Getting to the Source

The environmental crisis has returned to public consciousness in a big way, with Al Gore and Senator John Kerry talking it up. The long history of environmental awareness in the U.S. has been punctuated by stunning essays from a variety of environmental writers, from Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson to E.O. Wilson and Daniel Quinn. The newly discounted Getting to the Source contains a rich sampling from the literature on environmental values. The book offers a collection of thirty essays by prominent environmental writers. The contributions have been selected for their relevance to the philosophical and ethical aspects of the subject, for their eloquence in expressing Earth values, and for their special insights and understandings of what we must do to create a sustainable future for humanity. Samples of the writings of environmental luminaries such as Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, E. O. Wilson, Wendell Berry, and Garrett Hardin are provided, along with contributions from many additional writers, offering a variety of perspectives. The issues discussed are critical in framing public policy and informing debate on future directions. Setting the stage for the essays to follow, environmental writer Bill McKibben offers this provocative opening statement: "The fate of our planet will be determined in the next few decades, through our technological, lifestyle, and population choices." McKibben's article provides an eloquent assessment of humanity's predicament and offers suggestions for how we might extricate ourselves from it. News reporter Dianne Dumanoski describes the state of our global environment and assesses the effectiveness of human actions to protect it, offering strong words of criticism for the environmental movement. After over thirty years of effort, a few things are better but many more are worse, and getting worse at an accelerating pace. "What went wrong?", she asks. Additional essays-on growth by Al Bartlett, extinction by E. O. Wilson, the peaking of world oil production by Kenneth Deffeyes, and the overall decimation of the environment at the hands of humans by Gene Marine-illustrate the depth of the difficulties we face. Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael, begins his essay with this provocative statement: "During your lifetime, the people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably on this planet--or they're not." He claims that the transition to sustainability, if it occurs will be a "new rennaissance," a shift of thinking the likes of which we have not seen since 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

Dr. McCluney’s work has involved a variety of disciplines. His B. A., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees were in physics, specializing in optics. While working toward his doctorate, McCluney began a lifelong study of the causes and remedies of humanity’s destruction of Earth’s ecosystems. He founded the University of Miami’s first student environmental organization and helped organize the University’s observance of the first Earth Day Teach-In, held on 22 April 1970. While at UM, he taught a semester-long adult education class on South Florida’s environmental problems.

An outcome of these experiences was the suspension of his physics studies for a year to work on a graduate assistantship at the University’s new Center for Urban and Environmental Studies, then headed by Carl McHenry. Working at CUES for the renowned ecologist, Art Marshall, McCluney edited a series of essays about the environmental problems of South Florida. The University’s Graduate Research Council agreed to underwrite the project, and the manuscript was published by the University of Miami Press in 1971 as THE ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION OF SOUTH FLORIDA. This book achieved a seventh printing in 1990, before going out of print in 1992. Copies are still available from used book sellers, including through Amazon.com.

Upon returning to his physics work, McCluney studied the light scattering properties of marine phytoplankton. Following receipt of his doctorate, he worked for three years as an optical oceanographer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, intermittently working with Jacques Cousteau on joint NASA/Cousteau projects in the Gulf of Mexico and Carribean Sea.

Dr. McCluney is a principal research scientist at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, a research institute of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he has worked since 1976. His first textbook, INTRODUCTION TO RADIOMETRY AND PHOTOMETRY, was published by Artech House in 1992 and is available through Amazon.com.

Over the years since 1976, Dr. McCluney has studied, written, and lectured widely on environmental topics, concentrating on the ethical and philosophical aspects of the subject. In the Fall of 2003 and the Spring of 2004 he taught a three-credit university course (philosophy, religion, and the environment) based on the two books he completed in late 2003: HUMANITY'S ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE and GETTING TO THE SOURCE.