Introduction To Human Ecology

Download or read book Introduction to Human Ecology written by George F. Clark and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-28 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Human Ecology written by Frederick R. Steiner and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2016-02-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be—even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and landscape architect Frederick Steiner encourages us to consider how human cultures have been shaped by natural forces, and how we might use this understanding to contribute to a future where both nature and people thrive. Human ecology is the study of the interrelationships between humans and their environment, drawing on diverse fields from biology and geography to sociology, engineering, and architecture. Steiner admirably synthesizes these perspectives through the lens of landscape architecture, a discipline that requires its practitioners to consciously connect humans and their environments. After laying out eight principles for understanding human ecology, the book’s chapters build from the smallest scale of connection—our homes—and expand to community scales, regions, nations, and, ultimately, examine global relationships between people and nature. In this age of climate change, a new approach to planning and design is required to envision a livable future. Human Ecology provides architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners—and students in those fields— with timeless principles for new, creative thinking about how their work can shape a vibrant, resilient future for ourselves and our planet.

Download or read book Human Ecology written by Gerald G Marten and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2010-09-23 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The scope and clarity of this book make it accessible and informative to a wide readership. Its messages should be an essential component of the education for all students from secondary school to university... [It] provides a clear and comprehensible account of concepts that can be applied in our individual and collective lives to pursue the promising and secure future to which we all aspire' From the Foreword by Maurice Strong, Chairman of the Earth Council and former Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) The most important questions of the future will turn on the relationship between human societies and the natural ecosystems on which we all, in the end, depend. The interactions and interdependencies of the social and natural worlds are the focus of growing attention from a wide range of environmental, social and life sciences. Understanding them is critical to achieving the balance involved in sustainable development. Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development presents an extremely clear and accessible account of this complex range of issues and of the concepts and tools required to understand and tackle them. Extensively supported by graphics and detailed examples, this book makes an excellent introduction for students at all levels, and for general readers wanting to know why and how to respond to the dilemmas we face.

Download or read book Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort written by George Kingsley Zipf and published by Ravenio Books. This book was released on 2016-01-27 with total page 637 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic is arranged as follows: Preface 1. The Question of Practical Application. 2. The Question of Natural Science. 1. Introduction and Orientation I. The Selection of a Path II. The “Singleness of the Superlative” III. The Principle of Least Effort IV. The Scope of the Principle: “Tools-and-Jobs” V. Previous Studies VI. Prospectus 2. On the Economy of Words I. In Medias Res: Vocabulary Usage, and the Forces of Unification and Diversification II. The Question of Vocabulary Balance III. The Orderly Distribution of Meanings IV. The Integrality of Frequencies V. The Integrality of Rank VI. The Length of Intervals Between Repetitions VII. The Problem of Spreading Work Over Time (The Even Distribution of Work Over Time) 3. Formal Semantic Balance and the Economy of Evolutionary Process I. The “Minimum Equation” Of Arrangement II. The Law of Abbreviation of Words III. The Law of Diminishing Returns of Tools IV. The Law of Diminishing Returns of Words 4. Children’s Verbalizations and the “Origin of Speech” I. The Problem II. Quantitative Data III. Theoretical Discussion of the “Origin” Of Speech IV. Summary 5. Language as Sensation and Mentation I. The Comparative Conservatism of Tools in the Risks and Opportunities of the Environment II. The Economy of Sensation III. Mentation: The Correlation of Sensory Data IV. A Mind as a Unit Semantic System V. Intellectual Rigidity and Death: Miscellanea V. Summary: The N Minimum 6. The Ego as the “Origin” Of a Frame of Reference I. A Definition of an Organism II. The Biosocial Population of Organisms III. The Economy of Procreation IV. The Synchrony of the Biosocial Continuum 7. Mind and the Economy of Symbolic Process: Sex, Culture, and Schizophrenia I. Human Sexual Activity II. The Economy of Symbolic Process (Substitution III. Culture, Society, and the Superego IV. Autism and the Confusion of Kinds of Reality V. On Schizophrenic Speech VI. Semantic Dynamics: Summary VI. Language and the Structure of the Personality 8. The Language of Dreams and of Art I. The Language of Dreams II. The Language of Art III. Language and the Structure of the Personality: Mary of Part One 9. The Economy of Geography I. A Lemma in Which a Number of Human Beings Becomes Increasingly More Organized II. The Hypothesis of the “Minimum Equation” III. Empiric Tests IV. Concluding Remarks 10. Intranational and International Cooperation and Conflict I. Canadian Data II. Unstable and Stable Intranational Conditions III. Stable and Unstable International Equilibria 11. The Distribution of Economic Power and Social Status I. Theoretical Considerations II. Empiric Data III. The Interaction Between Individuals: Dominance and Submission IV. Summary 12. Prestige Symbols and Cultural Vogues I. Theoretical Considerations II. Pioneer Empiric Data III. Musical Composers and Compositions IV. Samples of Congressional Action V. Summary

