Sunday, February 17, 2013
Ballroom A (Hynes Convention Center)
Carson combined scrupulous attention to scientific evidence with appreciation of how literary forms can convey deeper meaning. By brilliantly bridging the two cultures of science and the humanities, she showed how human-dominated and natural systems are intertwined, anticipating some of the directions of modern ecological science. A corollary is that ideas (which influence behavior) must also be considered components of ecosystems. Exploring her writings reminds us that we too must find strategies for bridging the two cultures and creating an ecologically aware society.