In this volume C.A. (Chet) Bowers, whose pioneering work on education and environmental and sustainability issues is widely recognized and respected around the world, brings together a carefully curated selection of his seminal work on the ideological, cultural, and linguistic roots of the ecological crisis; misconceptions underlying modern consciousness; the cultural commons; a critique of technology; and educational reforms to address these pressing concerns.
In the World Library of Educationalists series, international scholars themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and/practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field, as well as the development of the field itself. Contributors to the series include: Michael Apple, James A. Banks, Joel Spring, William F. Pinar, Stephen J. Ball, Elliot Eisner, Howard Gardner, John Gilbert, Ivor F. Goodson, and Peter Jarvis.
C. A. (Chet) Bowers taught at the University of Oregon and Portland State University, and was granted emeritus status in 1998. In retirement he was still active professionally, writing and giving invited talks at international conferences that focused on educational reforms promoting a more sustainable future. He was invited to speak at 42 universities in the United States, including Harvard and Stanford Universities. Invitations to speak at 41 universities in other parts of the world included the University of Trondheim, University of Zagreb, University of Queensland, University of Cape Town, Rhodes University, York University, University of Toronto, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Trinity College (Dublin), Universidad Catolica Boliviana San Pablo, Swiss Foundation for Environmental Education, Seoul National University, and National Chung Hising University (Taiwan). Notably, he was asked by Vice-President Al Gore to be the featured speaker at a dinner/seminar (held at the Gore residence) on the influence of metaphorical thinking on environmental and technology policies. He was one of six Western scholars, along with the former Chinese Minister of Culture, invited to speak at the International Congress on Culture and Humanity in the New Millennium, sponsored by the government of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Bowers gave the John Dewey Memorial Lecture in 1982, and in 1991 was voted the most outstanding environmental faculty at the University of Oregon. In June 2016 he gave an invited talk at a major international conference on educational reforms that address the ecological crisis.
