The Living Environmental Education: Sound Science Toward a Cleaner, Safer, and Healthier Future

Wei-Ta Fang, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University, and President of the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), Asia Chapter and Taiwan Wetland Society. He was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on February 14, 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in land economics and administration from National Taipei University in 1989. He completed a master's degree in environmental planning (MEP) from Arizona State University in 1994, followed by a second master's degree in landscape architecture in design studies (MDes.S.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2001. He obtained a Ph.D. from the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, in 2005. He is an environmental educator and the first research fellow certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) in Asia. He has received SWS President’s Service Award in 2017 & 2011, and the SWS Doug Wilcox Award in 2015.  He has been an Associate Editor for the journal Wetlands (SCI journal, Springer) since 2012. “The Living Environmental Education” is the third English book he dedicated to his supportive family since writing “Tourism in Emerging Economies” and “Envisioning Environmental Literacy: Action and Outreach” (Springer, 2020). 

Arba’at Hassan, Ph.D., was born in Sungai Leman, a “rice-bowl area” in Selangor on May 16, 1952. He started his career in teaching science in high school (1970~1979) and was then appointed as a science education lecturer at teachers’ training college, Tuaran (1980~1982), before furthering his higher education in the USA. He received all degrees from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), USA (B.Sc. in bio-sciences, 1985; M.Sc. in science education and curriculum & instruction, 1987; and Ph.D. in environmental & science education, 1992)―where he was mentored and guided by Prof. Harold Hungerford and Prof. Tudi Volk, the most well-known professors in environmental education. Upon graduation, he taught environmental education in various universities in Malaysia (1994~2012), and the longest was at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia―UKM (2006–2012). He had served in scouting and was given leadership training. He received the Excellent Merit Award from the Malaysian Scout’s Chief Commissioner (1979). While studying at SIUC, he was involved in many environmental education activities, including during Earth Summit in Rio (1990). He has honored the Kappa Delta Pi Illinois Chapter: an Honor Society in Education, USA (1991). He was additionally, awarded merit of Teaching Excellent, i.e., “Tokoh Pendidik,” by the Minister of Education (2016). Since retiring, he has been a Part-time Teacher at the Open University Malaysia. He is also active in editing articles for international journals, books, etc. He involves involuntary environmental works and was then appointed as an Associate Member of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Asia Chapter. His e-mail is arbaat@yahoo.com. 

Ben A. LePage, Ph.D., was born in Prud’Homme, a small town in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, on September 12, 1959. He grew up on a farm and spent most of his childhood years exploring nature. Following his first career as a licensed Journeyman Painter, he focused on completing a B.Sc. in biology and then went on to earn a Ph.D. in geology, both at the University of Saskatchewan. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta and went on to teach environmental studies and geology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He then worked as Environmental Consultant that led to positions in the gas and electric companies in Philadelphia and San Francisco where he focused on environmental compliance, remediation, and the wetland sciences. During this time, he became an active member of the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) Board of Directors and ultimately become the SWS President in 2012.In 2018, he became President of the SWS Professional Certification Program. His experience as an environmental scientist is broad, which has afforded him the privilege of providing recommendations on environmental issues to governments and agencies globally. In the fall of 2021 he became a Visiting Distinguished Chair Professor in the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. He is Professional Wetland Scientist and Associate Editor for the journal Wetlands and has an extensive list of peer-reviewed publications. He has been recently focused on the relationship between wetlands and indigenous cultures, as well as the impact of global climate change on our wetland resources.