Planting an Idea: Critical and Creative Thinking about Environmental Problems - Paperback

by Jerry Apps (Author), Natasha Kassulke (Author)

A first-of-its-kind handbook, allowing the reader to combine the processes of critical and creative thinking with a detailed discussion of the environmental challenges facing our planet

Planting an Idea is part guidebook for better critical and creative thinking and part overview of the environmental challenges that face our planet today. It is designed to help readers young and old examine and develop opinions on a variety of environmental issues based on substance, creativity, and fact.

Apps and Kassulke take the reader through an examination of critical and creative thinking, providing a foundation for these skills--a foundation that can be used in all matter of public discourse. They then provide a brief history of the environmental movement, followed by a deep exploration of various environmental issues, ranging from climate change to land use to clean air and water. In each section, Apps and Kassulke show how the processes of critical and creative thinking can be used to evaluate the issues and define potential actions and solutions.

Inside, a wide variety of topics are covered, including:

Agriculture

Endangered Species

Land UseAir Quality

And lots more

This book allows readers to better understand their positions, developing the tools they need to provide evidence that is accurate and reliable and to consider other perspectives along the way. An essential read for anyone interested in protecting the environment, Planting an Idea will enable readers to unlock ways to navigate some of today's most pressing and important challenges.

Author Biography

Jerry Appsis a former county extension agent and is now professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught for thirty years. Today he works as a rural historian and full-time writer and is the author of many books on rural history, country life, and the environment. He has created six-hour-long documentaries with PBS Wisconsin, has won several awards for his writing, and won a regional Emmy Award for the TV program A Farm Winter. Jerry and his wife, Ruth, have three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandsons. They divide their time between their home in Madison, Wisconsin, and their farm, Roshara, in Waushara County.

Natasha Kassulkeis a former journalist for the Wisconsin State Journal and former editor of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine. Today, she directs communications for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and teaches journalism courses part-time at Madison College. She and her husband, Steve Apps, live in Madison, Wisconsin