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Human

Human ecology is an interdisciplinary approach to labeled as problems because it provides understanding human-environmental systems. The fi eld approaches that rely on multifaceted analyses. Sustain- seeks to combine understanding of the biophysical reali- ability problems typically involve a degree of scientifi c ties of human existence (such as dependence on natural uncertainty, in that it is not always possible to gauge resources) with the social and psychological dimensions accurately the status of the key environmental variables of human health and well-being. that have to be managed. For example, it is hard to assess the carbon stored in agricultural landscapes under uman ecology focuses on understanding diff erent regimes, yet this could be a key H and their environments as parts of a whole. element in promoting sustainable farming practices. In Although the fi eld predates current debates about sus- addition, sustainability problems often have no clear tainability, it shares concern for the limited capacity of boundaries and cut across institutional and jurisdictional the Earth to meet the demands that humans are placing boundaries, including diff erent departmental responsi- on it. Human ecology is also concerned with ethical bilities or state and national borders, such as when atmo- questions about how fairly environmental resources are spheric pollution from a smokestack in one state causes shared among people and other living things, and iden- acidifi cation in the forests of its neighbor. In many cases tifying the rights and wrongs of existing situations and the ultimate cause of a problem is at a great distance in proposed alternatives. Where the human-environment time or space from its eff ect. For example, a consumer’s system is changing in ways that cause problems for peo- choice of coff ee bought from a local supermarket can ple, human ecology focuses on what is ultimately driving aff ect, for better or worse, the of a that change, and the consequences. By seeking the ulti- coff ee plantation landscape in a distant country. Many mate, rather than immediate, causes of change, human problems are the unforeseen and unintended conse- ecology typically locates the sources of many problems in quences of human activity that made perfect sense at the aspects of the dominant culture, its attendant values, and time. Irrigating a to increase food yields makes resulting human behavior. Th e challenge then is to iden- sense, as does building freeways to relieve traffi c conges- tify interventions that will result in improved environ- tion. Yet an unintended consequence of irrigation might mental outcomes and that are fair and acceptable to the be to mobilize naturally occurring salts in the soil and people who are aff ected. Human ecologists are then typi- eventually render it useless for farming; similarly, free- cally committed to act as change agents by seeking inter- ways can make private vehicle travel choices more ventions that improve the health and well-being of people attractive and result in even greater congestion as more in a humane and sustainable manner. people adopt this method of transport. Problems can even defy defi nition. Building a hydropower station on a river might be the solution to a problem of renewable Human Ecology and Sustainability energy generation but the cause of a problem for river ecology and fi sh populations. Th is complexity is com- Human ecology is able to make a valuable contribution pounded as individuals and groups promote often- to understanding and improving situations that are confl icting options for intervention to improve a

