Who were E.O. Wilson’s mentors?
When Big Think asked world famous Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson about what political decision-makers should now about the environment, the conservationist hero makes an important distinction between what he calls the “living environment,” that is, the sum total of life on earth, and the “physical environment,” or the air, water, and earth systems that sustain life. Dr. Wilson warns that if we focus only on the physical environment–such as cleaning up water supplies and restructuring the use of non-renewable resources–without focusing on the health of the living environment, then we will lose both.
This is shocking news! Conventional wisdom asserts that if you keep the fish bowl clean enough, the fish inside will be just fine. And hence, most conservation efforts are based on the idea that all we need to do is preserve land.
E.O. Wilson, whose foresight has thus far been nearly 20/20, has served as a mentor to hundreds of aspiring conservationists. But who mentored him? Watch and see.
