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We live in a society which has--for all intents and purposes--dispensed with learning about its past.
The importance of history in any education.
‘History,’ a harmless history, where everything unexpected in its own time is chronicled on the page as inevitable. The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic.”
Phillip Roth
PHILIP ROTH E-MAILS ON TRUMP, The New Yorker, January 30, 2017, on-line.
What may we learn from history ?
“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana
The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905, page. 284.
“Everything is a blank. We have no history.”
Gore Vidal
Today we live in anomalous times as the accumulation of information grows exponentially and the pace of change quickens, history becomes even more important. What must be learned today is how to distinguish among distracting disinformation and jumbled information the pertinent knowledge not merely for our collective survival, but for us all to thrive with wisdom. That is because it is so easy to forget the precedents that have lead us to where we are today amidst the explosion of data.
History is neither anecdotal case studies, nor is it thematic background to a current idea. History instead is the comparison of conflicting rates of adjustment and change wherein human populations and resources are brought to bear on momentous matters such as the ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the expansion and contraction of the Mongol Empire or the exhaustion of the Midwestern soil during the Dust Bowl. Gore Vidal suggests that we live in the United States of Amnesia because we have ceased to embed information about our past into our daily knowlege of current events.
Historical analysis is a comparative and comprehensive part of a diachronic understanding of the way events take place everyday.
- Comparative in that history contrasts the long term with shorter term flow of events to distinguish the underlying from the immediate factors at play in important occurrences.
- Comprehensive in that history describes the contingent ties among population, ethnicity, economics, social, and political conditions over time in specific places.
The Greeks believed the discipline was a story inspired by the muse Clio, while the Chinese knew that history was a critical dynastic charting out of the will of heaven in human affairs. So we today must teach historical methods to nourish the threads that bind our traditions.
Environmental history lays a basic foundation for understanding the antecedents, the origins and the development of our ongoing environmental crisis.
What is environmental history?
Ernst Mayr, Alexander Agassiz Chair at Harvard's Natural History Museum, has argued that the great contribution of the biological sciences to knowledge is that they add an historical dimension to physical and chemical processes (natural philosophy). This suggests that biological evidence, stemming from Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection, introduces an historical component to physical science. The historical quality of biological science identifies correctly where the past confines the choices of the present due to chance events or stochastic patterns of development.
Without an historical grounding in natural history, geography and environmental policies, people are hampered in solving social and ecological problems because their solutions lack depth and connectivity to the precedents that shape current events.
The tragic events of the past years and September 11, 2001, reveal even more starkly the importance of teaching history today, or else we will ignore the lessons of our ancestors who faced equally imperative decisions.
Without history we are like a person with amnesia, worse a person doomed to short term memory loss at a time when all our identity–and maybe even survival–is riding on retaining our capacity for long term memory.
Joseph Siry, Tuesday, October 2, 2001
Vermeer, the artist, gave us a new way of seeing the order of the world.
Hot new sites:
Brain areas and their origins and genetic activation sites,
Charles Darwin here and Darwin on line,
The interactive maps of the North America,
The Maven's words of the Day!
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?action=dly__alph_arc&fn=word
You Tube
New Material -- 2004-2014
Old index 
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
A
basic survival kit for my courses
A
State of the Union analysis of differences. (worldviews)
ABCs of Diversity
Adaptive Management
Additional new web sites at this URL.
Advanced vocabulary for technology
and science
Advocacy the true costs and benefits
of pollution-remission.
Alphabetical listing of pages on this site.
An island planning map
antonyms
Archie Carr, A
Florida Naturalist
Argument, One Long, Ernst
Mayr
Assimilative capacity, as opposed to carrying capacity
Attending class -- its value to you
Back
Bay, Boston
Beaches
Bias
Biodynamic aspects of ecology.
Biological diversity explained in detail.
biological game of life is a very different
view of nature. Because the biotic game is how and where existing life
affects the future conditions of living communities.
Biology: changes in worldview concerning
life sciences.
Biology, what is it?
Biophysical reality described
Body,
or corpus of knowledge, description
Boston's Back Bay
Bronowski, Jacob; Science
and Human Values, notes
Buffers, what are vegetational screens?
Bush Administration, Robert F.
Kennedy's critique of
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
California Water Case: The Klamath River
Carbon dioxide as a critical control element
Carbon, the central importance of
Caribbean a summary.
Caribbean History -- Nature, Place and
Peoples (guide)
Caribbean history, definition
of the region
Caribbean Environomental History, study
guide
Caribbean, contemporary voices speaking
about the Antilles
Carrying capacity compared to assimilative
capacity
Carrying capacity
Carter, President's comments on the Nobel
Peace Prize
Carter's comments compared to Governor Whitman, on the environment
China
Civilization and the Biosphere, Vaclav
Smil's ideas
Clean-up Costs, the hidden expenses
of ecological services
Climate change, a guide to pages related to
global warming, the issue examined and discussed.