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HUMAN ECOLOGY • 185

situation, and various judgments about the desirability Ecology and Human Ecology of proposed solutions. With sustainability problems, pathways to improve- Human ecology has its origins in ecology more generally. ment will often involve changes to human attitudes and Th e term ecology was originally coined by the German behaviors as much as they will involve new or changing zoologist in 1866 to mean, loosely, the technology. Certainly technology can improve the effi - “science of the habitat” (Lawrence 2001, 675). At this ciency with which an environmental resource is extracted basic level, human ecology can be thought of as the study and managed and reduce the unit cost of the good pro- of the environmental conditions in which human beings duced, but improving effi cient supply cannot always keep developed, and the relationship of humans to the ecosys- up with total increasing demand. Modern jet aircraft can tems that support them and which they aff ect. Th e same be more effi cient as measured by the energy cost of each principles apply to the ecology of any species, but in the passenger transported per mile, but with soaring passen- case of humans, the number of humans on the planet, ger numbers the total energy cost of the sector will their presence in almost all terrestrial , and increase. Expecting changes in people’s behavior requires their impact on the planet is largely the product of the ethical considerations of justice and fairness in terms of evolution of human capacity for culture. If success is how people are engaged in the development of proposed measured by sheer numbers and ability to colonize nearly solutions and, when costs are involved, how the burden every environment on the planet, then culture was an of those costs is distributed. Th is ethical concern may evolutionary advantage. also extend to species other than humans. With its con- Th e need to take culture and its eff ects seriously makes cern for the ethical dimension, human ecology has a nor- the study of the ecology of humans diff erent from the mative dimension that other sciences often lack or ecology of other animals. Other species exhibit behav- downplay. ioral adaptation to their surroundings, but for humans Human ecology’s concern for the sociocultural dimen- sociocultural adaptation is the prime mechanism for sions of sustainability problems is coupled with the rec- responding to environmental change. Humans can learn ognition that ecosystems have a fi nite capacity to service and adapt their behavior based on information provided the demands humans place on them. If human demands by other humans, in stories passed from generation to on environmental resources exceed the rate at which generation and enshrined in enduring social institutions. those resources are naturally replenished, then the Humans have a highly developed ability to imagine con- resource will inevitably be exhausted. At best, for very sequences of future action, although they do not neces- large stocks, this point of exhaustion may be far off into sarily act to avoid those consequences. Artistic creativity the future, which might allow postponing the inevitable enables the celebration of traditional ways of living and the requirement for human behavioral change. A similar imagination of alternative futures. Imagination and principle applies to pollution: problems arise when rates inventiveness also allow humans to develop tools and of accumulation exceed the natural capacity of the eco- technologies that extend their capacity to access resources system to absorb pollutants. Th e unequivocal evidence is from the environment and to rapidly change the effi - that human use of key resources is now rapidly approach- ciency with which they can convert resources into a ser- ing their limits, and many people already do not have vice. Th ese characteristics of cultural adaptation, social access to suffi cient resources to maintain minimal stan- and individual learning, institutional arrangements, art dards of health and well-being. and creativity, imagination, and technology, while not Th e complex nature of sustainability problems means necessarily unique to humans, are developed to highly that they are best tackled using integrative, holistic complex levels in them. approaches that combine traditional disciplinary knowl- edge with other insights into the human condition, peo- Development of Human Ecology ple’s beliefs and values, and their aspirations and motivations. Human ecology draws these insights from As human ecology developed out of ecology and the nat- the social sciences, as well as the ; arts and ural sciences, it followed a number of diff erent trajecto- design; and lay, community, and nonacademic knowledge ries. Current academic programs using the term human bases. Th e fi eld seeks to provide a conceptual framework ecology often exhibit diff erent characteristic concerns for research and learning that combines knowledge about depending on which of these pathways they followed. what is and what needs to be done, with understanding , born in Massachusetts in about what motivates and enables individuals and societ- 1842, is one pioneer of the discipline. Richards was the ies to act on the basis of that knowledge. Human ecolo- fi rst woman graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of gists are agents of change, seeking to help Technology (MIT), graduating with a bachelor of science achieve humane and sustainable futures. degree in chemistry in 1873. She also obtained a master’s

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186 • THE BERKSHIRE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUSTAINABILITY: MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

degree, but the award of a PhD was beyond what MIT at thinking while avoiding the partiality of such work. that time was prepared to confer on a woman. Her disci- Interdisciplinary human ecology tackles complex sus- plinary expertise was in industrial chemistry, but she had tainability problems with approaches that have rigor but broader interests in the social movements of the day, are not rigid. It may use a systems-based framework, including women’s issues and progressive social change which enables consideration of the infl uence and con- more generally. In 1892 she used Haeckel’s term oekology straints of both social and biophysical drivers of change. to mean the science of the conditions of the health and Th e system in question, its boundaries, component parts, well-being of everyday human life, elaborated as human and its dynamics are defi ned by participating stakehold- ecology in 1907. But the biological scientists resisted ers. Such an approach enables the integration of the extending the concept of ecology to include social dimen- diverse values, desires, and needs of the human actors sions, and the term home was adopted in its with the capacity of the environment. place. Human ecology programs that derive from this As a college dedicated to human ecology, the College lineage are still common in the United States today, typi- of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, exemplifi es the fi ed by programs in and childhood studies, graduate attributes typical of a student of human ecology. nursing, family and community well-being, and local It bases its curriculum on the following characteristics: applied policy issues. • Be creative: use the imaginative and inventive powers of Today the study of human ecology may be defi ned by the human mind to tackle sustainability problems with the interests, methods, and intellectual domain of par- original and adaptable approaches. Th is commitment to ticular disciplines. One strand of human ecology as a creativity has to include a willingness to take and fi eld of study arose within the department at sometimes fail, so long as failure is acknowledged and the University of Chicago in the 1920s. In this school of learned from. thought, ecological terms from the biosciences are • Th ink critically: refl ect critically on the partiality of applied to social change processes, using concepts such as information, including the unavoidable prejudicial ele- competition, succession, web of life, and mutual interde- ments that arise from human habits, biases, and assump- pendence. Versions of human ecology also developed tions. Th is ability to think critically includes refl ection within other disciplines, such as , on one’s own limitations and preconceptions. , and ethnology, but beyond contesting • Engage with community: involve individuals, com- ownership of the name, these versions of human ecology munities, and institutions in the design and imple- have little in common. mentation of solutions to their problems. Th is includes Growing environmental awareness in the 1960s gave a willingness to learn from their knowledge and tradi- rise to a diff erent approach to human ecology. Th is mul- tions. It also requires participants to connect theory tidisciplinary human ecology recognized the limited and practice. contribution that single disciplines could, by themselves, • Communicate: communication is understood to be pro- make to understand the complexity of human-induced cesses of learning and not merely the transmission of ecological problems. Typically arising in applied profes- knowledge from one party to the other. Communica- sions such as urban design and regional , these tion can include artistic and motivational elements. programs brought together a range of disciplines to • Integrate elements: think comprehensively about situa- apply their unique insights jointly to a given problem. tions as wholes. Th e characteristic behavior of the whole Pragmatically focused, these approaches collected emerges from, but cannot be reduced to, the interac- insights from the contributing disciplines, without tions of the parts. Sustainability is a description of the defining a unifying framework. The frameworks, behavior of a system of interest to an individual or group assumptions, and methodologies are not transformed as it changes or remains constant over time. through their interactions with other disciplinary • Practice : recognize the strength and experts. Nevertheless, this multidisciplinary approach depth of disciplinary thinking and the crucial contribu- continues to be practiced by those who place a premium tion it can make to solving problems, while being aware on maintaining forums in which diff erent disciplines can of its partiality. Combining diff erent contributions share their insights. within suitable conceptual frameworks is crucial to cre- Interdisciplinary Human Ecology ating the new knowledge needed to tackle sustainability problems. Human ecologists have sought to defi ne a genuinely As an evolving approach to defi ning and investigating interdisciplinary fi eld of study, in which the understand- its subject matter, human ecology may appear to have a ing achieved is more than the sum of the contributing complex and occasionally contradictory . Th is parts. Th e challenge is to retain the power of disciplinary same diversity, however, prepares human ecology to

