Pub Date : 2021-04-12DOI: 10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.08
R. Lawrence
This article criticizes the framework provided by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, commonly used to implement sustainable development goals (SDGs). We argue that instrumental rationalism has been used to define cause–effect relations between “means” (all kinds of resources) and “ends” (the goals and targets) involved in implementing sustainable development. This linear thinking, commonly used during the last century, is applied again in the current agenda. Hence, too little attention has been attributed to human intentions, motives, preferences, and fundamental values that frame the constitution of societal institutions and structures, as well as individual and collective behaviors. These core constituents of human ecology are barriers to a new eco–social contact that endorses radical societal change for implementing sustainable development. Our research shows that innovative contributions are being achieved by local authorities and community-based initiatives in contrast to the denial and inertia of many national governments, public administrations, and private enterprises.
{"title":"Overcoming Barriers to Implementing Sustainable Development Goals: Human Ecology Matters","authors":"R. Lawrence","doi":"10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.08","url":null,"abstract":"This article criticizes the framework provided by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, commonly used to implement sustainable development goals (SDGs). We argue that instrumental rationalism has been used to define cause–effect relations between “means” (all kinds of resources) and “ends” (the goals and targets) involved in implementing sustainable development. This linear thinking, commonly used during the last century, is applied again in the current agenda. Hence, too little attention has been attributed to human intentions, motives, preferences, and fundamental values that frame the constitution of societal institutions and structures, as well as individual and collective behaviors. These core constituents of human ecology are barriers to a new eco–social contact that endorses radical societal change for implementing sustainable development. Our research shows that innovative contributions are being achieved by local authorities and community-based initiatives in contrast to the denial and inertia of many national governments, public administrations, and private enterprises.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"26 1","pages":"95-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47688828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-12DOI: 10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.11
S. McGregor
Broadening theoretical and methodological underpinnings will help human ecology professionals remain effective in responding to complex crises facing humanity (e.g., climate change, environmental degradation, social inequality). Diversified theoretical offerings strengthen academic and professional work, because diversity drives innovation in practice. This paper explores transdisciplinary human ecology, a neologism proposed in the early 1990s by both ecological scientists and home economists. After describing home economics and ecological sciences’ approaches to human ecology theory, the Nicolescuian transdisciplinary methodology, and transdisciplinary human ecology as conceived by home economics and ecological sciences, the paper shifts to an inaugural discussion of how human ecology theory can be augmented with Nicolescuian transdisciplinary axioms and transdisciplinary human ecology. This paper served as a seed catalyzing the uptake of transdisciplinary human ecology.
{"title":"Conceptualizing Transdisciplinary Human Ecology","authors":"S. McGregor","doi":"10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.11","url":null,"abstract":"Broadening theoretical and methodological underpinnings will help human ecology professionals remain effective in responding to complex crises facing humanity (e.g., climate change, environmental degradation, social inequality). Diversified theoretical offerings strengthen academic and professional work, because diversity drives innovation in practice. This paper explores transdisciplinary human ecology, a neologism proposed in the early 1990s by both ecological scientists and home economists. After describing home economics and ecological sciences’ approaches to human ecology theory, the Nicolescuian transdisciplinary methodology, and transdisciplinary human ecology as conceived by home economics and ecological sciences, the paper shifts to an inaugural discussion of how human ecology theory can be augmented with Nicolescuian transdisciplinary axioms and transdisciplinary human ecology. This paper served as a seed catalyzing the uptake of transdisciplinary human ecology.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"26 1","pages":"159-178"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48142357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-12DOI: 10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.10
William Lytle, Chelsea Schelly, Kristin M. Floress, R. Shwom, K. Halvorsen
Research on environmentally consequential human decision-making often begins from the premise that consumption decisions are motivated by individual values. However, we argue that social science research aiming to understand consumer decision-making will benefit from integrating the lived experiences of people in households, where decisions are often influenced or mitigated by the presence of those who share homes. Conducting research on consumption decisions regarding household resources revealed the embedded nature of these decisions, which are situated in the context of the socially contingent dynamics of residential life. In this paper, we identify five social dynamic processes that influence consumption within the household: (1) referring, (2) norming, (3) enhancing, (4) constraining, and (5) allocating. These processes, embedded within the dynamic social relationships of the residential household, moderate household resource use in ways that future social science research may strive to better understand.
