In this chapter students will learn

• the connections between anthropology and sustainability.
• useful definitions of sustainability that resonate with the anthropological perspective.
• how anthropologists have approached the study of peoples and ecosystems throughout the history of the discipline of anthropology.
• some of the current frameworks in environmental anthropology, including the study of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and ethnoecology.
• the importance for anthropologists of some of the major issues in sustainability studies.
• ways that anthropologists can help inform the discussion about a sustainable future.

Introduction
Anthropologists are uniquely suited to study sustainability issues due to their focus on humans in their environments and the connections between local issues and global processes.

History of Human-Environmental Issues
As hunter-gatherers, humans lived within the limits of what the environment could produce. With the rise of cultivation and later, full-blown agriculture, the environment came to be seen as a resource to be exploited for human purposes. In the last several hundred years, and especially during the mid-twentieth century, consumption of natural resources has exploded, leaving environmental degradation in its wake. This ecological collapse is coupled with a cultural shift toward individualism.

Defining Sustainability
While there are many ways to define sustainability, a definition that resonates with the anthropological perspective must take into account whether people get their environmental, social, and economic needs met. This echoes the Iroquois notion of considering the impact of decisions made today on the next seven generations. The most fundamental of these “pillars” of sustainability is environmental, since access to natural resources is crucial for all aspects of society.

Anthropological Approaches to Sustainability Studies
Since the early years of the discipline, anthropologists have approached the adaptations of humans to their environments in different ways. These frameworks include Julian Steward’s cultural ecology, ecological anthropology and systems theory, political ecology, and environmental anthropology. Within environmental anthropology, practitioners may subscribe to an ethnoecological approach. They also may contribute to the growing body of Traditional Ecological Knowledge that can be used by external sources.

Issues in Sustainability Studies
Population growth is at the heart of sustainability issues because it is closely correlated with environmental degradation, increased consumption, and economic growth. Globalization of food and increased consumption of commodities in developed countries has also increased the demands placed on the resources of developing countries. The industrialization of food production has also created problems for developed countries, including a lack of transparency and unequal access to fresh food.

How Can Anthropologists Help?
Anthropologists are in the position to spread awareness and knowledge based on their training in anthropology, their ability to disseminate information to the wider public, and the fact that most anthropologists teach on college and university campuses and have the power to engage the next generation.

1. What are some of the unique contributions that the study of anthropology can make to the discussion of sustainability solutions?

2. How have the ways that anthropologists approach ecological studies changed over the years?

3. How is the loss of biodiversity encouraging current studies of ethnoecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge?

4. Why is population growth a fundamental problem for sustainability?

5. What are the pros and cons of the globalized food economy?

1. The health of our planet’s oceans is suffering due to human practices. How has global use of the ocean resulted in a “tragedy of the commons?”

2. Can you think of ways that alternative food movements are aligned with Bodley’s idea of “culture scale?”

3. Have you had a personal experience that caused you to think differently about nature or our place in it?

Anthropocene a proposed geological period to describe the years in which humans have had a significant impact on the environment, observable in the geological record; there is no consensus on the validity of the term to describe the geological period or when such a period began

closed-loop system a system that has finite resources and cannot sustain indefinite growth

child labor the exploitation of a child’s labor for business or industry, especially when interfering with the ability of the child to attend school and when the work is physically, emotionally, or morally inhumane

cultural ecology a framework of understanding culture by examining the limitations of the environment and food-getting practices

culture core a set of features of culture that are similar in societies practicing the same food-getting strategies; an aspect of the cultural ecology model

culture scale the scope or reach of culture; implied is the idea that smaller-scale societies are more sustainable than larger-scale societies

ecological anthropology a framework of understanding culture that uses systems theory to understand a population as a closed-loop system

economic sustainability the ability of the economy to support indefinite growth while ensuring a minimum quality of life for all members of society

environmental anthropologist an anthropologist interested in the relationships between people and the environment

environmental sustainability the ability of the environment to renew resources and accommodate waste at the same rate at which resources are used and waste is generated

ethnoecologist a person who studies the interactions a group of people has with their natural environment, focusing especially on the use of flora and fauna

flexitarian diet describing a diet that is primarily vegetarian but does not exclude infrequent consumption of meat

food insecure not always having access to food; not knowing where the next meal might come from

genetically modified (GM) altered at the level of the gene; refers particularly to food crops that have been modified by introducing genes from another organism to enhance or create desired traits in the species

globalization the integration of economic, social, political, and geographic boundaries in complex chains of interconnected systems and processes

human ecology the study of the complex relationships between humans and their environments

locavore describing a diet based on locally produced foods

Margaret Mead pioneering figure in early cultural anthropology; one of the first female anthropologists to undertake long-term fieldwork

nature versus nurture the debate over which aspects of human life are fixed in one’s genetic makeup, and which are learned through culture

paradigm set of concepts; a model

participatory action research an applied anthropological method of field research and implementation of solutions; relies on close collaboration with the target community

political ecology a framework of understanding culture that focuses on the complex relationships between the environment, economics, and politics

privatization selling ownership of public resources to private companies

social sustainability the ability of social systems (such as families, communities, regions, or nations) to provide for the needs of their people so that they can attain a stable and healthy standard of living

sustainability the ability to keep something in existence, to support a practice indefinitely

systems theory a model of understanding an ecosystem that assumes the ecosystem is a closed-loop system with finite resources

three pillars of sustainability a model of sustainable development with three components: sustainability of the environment, society, and the economy

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) the collective and cumulative knowledge that a group of people has gained over many generations living in their particular ecosystem

tragedy of the commons the idea that individual actors sharing a natural resource will inevitably act in their own best interest, eventually depleting the resource

veganism a diet containing no animal products, including dairy and eggs

vegetarianism a meat-free diet

worldview the way a group understands and interprets the world; includes all aspects of their culture

Fratkin, E., & Mearns, R. (2003). Sustainability and pastoral livelihoods: Lessons from East African Maasai and Mongolia. Human Organization 62(2),112-122.