Download or read book Human Ecology written by Amos H. Hawley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1986-11-15 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human Ecology: A Theoretical Essay, by Amos Hawley, presents for the first time a unified theory of human ecology by a scholar whose name is virtually synonymous with the discipline. Focused on the interaction between society and environment, human ecology is an attempt to deal holistically with the phenomenon of human organization. Beginning in the first quarter of the century, sociologists such as Park, Burgess, and McKenzie developed the study of human ecology to account for the dynamics of change in American cities. Over time, theorists have reached beyond the boundaries of sociology, drawing on the findings of economics, political science, anthropology, and bioecology, to understand the relationship of human beings to their environment. Hawley has successfully integrated the scattered theses of this wide-ranging discipline into a schematic whole. The early human ecologists seized on the analogy of plant communities as a way of understanding urban communities. Hawley here maintains that the most important contribution to human ecology of the lexicons of plant and animal ecologies is the perspective of collective life as an adaptive process consisting in an interaction of environment, population, and organization. From the adaptive profess, he argues, emerges the ecosystem, a concept that serves as a common denominator for bioecology and human ecology. Hawley has codified the theory of human ecology by a set of deductive hypotheses that establish its claims to coherence and comprehensiveness. His model charts a synthesis of ecological concepts ranging from adaptation and equilibrium through growth in temporal and spatial dimensions to convergence and openness. The essay underscores the critical importance of transportation and communication technology to the shaping of the human ecological system. Human Ecology brings concision and elegance to this holistic perspective and will serve as a point of reference and orientation for anyone interested in the powers and scope of the ecological approach.

Download or read book Introduction to Cultural Ecology written by Mark Q. Sutton and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2004 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is geared toward students and instructors involved in cultural ecology, ecological anthropology, and/or human ecology. While covering basic concepts for beginners, this book also provides a thorough and sophisticated discussion of cultural ecology's history and theory using examples from throughout the world, both historical and contemporary.

Download or read book Human Ecology written by Daniel G. Bates and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-03-29 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book arose from the need to develop accessible research-based case study material which addresses contemporary issues and problems in the rapidly evolving field of human ecology. Academic, political, and, indeed, public interest in the environmental sciences is on the rise. This is no doubt spurred by media coverage of climate change and global warming and attendant natural disasters such as unusual drought and flood conditions, toxic dust storms, pollution of air and water, and the like. But there is also a growing intellectual awareness of the social causes of anthropogenic environmental impacts, political vectors in determining conser- tion outcomes, and the role of local representations of ecological knowledge in resource management and sustainable yield production. This is reflected in the rapid increase of ecology courses being taught at leading universities in the fa- growing developing countries much as was the case a decade or two ago in Europe and North America. The research presented here is all taken from recent issues of Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Since the journal itself is a leading forum for cont- porary research, the articles we have selected represent a cross-section of work which brings the perspectives of human ecology to bear on current problems being faced around the world. The chapters are organized in such a way to facilitate the use of this volume either to teach a course or to introduce an informed reader to the field.