{"title":"Environmental Decision-Making Shaped by the Home: Situating Consumption in the Household","authors":"William Lytle, Chelsea Schelly, Kristin M. Floress, R. Shwom, K. Halvorsen","doi":"10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.10","url":null,"abstract":"Research on environmentally consequential human decision-making often begins from the premise that consumption decisions are motivated by individual values. However, we argue that social science research aiming to understand consumer decision-making will benefit from integrating the lived experiences of people in households, where decisions are often influenced or mitigated by the presence of those who share homes. Conducting research on consumption decisions regarding household resources revealed the embedded nature of these decisions, which are situated in the context of the socially contingent dynamics of residential life. In this paper, we identify five social dynamic processes that influence consumption within the household: (1) referring, (2) norming, (3) enhancing, (4) constraining, and (5) allocating. These processes, embedded within the dynamic social relationships of the residential household, moderate household resource use in ways that future social science research may strive to better understand.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"26 1","pages":"141-157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48190082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-12DOI: 10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.09
Maggie Leon-Corwin, M. Clement, C. L. Smith
Suburban metropolitan areas across the United States have become racially diverse. We examine this novel spatial demography in relation to pollution levels across census tracts within the greater Houston area for the year 2015. We integrate a multigroup measure of racial diversity (the Entropy Index) with information on pollution levels from the Toxics Release Inventory. Maps of these two variables show that racial diversity tends to be higher in the Houston suburbs where pollution levels tend to be lower. Indeed, across five different spatial regression models, we find that tract-level racial diversity is negatively correlated with pollution levels, controlling for a host of other factors, including population size and land area. We outline this finding as a human ecology approach to urban environmental inequality; specifically, we speculate that recent demographic shifts, like the “back-to-the-city” movement, are modifying the dynamics of environmental inequality in cities.
{"title":"Are Global Neighborhoods in Houston Less Polluted? A Spatial Analysis of Twenty-First-Century Urban Demographics","authors":"Maggie Leon-Corwin, M. Clement, C. L. Smith","doi":"10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.09","url":null,"abstract":"Suburban metropolitan areas across the United States have become racially diverse. We examine this novel spatial demography in relation to pollution levels across census tracts within the greater Houston area for the year 2015. We integrate a multigroup measure of racial diversity (the Entropy Index) with information on pollution levels from the Toxics Release Inventory. Maps of these two variables show that racial diversity tends to be higher in the Houston suburbs where pollution levels tend to be lower. Indeed, across five different spatial regression models, we find that tract-level racial diversity is negatively correlated with pollution levels, controlling for a host of other factors, including population size and land area. We outline this finding as a human ecology approach to urban environmental inequality; specifically, we speculate that recent demographic shifts, like the “back-to-the-city” movement, are modifying the dynamics of environmental inequality in cities.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"26 1","pages":"117-139"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43317110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-12DOI: 10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.07
Hannah Barrowman, J. Butler
Community-based adaptation (CBA) is a common policy response in international development yet often encounters challenges with implementation and longevity. Using a human ecology and systems thinking framework and data from the Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP), implemented in Akar Akar village, Indonesia, this study explores the drivers of challenges affecting CBA. Results demonstrate that challenges affecting CBA are numerous, interconnected, and can derive from the disconnect between the world views of implementors and the politics, social structures, and historical processes influencing local activities. Challenges encountered in the CCAP project, for example, were found to derive from the implementors’ emphasis on agency, self-organization, and responsibilization of women as a way to alleviate community poverty and improve adaptive capacity and its failure to comprehend the sociopolitical position of women in Akar Akar. With these findings in hand, this study advocates the use of systems thinking in future CBA research and intervention design.
