This book represents a collaboration between the faculty and students of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the School of Art and Architecture at Yale University. As environmentalists and educators, the authors of this volume have been concerned with environmental education for many years.
Environmental problems are most often complex and difficult to understand.
Teaching environmental studies in a coherent and integrative way is no easy task. In the fall of 1990, the first author proposed that the American lawn would be an excellent vehicle for teaching environmental principles. Soon joined by his two colleagues, the team designed a course for the spring of 1991, with the American lawn as its central theme. With the assistance of Dr. Joseph Miller, librarian and historian, the eleven graduate students examined and modified the chapter outlines proposed by the three author-instructors. Student teams were assigned to write each chapter.