Columbian Exchange, themes
Comedians, The;
a novel by Graham Greene set in Haiti
Compass and the Gyroscope, Kai
Lee
Complexity of nature and the biosphere
Concepts explained and tied to essays
Cosmic architecture.
Creation as a story of time
Crimes Against Nature, Robert
F. Kennedy Jr.
Criteria, defining
Critical thinking described
Crosby, Alfred, The Columbian
Exchange, themes and thesis
Culture and Imperialism, Eric
Said, defines culture
Cybersex
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Darwin the person, Charles
Robert Darwin
Darwinian Evolution or as a revolution
in ideas about life's origins or development
Darwinian Revolution 1859-1871
Darwinian synthesis
Define Global Warming (climate
change)
Demographic index to related information on
population.
Design matters of, social constraints
Design, ecological principles of
What is the purpose of a design process; what is it and how is it used?
Design,
dimensions of
Design, humans and dumb designs
Design, what to
look for in
Determining the verity, or veracity
of knowledge.
Dialogue in technology and techniques
Dimensions,
unseen
Dimensions,
the fifth and fourth dimensions
Dimensions,
Hyperspace
Distinguishing ideas from images.
Diversity, Edward
O. Wilson on biological diversity
as a measure of wealth.
Double Helix, The: James
Watson's book.
Dozen levels of material existence's
organization
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
E. O. Wilson, The
Future of Life
Ecolate living, what it means
Ecological biotic community: examined and
defined
Ecological Design, elements
of
Ecological integrity
Ecological problems, what are they?
Ecological Problem Solving
Ecological subjects connected at this location;
three laws
Ecological Thought, development of 1850-1975
Ecological values and landscape
Ecological
versus economic values
Ecology
Ecology used as a model of relations among
integrated parts : Carolyn
Merchant's idea of ecological revolutions as they impact and
are influenced by a set of biological, economic, social, political and
institutional relationships.
Ecology, definition of criteria
for thinking
Edge of the Sea, an essay on Rachel
Carson's book
Einstein's importance
Electromagnetic Spectrum
End of Nature, Bill
McKibben
Energy
an ecological approach
Environmental Planning criteria
Evaluating designs; What to
look for in a good design?
Evidence, most recent, on global
warming
Exchange is a node for other important links
on this site.
Externality defined
Externality, explaining true cost accounting
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Feedback is defined and examples of how it
is used in my classes, explained.
Five Scientific Revolutions
Fla. Congressional delegation list for 2004
Florida Land types
Florida Trees listed; Florida's trees and
their varieties are discussed.
Forests and the importance of forestry for the
health of the world, human economies and the ecosystem is explored.
Forests in the Antilles
Free
writing,
what is it?
French Revolution, consequences of
Galbreath
Galileo
Game theory, here is the place to consider
the bio-game
Gardening, steps to
Gardens, importance of
Gell-Mann,
Murray, discoverer of quarks
Genetics the history of in brief
Genetics, topics on (index
of)
Global ecology, lessons
of
Global population data compared
Global security and ecology,
Kennedy and Dodds conclusions
Global Warming defined
Government agencies that have an environmental
regulatory, scientific research, or a biological monitoring role to
play are listed here at Government on the
web guide, GovOnLine
Grade Scale, the used to Criteria
interpret grades
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Haitian
Revolution, 2004; 200th retrospective
Health of places, the
Caribbean (Mintz) and Mexico
(Paz; colonialism)
Human Ecology
Human Genome and DNA research
Hurricanes,
size of
Hydraulic society, water and its meaning
for civilization.
Ideal
versus real -- comparisons
Images and ideas.
India
Intelligence is described as a variety of educated
responses to the world, people, places and things around you.
Interviewing people
Island Character, suggestions for planning a barrier island
Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream, course index
Kaku,
Michio: author of Hyperspace
Kincaid, Jamaica author
of A Small Place -- Antigua
Knowledge, a corpus or body of concepts
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Labyrinth
of Solitude, by Octavio Paz (index)
Land and Technology, Arnold
Pacey on Meaning
Land, what is it?
Landscape as altered by tools and
technology.
Latin American perspective on
USA & modernity, O. Paz themes
Life Sciences
Living Downstream, an ecologist looks
at cancer
Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis
Map,
for planning a barrier island development
Marshes of the
Ocean Shore, digest of key ideas.
matrix is a site that explains what
a table or matrix is by demonstrating the use of a categorical
framework within which to express your ideas comprehensively.
