing.
There are also two atlases of environmental affairs I recommend. The first is by Joni Seager, New State of the Earth Atlas (1995). The second is John Allen’s Student Atlas of Environmental Issues (1997).
In terms of understanding nature — what it is and how it works — I suggest you look to physical geography. As a student, I found Robert Christopherson’s Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography (2008) to be one of the better texts. To see how environmental scientists link up physical geography with today’s pressing environmental issues, look to William Cunningham and Mary Ann Cunningham’s Environmental Science: A Global Concern (2008).
There are several great online resource. The Encyclopedia of the Earth, http://www.eoearth.org is a comprehensive encyclopedia of environmental studies. PhysicalGeography.net is a wonderful website with many illustrations and maps, at http://www.physicalgeography.net/home.html. I also use Google Earth with increasing frequency: http://earth.google.com/.
A central concept in environmental studies is that of ecology. A superb introduction to ecological principles applied to both human and non-human organisms is offered by Gerald Marten in Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development (2001). You can also find this book on the web at http://www.gerrymarten.com/human-ecology/tableofcontents.html.
If you are interested in the intellectual history of ecology — its development as both an explanatory science and a moral-political sensibility — then there is no better text than Donald Worster’s Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas (1994).
In terms of study aids, I offer a few that are available for download at Glow (http://williams.edu/glow/). These include pdfs on Annotating Text (its better than underlining) as well as Study and Testing Tips.
Finally, for a comprehensive source of information and tutoring, please look into Peer Tutoring, a programme of Academic Resources at Williams College, http://www.williams.edu/resources/acad_resources/peer_tutoring/.
These books, websites and study aids are not the only resources out there, but I hope they are of help to you as you search for those that best meet your needs. If you come across others you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment to the post.
Cheers, Bill
