Bringing the Biosphere Home: Learning to Perceive Global Environmental Change

This book shows how to make global environmental problems more tangible, so that theybecome an integral part of everyday awareness. At its core is a simple assumption: that the best wayto learn to perceive the biosphere is to pay close attention to our immediate surroundings. Throughlocal natural history observations, imagination and memory, and spiritual contemplation, we developa place-based environmental view that can be expanded to encompass the biosphere.Interweaving globalchange science, personal narrative, and commentary on a wide range of scientific and literary works,the book explores both the ecological and existential aspects of urgent issues such as the loss ofbiodiversity and global climate change. Written in a warm, engaging style, Bringing the BiosphereHome considers the perceptual connections between the local and global, how the ecological news ofthe community is of interest to the world, and how the global movement of people, species, andweather systems affects the local community. It shows how global environmental change can become theprovince of numerous educational initiatives -- from the classroom to the Internet, from communityforums to international conferences, from the backyard to the biosphere. It explains importantscientific concepts in clear, nontechnical language and provides dozens of ideas for learning how topractice biospheric perception.