From your home in Vermont’s Northeast Kindgom, you have traveled the globe to expand human understanding of the natural world – launching some of the first public awareness programs in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean; preserving important archaeological sites in India; and helping the Navajo interpret and convey to a growing number of visitors the significance of their ancestral lands. Untold land and species have been saved and newly appreciated because of your work. One key to this success has been your ability to engage each community in ways sensitive to its unique culture, as when you helped a remote tribe of camel-raising nomads in Kenya to understand their inadvertent role in the spread of desert. As a result, the Peace Corps and other organizations have enlisted you to train staff and volunteers in how to overcome their own cultural biases. Back home, your writing and broadcasting have done the same for countless readers and listeners, while your teaching at the University of Vermont is considered transformational. “No student he encounters is ever the same again,” says a colleague. “He opens windows they did not know existed, into the world and into themselves.” In recognition of your distinguished achievement in environmental education, Williams College is proud to honor you with its Bicentennial Medal.
Megamenu Social