Making personal connections with biology

It is often commented upon in the media that people are becoming less connected with the natural environment. With most of us living in urban cocoons, our disconnection with nature ‘red in tooth and claw’ becomes the norm. This is at a time when human impact upon the environment is becoming an ever-more pressing issue – whether we are concerned with global warming; plastic in the oceans, or the environmental impact of eating beef. Where our citizens are being asked to consider their relationship with the natural world, and to modify their lifestyles to reduce negative impact on the environment, it is important that we address the apparent ‘estrangement from biodiversity’. The paper in this issue by Wyner and Blatt concentrates on the connections we make between developing an understanding of the ecology of food webs and the food we eat. These links may seem obvious to Biologists, but evidently they are not always obvious to some of our students. Wyner and Blatt highlight some of these gaps in our students’ knowledge and explore some of the issues that contribute to the apparent lack of understanding displayed by some students. They also highlight the difficulty many students have in naming animals and plants and suggest that this indicates that teachers and students are only familiar with a tiny subset of biodiversity. In such an instance, it becomes difficult to help students link the concepts they are learning in class with their practical experiences out of school. Without such experiential (and possibly emotional) links to the natural world, the job of educating students about their place in the environment (and responsibility for its maintenance) is likely to become increasingly difficult. Wyner and Blatt conclude that ‘Students and teachers need to know where their food comes from and how it impacts natural systems in order to make informed food choices’. In an era when food security is likely to become a more pressing issue in the political landscape, an underpinning appreciation of the science would seem to be a basic prerequisite to sensible decision-making.