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Citations to:

The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity,

Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World

By Jack Hokikian, Ph.D.

[1] Professor Frederick Kirschenmann, Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, referenced The Science of Disorder in a seminar presented at ISU’s Department of Chemical Engineering on January 16, 2003. The presentation—entitled “And Then What? Attending to the Context of Our Innovations”—was published on Science & Environmental Health Networks’ Web site as an essay on the precautionary principle.

[2] On November 21, 2004, the New York Times in its Week in Review section published a short anonymous exposé under the title “ECO-ECONOMICS UNMASKED.” It was a summary of an article that had appeared on a British Web site entitled “The dismal quackery of eco-economics” by Daniel Ben-Ami. This article attacked the precautionary principle and ecological economics. The exposé in the Times caught the eyes of Peter Montague, editor of Rachel’s Environmental and Health News of the Environmental Research Foundation. He quickly responded to both pieces of writing, invoking the Second Law of Thermodynamics—the Law of Entropy—and referencing The Science of Disorder.

[3] In an article entitled “What They Can’t Control,” writer and artist Catherine Sundberg brings to our attention the recent findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report. 1,300 experts from 95 countries spent 4 years on this unprecedented study and discovered that 60% of Earth’s ecosystems are degraded. Sundberg then ties seamlessly the report’s findings to The Science of Disorder and the Law of Entropy. The article was published by CommonDreams.org on April 6, 2005.

[4] On December 4, 2008, in his inaugural address, Professor Alan Fowler of the Institute of Social Studies—The Hague, Netherlands—pointed out that we are not “immune from the inescapable and enduring force of entropy that is part and parcel of everyday human and social life,” referencing The Science of Disorder. He added: “Entropy operates as a strange attractor that cannot be ignored.”

[5] An article in a German Web site addressed to “voters and non-voters” states: “If energy policy in elections plays a role and you in elections play a role, it could be helpful if you understand: ‘The energy problem is actually an entropy problem.’ ” In the last paragraph, it says: “Entropy should interest you, dear reader and taxpayer.” At the end of the article, it links to the home page of The Science of Disorder. Translation courtesy of Yahoo.

[6] The Science of Disorder was also cited in Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications by Herman E. Daly [University of Maryland] and Joshua Farley [University of Vermont], published by Island Press in November 2003.