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HUMAN ECOLOGY • 187

contribute new approaches to complex and previous watershed-based . COA has also intractable problems. received numerous awards for institutional resource man- agement, campus buildings, and leadership in its com- mitment to carbon neutrality. Human Ecology in Action Human ecology research focuses on a variety of devel- opment issues. Researchers from the Department of Many university-based human ecology programs around Human Ecology at the University of Tokyo have been the world are sponsoring research and publishing that involved in interdisciplinary research into relationships continue to defi ne the fi eld and also lead to public sustain- between human and environmental health in rapidly ability initiatives. In addition, organizations such as the developing Asian countries. Studying rural areas, for Human Ecology, the Commonwealth Human research teams have tracked changes to a broad range of Ecology Council, and the German Society for Human indicators of human well-being, such as income, labor Ecology bring practitioners together to advance the fi eld. arrangements, food and nutrition, exposure to various As early as 1972, following a meeting organized by chemical compounds, and health. Policy interventions the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC) designed to infl uence national development can be ini- in Hong Kong, a group of researchers, primarily based tially successful, but then after a delay, negative conse- in the Human Ecology program of the Australian quences appear. An example is rising food production: National University (ANU), undertook a major study of this may result in improved nutrition, but a consequent the city of Hong Kong and its population. Published rising chemical burden in the local environment eventu- under the auspices of the United Nations ally leads to potential risks for com- Educational, Scientific and Cultural munity health. Th e relationship Organization (UNESCO) as Th e Ecology between chemical levels and of a City and Its People (Boyden et al. community health is nonlinear, 1981), this landmark study applied a however, with diff erent individ- whole-of-system approach to the uals and communities aff ected material and energy flows of to diff erent degrees for a range Hong Kong and the sociocul- of reasons detectable only at the tural drivers of those fl ows. Th e local scale. Interdisciplinary study was a seminal work in human ecological research can research into suggest ways that policy inter- and is an exemplar of research ventions can be targeted to incorporating both the quantifi able community involvement to and qualitative dimensions of sus- achieve a balance of techno- tainability. In the twenty-fi rst cen- logical and social initiatives tury, ANU continues to be a leader that can produce more consis- in the field of human ecology tently positive outcomes. through its teaching and research program, as well as through open Future Directions discussion at the Human Ecology Forum. Research in human ecology has Th e aforementioned College of been hampered by the fi eld’s nontra- the Atlantic (COA) is entirely dedi- ditional nature, including perceptions cated to the study of human ecology. COA that it is not a proper science. It has been places great emphasis on developing an applied challenging to fi nd funding bodies willing and approach through working collaborations with local and able to support interdisciplinary research or journals will- international communities. Over the years a number of ing to publish the results. Because it is an awkward fi t initiatives originating from student projects have, within the traditional departmental structures of the uni- through community engagement, been adopted in prac- versity system, recognition of merit and pathways for career tice, such as the Maine legislature’s adoption of beverage development have been limited. Although these barriers recycling as a consequence of work conducted by COA continue to exist, there is growing recognition of the need students. Th e college off ers ongoing demonstration proj- for approaches like human ecology to tackle sustainability ects of applied human ecology in areas of collaborative challenges. Th e Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) decision making, , conservation Planetary Stewardship Initiative (Power and Chapin 2009) ecology, ecological education, green business, and is devoted to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and

