Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Problems / Edition 1

by Iver Mysterud

Overview

The twenty-first century presents an increasing number of environmental problems, including toxic pollution, global warming, destruction of tropical forests, extinction of biological diversity, and depletion of natural resources. These environmental problems are generally due to human behavior, namely over-consumption of resources and overpopulation. Designing effective policies to address these problems requires a deep understanding of human behavior as well as ecology. This in turn requires considerations of human nature, and the evolutionary "design" of the human mind.

Evolutionary research on human behavior has profound implications for the environmental sciences. The aim of this collection is to bring together a variety of chapters that show how and why. Part 1, "Human Nature and Resource Conservation," addresses environmental problems from different evolutionary perspectives. Part 2, "The Ecological Noble Savage Hypothesis," examines the notion that our environmental problems are due to Western culture, and that our ancestors and people in indigenous societies lived in harmony with nature until the corrupting influences of Western culture. Part 3, "The Tragedy of the Commons," explores the conservation of common-pool or open-access natural resources, such as fisheries, forests, grazing lands, freshwater, and clean air. Part 4, "The Evolution of Discounting and Conspicuous Consumption," looks at the problem of explaining why people are so ecologically short-sighted and why people in developed countries consume so many resources. Part 5, "Overpopulation and Fertility Declines," addresses the evolution of human reproductive decisions. Part 6, "Biophilia," aims to explain why people cherish nature as well as destroy it.

The goal of this volume is to introduce environmental thinkers to evolutionary perspectives on human behavior, and the new interdisciplinary sciences of evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology. This reader aims to help bridge the artificial division between the biological and social sciences, and provide a synthesis between evolutionary sciences of human behavior and environmental sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780202307541
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2006
Series:	Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior Series
Pages:	378
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dustin J. Penn is director, Konrad Lorenz Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. Iver Mysterud is biologist and researcher at the Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Norway.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1: Human Nature and Resource Conservation; 1: Human Behavioural Ecology and Environmental Conservation; 2: The Evolved Psychological Apparatus of Human Decision-Making is One Source of Environmental Problems; 2: The Ecological Noble Savage Hypothesis; 3: Game Conservation or Efficient Hunting?; 4: Behavioral Ecology of Conservation in Traditional Societies; 5: Evolutionary Ecology and Resource Conservation; 3: The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons; 6: The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons; 7: Closing the Commons; 8: Revisiting the Commons; 9: Grassland Conservation and the Pastoralist Commons; 4: The Evolution of Discounting and Conspicuous Consumption; 10: Conserving Resources For Children; 11: Two Truths about Discounting and Their Environmental Consequences; 12: Sex Differences in Valuations of the Environment?; 13: The Evolution of Magnanimity; 5: Overpopulation and Fertility Declines; 14: Evolutionary Economics of Human Reproduction; 15: More Status or More Children? Social Status, Fertility Reduction, and Long-Term Fitness; 16: The Demographic Transition; 6: Biophilia; 17: Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic; 18: Human Behavioral Ecology; Conclusion: Integrating the Biological and Social Sciences to Address Environmental Problems

Editorial Reviews

"Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Problems describes a range of research taking an evolutionary perspective on the crucial and timely problem of environmental degradation.They also illustrate both the power and weaknesses of evolutionary reasoning." — Robert Boyd, Department of Anthropology, University of California "Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Problems describes a range of research taking an evolutionary perspective on the crucial and timely problem of environmental degradationThey also illustrate both the power and weaknesses of evolutionary reasoning." —Robert Boyd, Trends in Ecology and Evolution

From the Publisher