McHarg, Ian, Design
with Nature
McHarg, his Book on Design with Nature
Measure, the veracity of statements
is tested by these criteria
Mercury and ecological accounting
in natural systems
Message, staying focused on a point
in advocating a position.
Methodology
Methods: these are two related pages that
discuss, examine in some detail and diagram the means we
have from distinguishing facts from opinions. See also certainty, science,
and vocabulary.
Model here is a schematic diagram of ecological
relationships in any place.
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Nature, Complexity
of and the biological realm or sphere of life
Nature related ideas (index)
Nature's
structural organization
Ockham's Razor, the importance of avoiding
pleonasm in your writing!
On the Origin of Species, by Charles
Darwin; notes on critical passages
One Long Argument, by Ernst
Mayr, Mayr's diagram of Darwin's ideas
opposing words, antonyms --
a list of some!
pattern.
This is a site that discusses the underlying and more obvious patterns
to look for in the world we inhabit.
Paz, Octavio, Labyrinth
of Solitude, Mexican author: Contents
of book
Paz, Octavio, summary and interpretation
Paz, themes
Pictures
on the site
Places, meaning of
pleonasm in writing -- Ockham's Razor and the importance of avoiding wordiness.
Population compared globally
Population momentum, discussed here
in terms of what the ideas were about growth in 1966, remarks made in
a Senate hearing on global population problems and some fanciful ideas
on how to pay for growth.
Population Paradox: the
demographic divide (NOVA)
Problem
Solving
Pyramid of science as a way of knowing
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Real
versus ideal in knowing reality (rationality)
Regions, the Caribbean
Research central
Research Guide to other web sites for useful information
Research sources you can rely on
Research; reliable sources on on the Internet
for you to use.
Revolutions in
Rules of ecology; simply stated
B,
C, D,
E, F, G, L-M,
N, P, R, S,
T, U , W
Sacred
Nature
Scale and levels of organization
in nature.
Science represented as a pyramid of
certainty
Science defined as how
we know things
Science Index
Science is defined and analyzed here as one
of many linked pages.
Science related topic index
Science texts, writing about the contemporary
worldview
Science,
Revolutions in and ideas or Five Scientific
Revolutions
Sea level changes and climate
Sex
Chromosomes and the importance of X and XY chromosomes
site analysis of any landscape
Site selection criteria for determining optimal
design
solving problems
Space and density of areas, and occupancy limitations
Stanislaus River, Fight for the
study guide -- Caribbean
Environomental History,
study guide, History of Technology
Survival
kit for all classes.
Symbiotic Planet, by Lynn Margulis
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Technology
as politics
Technology is defined
here as the application of knowledge to human affairs.
Technology is discussed and examined as the means
we have to solve the apparent difference between an existing and a desired
state of affairs or conditions.
Technology, laws of; by Melvin Kranzberg
Temperature is rising on the Earth's
surface
Thames Barrier Project against sea flooding
in London
Thames Watershed
Thamus,
story of
The Double Helix, by James Watson, notes
The Genetics related information index
The Great Thirst, Norris
Hundley, Jr.
Three
aspects of every ecological problem
Tools are the items or utensils, devices or implements
used to identify and understand the power of technology and the techniques
we use.
Tools
have three facets and may other names; some synonyms for tools are:
apparatus, devices, gadgets, implements, instruments, machinery, materials,
robots.
Twentieth Century contemporary culture.
Two million years of climate & Global Warming
data
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
Uncertainty in science, a valued role
to play in formulating knowledge.
USA map of the country from a satellite image
(mosaic) taken in 1990 from the USGS.
Value defined
Value table to compare competing uses
Values and landscape in an Ecological
and an extended economic sense
values with respect to land
Verity, or veracity, Determining the
reliability of information.
Vocabulary, advanced terminology defined
Water & hydraulics, their role in sustaining
life & civilization.
What do we look for in design?
What is biology?
What is a commons?
What is value?
When writing, there are 4 things to
always consider
Governor Whitman compared, on the environment to Carter's ideas
Wilderness
Words; the importance of accurate expression and
the appropriate choice of terms is examined here. Eight
of the most important terms for my courses are defined here, as well as
on other pages.
Wordsworth,
William
Worldview is discussed and analyzed at some
length and a detailed discussion of ignorance and certainty
as these ideas relate to knowledge, use of evidence and specific lessons
is at this site.
Worldview, and as changes
in the Life Sciences, (1859-1959)
Worldviews are simply described here as
ways of knowing our mistakes.
Writing about Science as a means to measure
your critical thinking.
Writing Criteria: listed as a form
for your to review
Writing: papers
writing, the importance of avoiding wordiness--Ockham's Razor
X-chromosome
Zeitgeist, or Spirit of the times
B, C, D, E, F, G, L-M, N, P, R, S, T, U , W