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188 • THE BERKSHIRE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUSTAINABILITY: ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

defi ning the scientifi c needs to encourage sustainable social Chivian, Eric, & Bernstein, Aaron. (Eds.). (2008). Sustaining life: How and ecological change. ESA’s Human Ecology Section was human health depends on biodiversity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. established to discuss and apply the ideas and methods of Dauvergne, Peter. (2008). Th e shadows of consumption: Consequences for human ecology and allied disciplines. Th e Proceedings of the global environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. the National Academy of Science (PNAS) also include a Dyball, Robert, & Newell, Barry. (2012). Understanding human section committed to publishing ecology. London: Earthscan. Hulme, Mike. (2009). Why we disagree about : research dealing with the interactions between natural and Understanding controversy, inaction, and opportunity. New York: social systems and their impacts on sustainability. Leading Cambridge University Press. academic institutions, including Stanford University in Keen, Meg; Brown, Valerie A.; & Dyball, Rob. (Eds.). (2005). Social California, are also establishing groups to investigate sus- learning in environmental management: Towards a sustainable future. London: Earthscan. tainability issues with a human-ecological perspective. Lawrence, Roderick J. (2001). Human ecology. In Mostafa Kamal With these and other arenas opening up, human ecology Tolba (Ed.), Our fragile world: Challenges and opportunities for will be well placed to make its contribution to sustainability (Vol. 1, pp. 675–693). Oxford, UK: challenges. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) Publishers. Merchant, Carolyn. (2007). American : An intro- Robert DYBALL duction. New York: Columbia University Press. Midgley, Gerald. (2000). Systemic intervention: Philosophy, methodol- Th e A u s t r a l in a N a t i oa n l U n i v es ityr ogy, and practice . New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human See also Agricultural Intensification; Biogeography; well-being: Synthesis . Washington, DC: Island Press. Ecosystem Services; ; Home Ostrom, Elinor. (1990). Governing the c ommons: Th e evolution of institu- Ecology; Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Knowledge; tions for collective action . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University ; Shifting Baselines Syndrome; Urban Press. Pimental, David; Westra, Laura; & Noss, Reed F. (Eds.). (2000). Agriculture Ecological integrity: Integrating environment, conservation, and health . Washington, DC: Island Press. Power, Mary E., & Chapin, F. Stuart, III. (2009). Planetary steward- ship. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment , 7 (8), 399. F URTHER R EADING Rosa, Eugene, A.; Diekmann, Andreas; Dietz, Th omas; & Jaeger, Agyeman, Julian; Bullard, Robert D.; & Evans, Bob. (Eds.). (2003). Carlo C. (2009). Human footprints on the global environment: Th reats Just sustainabilities: Development in an unequal world. Cambridge, to sustainability. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. MA: MIT Press. Scheff er, Marten. (2009). Critical transitions in nature and society. Boyden, Stephen. (2003). Th e biology of civilisation: Understanding Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. human culture as a force in nature. Sydney: University of New South Schutkowski, Holger. (2006). Human ecology: Biocultural adaptations in Wales Press. human communities . Berlin: Springer. Boyden, Stephen; Millar, Sheelagh; Newcombe, Ken; & O’Neill, Walker, Brian, & Salt, David. (2006). Resilience thinking: Sustaining Beverley. (1981). Th e ecology of a city and its people: Th e case of Hong ecosystems and people in a changing world. Washington, DC: Island Kong . Canberra, Australia: Australia National University Press. Press. Brown, Valerie A.; Harris, John A.; & Russell, Jacqueline Y. (Eds.). Wilkinson, Richard, & Pickett, Kate. (2009). Th e spirit level: Why (2010). Tackling wicked problems through the transdisciplinary imagi- greater equality makes societies stronger. New York: Bloomsbury nation. London: Earthscan. Press. Chapin, F. Stuart, III; Kofi nas, Gary P.; & Folke, Carl. (Eds.). (2009). Young, Gerald L. (1978) . Human ecology as an interdisciplinary domain: Principles of ecosystem stewardship: Resilience-based natural resource An epistemological bibliography . Monticello, IL: Vance management in a changing world. New York: Springer. Bibliographies.

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