OPINIONS

Distinguished Persons

“EOLSS has the goal to provide a firm knowledge base for future activities to prolong the lifetime of the human race in a hospitable environment” - Richard R. Ernst, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.


“The EOLSS is not only appropriate, but it is imaginative and, to my knowledge, unique. Much of what we can write about science, about energy, about our far-ranging knowledge base, can indeed be found in major encyclopedias, but as I understand your vision, never as a central theme; the theme of humanity, embedded in nature and constrained to find ways of maintaining a relationship with nature based upon understanding and respect.” - Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Laureate in Physics

“Pursuit of knowledge and truth supersedes present considerations of what nature, life or the world are or should be, for our own vision can only be a narrow one. Ethical evaluation and rules of justice have changed and will change over time and will have to adapt. Law is made for man, not man for law. If it does not fit any more, change it…. Some think that it is being arrogant to try to modify nature; arrogance is to claim that we are perfect as we are! With all the caution that must be exercised and despite the risks that will be encountered, carefully pondering each step, mankind must and will continue along its path, for we have no right to switch off the lights of the future…. We have to walk the path from the tree of knowledge to the control of destiny.” - Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

“EOLSS is concerned with the Life Support Systems… Each of these systems is a very complex one. …we have to think of all these “systems” as closely related “subsystems” of the Planet Earth System. …Rational decisions will be more and more possible to envision if one will be able to couple the physical modeling to economic and financial models and to human factors…” - J.L. Lions, Japan Prize winner in Applied Mathematics

EOLSS Authors and Users

“Proud for having given my small contribution to such success” - Benedetto De Vivo, Italy, Author.

“I do appreciate your very informative message and I do understand the value of EOLSS being published only in the electronic fashion. The data you present of current access to it is indeed impressive.” - Dra. Eugenia J. Olguin, Mexico, Author.

“I am very proud to have my article published in this Encyclopedia and for my great satisfaction I managed to find it in the Internet, which I had been wishing to see for a long time. ” Hilkka Pietilä, Finland, Author

“Let me congratulate all those who have dedicated years of work and commitment to this endeavour. It is particularly comforting that access to the Encyclopedia is free of charge to poor universities in developing countries” Judith A. Cherni, UK, Author

“….I looked up the web site and am very impressed with the project, and very glad to have been part of it. I also recommended it to our college library, and to the director of our environmental programs.” Laurel MacDowell, Professor of History, University of Toronto, University of Toronto Canada, User.

“I have a free trial period and I am very satisfied. This is a very valuable source of information” Svein Solberg, Norwegian forest research institute, User.

“It has been a pleasure working on this important project – it is really impressive” - Vagn Lundsgaard Hansen, Denmark, Author.

“I admire you for the work you are doing. It is worthwhile and positive! So many bad things are happening in the world; so I appreciate the work that people like you are doing!” Wm. Gary Kline, USA, Author.

“I have now personally browsed the EOLSS website. I find it rich with the understanding required
to respond knowledgeably, interdisciplinarily and across borders to the profoundly systemic world problems we face. I am dedicated to the mission. --------------- It continues to be a pleasure working with you on this major task to whose fulfilment I am dedicated. -------------Your EOLSS explanation and definition of life support systems is excellent. By "life-serving", I mean what you designate by life-supporting, by another term. But your distinction between necessary conditions without which there is "collapse", and enhancing conditions which "make things better", is central. -------------- EOLSS has an advantage. All who are in the EOLSS project, already agree that life systems and their support are of ultimate value. That puts the project a long way ahead of where past and contemporary Philosophy has so far managed to get in positive grounds of value agreement. In fact, it is not easy to think of any philosopher besides myself who thinks in life-system terms. Even the great philosopher-economist Amartya Sen's central category of "capabilities" is not defined in life terms. So the problem of getting philosophers to think in life-system terms is the principal challenge in implementing the Philosophy Theme and bringing it to expert consummation.”- John McMurtry, Honorary Theme Editor, Canada
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“This is a wonderful resource unesco is making available to those who very much need it. Thank you again for the privilege and honour of contributing to a worthy cause.”- Alex Michalos, Author
Canada

“ ------ those who did agree to author a chapter, were all extremely enthusiastic. One author said to me: "This is something I plan to do at least once in my lifetime." I think such statement is a guarantee for true quality work.” -Hayley Shen, Honorary Theme Editor, USA.

“I congratulate Eolss for the good work and interesting articles. My institution, Universidad Complutense Madrid, has been a suscriber since 2006, I contributed with two articles and I love your "global" multicultural approach.” - Asunción López-Varela Azcaráte, Author, Spain.