UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM 28 December 1999 Dr. Michael J. Cohen
Re: Project NatureConnect / Natural Systems Thinking Process Dear Mike: Thank you for working with me to introduce the Natural Systems Thinking Process into the curriculum of the Environmental Studies Program of the University of California, Santa Barbara during the Fall 1999 term. NSTP activities were effectively integrated into the curriculum of the introductory course (Environmental Studies 1: Thinking About the Future), where all of the nearly 400 students engaged in at least one NSTP-related activity and where 20 students in the honors section of the course completed the NSTP Orientation Course on your website. A fundamental teaching of Environmental Studies, as an academic multi-discipline, is that problems of pollution and other forms of environmental abuse are caused primarily by psychological factors that lead people to misperceive their connectedness to the rest of the community of life. The Natural Systems Thinking Process provides a readily accessible and wonderfully effective means for students to acquire, understand, and act upon the transforming experience of being connected to nature; of being in respectful relationship with the natural world of which they are a part. In light of the enthusiastic and thoughtful responses of the ES 1 students to the NSTP activities, I am encouraged to work with students and faculty in Environmental Studies and in other departments and disciplines to explore ways of integrating them into other courses across campus. I look forward to continuing our work together in this effort. Sincerely,
J.Marc McGinnes, J.D.
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