鈥淐AN science make the world a better place?鈥� asks Science for the Earth (John Wiley & Sons, 拢6.99 pbk, ISBN 0 471 95284 2). It鈥檚 a big question. If you are a bit lazy when it comes to probing grand ideas about what science can achieve, these 16 essays provide the stimulant. As Stephen Hawking says in his introduction, our duty is to educate ourselves 鈥渁bout both the opportunities and dangers that science offers鈥�.
The authors are a mixture of more and less familiar names associated with environmental issues. You will find the American geneticist David Suzuki, who critically examines a selection of our mind-sets or what he calls our 鈥渟acred truths鈥�, including our belief that growth is the criterion of progress. From a very different background in Kenya, Wangari Maathai writes from the grass or rather 鈥渢ree鈥� roots. Her training as a biologist and her life experience in Africa has led to her playing a key part in establishing and developing the Green Belt Movement. This involved around 50 000 women planting and maintaining 10 million trees as part of the battle against soil erosion and deforestation.
From a quite different point of view, the geologist Nigel Woodcock takes his colleagues to task for colluding in environmental degradation. He calls it 鈥渢he silent voice of geology鈥�, which claims that 鈥渢he impacts of using fossil fuels and other geological resources are beyond its control and therefore outside its concern鈥�. The book is recommended reading for students and others.
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