Carson’s work combines creative non-fiction with scientific research and, in doing so, typifies the interdisciplinary nature of writing and research on environmental concerns.
The Rachel Carson website serves as a useful introduction, not only to her work, but to this unusual merging of academic disciplines. It is a simple but beautifully presented resource, which successfully illustrates the links between scientific study and creative response.
The comprehensive nature of the vast Web resources available reflects this diversity among contributors and audiences responding to concerns about human relationships with the planet. One of the most noticeable common features of these sites is the deliberate agenda of inclusion across the boundaries of academic disciplines.
Selected Key Sites Focussing Specifically on the Interdisciplinary Approach:
The AHRC Research Centre for Environmental History and Policy
This website (http://www.cehp.stir.ac.uk) is aimed at researchers across subjects including history, cultural theory, geography, environmental science and philosophy. The website contains details of the Centre's mission to 'build links with any discipline which looks at the relationship between human society and the environment in the past' through ongoing projects, and offers useful insights into the way different disciplines can contribute to a discrete concern.
The John Muir Exhibit
This special exhibit on the Sierra Club website offers material of interest to English, history, ecology and conservation researchers. Scottish born John Muir (1838 - 1914) moved to America with his family as a boy. He became one of the first conservationists and dedicated his life to preserving the natural environment of his new homeland. Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892, and helped to inspire the innovative conservation programme of President Theodore Roosevelt.
The Centre for World Environmental History
The Centre for World Environmental History is the only centre in Europe dedicated to study of the environmental history of the tropics. Its work covers aspects of history, geography and cultural studies and 'draws widely from sciences, social sciences and the humanities'. The findings of its research projects across these disciplines may be freely accessed on its website as PDF files.
Combining the academic and the popular
Another strong feature of ecology resources is the juxtaposition of referenced scholarly content with material by and for the general public, often including children. This illustrates the importance of a high profile for these sites, so that the awareness of national, regional and local communities becomes as relevant and dynamic as that of the academic researcher.
Selected sites include:
The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter is a worldwide initiative devoted to 'fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century'. Its contributors are international experts, local community groups, non-governmental organisations, professional societies and youth groups. Its website includes material for a very general readership, as well as a comprehensive database of scholarly material which may be freely downloaded.
The Blue Ocean Institute
The Blue Ocean Institute aims to create 'a closer relationship with the sea through science, art and literature', by developing conservation solutions that recognise the needs of humans and the environment. The Institute's website features a side bar with a comprehensive choice of headings, aimed at an audience from children to academics.
The International Society for Environmental Ethics
The International Society for Environmental Ethics encourages research and teaching in environmental ethics at all levels. The Society publishes a newsletter four times a year, past issues of which are freely available on their website. In addition, the site has the world's largest bibliography of environmental ethics resources with over 7,000 entries.
Searching for Ecology Resources
The range of disciplines and approaches can make searching for resources something of a hit and miss affair. Useful search terms for guaranteeing results from across Web resources available, aside from specific titles names, are ‘ecology’, ‘environmental issues’, ‘conservation’, and ‘globalisation’.
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