William P. Cunningham

“environmental science be
worth my while? Do I have a chance to get a good grade?” The
answers to these questions depend, to a large extent, on you and
how you decide to apply yourself. Expecting to be interested and
to do either well or poorly in your classes often turns out to be a
self-fulfilling prophecy. As Henry Ford once said, “If you think
you can do a thing, or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
Cultivating good study skills can help you to reach your goals
and make your experience in environmental science a satisfying
and rewarding one. The purpose of this introduction is to give you
some tips to help you get off to a good start in studying. You’ll find
that many of these techniques are also useful in other courses and
after you graduate, as well.
Environmental science, as you can see by skimming through
the table of contents of this book, is a complex, transdisciplinary
field that draws from many academic specialties. It is loaded with
facts, ideas, theories, and confusing data. It is also a dynamic,
highly contested subject. Topics such as environmental contributions to cancer rates, potential dangers of pesticides, or when and
how much global warming may be caused by human activities are
widely disputed. Often you will find distinguished and persuasive
experts who take completely opposite positions on any particular
question. It will take an active, organized approach on your part
to make sense of the vast amount of information you’ll encounter here. And it will take critical, thoughtful reasoning to formulate
your own position on the many controversial theories and”
― William P. Cunningham, Environmental Science: A Global Concern