{"title":"Beyond Challenges in Community-Based Adaptation: Critical Insights from the Human Ecology Framework","authors":"Hannah Barrowman, J. Butler","doi":"10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/HER.26.01.2020.07","url":null,"abstract":"Community-based adaptation (CBA) is a common policy response in international development yet often encounters challenges with implementation and longevity. Using a human ecology and systems thinking framework and data from the Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP), implemented in Akar Akar village, Indonesia, this study explores the drivers of challenges affecting CBA. Results demonstrate that challenges affecting CBA are numerous, interconnected, and can derive from the disconnect between the world views of implementors and the politics, social structures, and historical processes influencing local activities. Challenges encountered in the CCAP project, for example, were found to derive from the implementors’ emphasis on agency, self-organization, and responsibilization of women as a way to alleviate community poverty and improve adaptive capacity and its failure to comprehend the sociopolitical position of women in Akar Akar. With these findings in hand, this study advocates the use of systems thinking in future CBA research and intervention design.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"26 1","pages":"73-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45847192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-19DOI: 10.22459/her.25.02.2019.04
Jonathan W. Thurston
Current scholarship surrounding the predator mythos in culture and literature suggests a distinctive binary of wild–domestic. Scholars often argue that the uniquely terrifying aspect of the predator is in its unconscious capacity to invade our standards of civilization, disrupt order, and pass our final frontier of fear: that of being eaten alive. Other scholars, too, tend to read the terror of these predators with an almost colonial analysis, centering around the concept of the predators’ ulterior motive to flip the cultural hierarchy of human above animals. However, what these scholars often neglect are the physiological and evolutionary drives that ultimately construct a genetic response to these predators’ general anatomical outlines and features. As we undertake the crucial work of understanding humans’ perceptions of their place in their environment, it is important to recognize that, aside from discussions of culturally constructed paradigms of dominance, we too are animals, with primal responses to our environmental conditions. These instinctive responses must be acknowledged as playing a part in our view of the “wild.” The scholarship on predator–human interactions necessitates a close study of such relations. In horror texts—literature, films, video games, and other media—the depiction of fearful “beasts” relies on anatomically deconstructing the image of the predator to highlight key predatory features that generate instinctive responses in the audience. On display, in the horror genre, is the anatomy of our fear of predators.
{"title":"The Face of the Beast: Bestial Descriptions and Psychological Response in Horror Literature","authors":"Jonathan W. Thurston","doi":"10.22459/her.25.02.2019.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22459/her.25.02.2019.04","url":null,"abstract":"Current scholarship surrounding the predator mythos in culture and literature suggests a distinctive binary of wild–domestic. Scholars often argue that the uniquely terrifying aspect of the predator is in its unconscious capacity to invade our standards of civilization, disrupt order, and pass our final frontier of fear: that of being eaten alive. Other scholars, too, tend to read the terror of these predators with an almost colonial analysis, centering around the concept of the predators’ ulterior motive to flip the cultural hierarchy of human above animals. However, what these scholars often neglect are the physiological and evolutionary drives that ultimately construct a genetic response to these predators’ general anatomical outlines and features. As we undertake the crucial work of understanding humans’ perceptions of their place in their environment, it is important to recognize that, aside from discussions of culturally constructed paradigms of dominance, we too are animals, with primal responses to our environmental conditions. These instinctive responses must be acknowledged as playing a part in our view of the “wild.” The scholarship on predator–human interactions necessitates a close study of such relations. In horror texts—literature, films, video games, and other media—the depiction of fearful “beasts” relies on anatomically deconstructing the image of the predator to highlight key predatory features that generate instinctive responses in the audience. On display, in the horror genre, is the anatomy of our fear of predators.","PeriodicalId":46896,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology Review","volume":"25 1","pages":"35-48"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2019-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49433387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}