After long deliberation, Virginia Tech has selected their Freshman Year Experience program book: Daniel Goleman’s Ecological Intelligence. Goleman’s books are always popular for use in the classroom, especially Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence, which explain why sometimes one’s ability to deal with life events and people can be more important than having a high IQ.
Ecological Intelligence is all about intelligent consumption–how, even when we’re trying to be conscientious, we are often unaware of the consequences of our buying habits. We buy the organic cotton t-shirts not knowing that its dyes may put factory workers at risk for leukemia or we buy “herbal” shampoos that contain industrial chemicals that can threaten our health or contaminate the environment. Who knew? It’s good to know that at least a few thousand people this year will be learning to buy better. Take a look at an excerpt!