Haenn, N., & Wilk, R. (2006). The Environment in Anthropology. New York, NY: New York University.

Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science 162, 1243-1248.

Inda, J.X., & Rosaldo, R. (2008). The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Jacques, P. (2014). Sustainability: The Basics. New York, NY: Routledge.

Mander, J., & Tauli-Corpuz, V. (2006). Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

Maybury-Lewis, D. (1992). Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. New York, NY: Viking Adult.

Moran, E. (2006). People and Nature: An Introduction to Human Ecological Relations. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Nützenadel, A., & Trentmann, F. (2008). Food and Globalization: Consumption, Markets and Politics in the Modern World. New York, NY: Berg.

Townsend, P.K. (2000). Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies (2^nd edition). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Anthropology and Environment Section of the AAA (AE)
aaanet.org/sections/ae

The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
cloudinstitute.org

Cultural Survival
culturalsurvival.org

Earth Policy Institute: Plan B Updates
earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
www.iucn.org

National Water Footprint
waterfootprint.org/?page=cal/waterfootprintcalculator_national

UNESCO Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
www.unesco.org/education/tlsf

United Nations Millennium Development Goals
un.org/millenniumgoals

United States Census Bureau Population Clock
census.gov/popclock

WWF Living Planet Report
wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report

1. What are the central tenets of sustainability and how has it been defined in different ways?

2. What are the differences between the three pillars of sustainability and the concentric model of sustainability?

3. What is the “tragedy of the commons”? Provide an example of this phenomenon and of people contesting this phenomenon.

4. What is cultural ecology and what is its significance?

5. What is Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)? Is the study of TEK positive or negative?

6. What is the connection between economic growth and environmental degradation?

7. How has industrialization and globalization affected food systems?

8. Describe examples of food production concerns and inequalities in developed nations.

9. How can anthropologists help the development of sustainable systems? Provide examples.

Answers

1. Answers should demonstrate an understanding of the common aspects of sustainability, while acknowledging that it has been differently defined by various peoples and times. The central tenet of sustainability is the ability to keep something in existence indefinitely. Some of the varied definitions can include the following:

• The 1987 Brundtland Commission of the United Nations defined it as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
• Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) peoples believe that people today are stewards of future resources of the planet for the seventh generation to come.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines it as creating and maintaining the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony that meets the requirements of present and future generations.

See pages 354-356 of your text.

2. Answers should describe both models in detail and then discuss the significant differences between them.

• Three Pillars of Sustainability
• To be sustainable, development would need to support social, environmental, and economic aspects of life.
• There are outcomes that are based on two successful pillars (e.g., when environment interfaces with society, life would be bearable); however, all three pillars are required for sustainability.
• Concentric Model of Sustainability
• Adapted from the Three Pillars approach.
• Places greater emphasis on the environment; without a healthy environment, social and economic systems would not function.
• Assumes that the environment is the priority, and an interface between social and economic systems is secondary.

See pages 356-357 of your text.

3. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand the tragedy of the commons and how it develops. Your examples should clearly illustrate this phenomenon.

• The tragedy of the commons is a concept developed by Garrett Hardin. It refers to the loss of common or shared resources due to overpopulation.
• As people want to increase their own wealth, they use a greater share of the common resources. As individual wealth increases, the common resources decrease until none are left.
• The most common example of this phenomenon is the use of common pastures to graze cattle by herdsmen and farmers. The herds eventually increased until the common pastures were overgrazed and depleted. The common pastures either disappeared or were privatized as a result.
• An example countering this phenomenon can be seen among farmers in rural South India, who cooperate to follow a strict set of guidelines governing shared irrigation.

See pages 358-359 of your text.

4. Your answer should demonstrate that you clearly understand the history and principles of cultural ecology, as well as the developments that have resulted from this concept. This should include the following:

• Cultural ecology was developed by Julian Steward and is considered the first paradigm based on the interaction between people and their environment.
• It is based on the idea that people and culture are shaped by, and dependent on, the specifics of their environment.
• Food-getting directly affected all aspects of life and framed the culture core. All other aspects of culture and society developed from this core.
• For example, among the Shoshone, hunting and foraging were both required for the society to survive, and these activities were divided along gender lines. The gender divide pervaded all other aspects of Shoshone society and culture.
• Cultural ecology was the first established model of multilinear cultural evolution — the idea that all cultures developed independently within their own specific environment. This was contrasted with unilinear evolution — the idea that all cultures developed along the same cultural and technological trajectory.

See pages 359-362 of your text.

5. Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of TEK and the potential outcomes of its study. This should include the following:

• TEK is the study of the collective and cumulative knowledge that a group of people have gained by living in their particular ecosystem.
• TEK undermines stereotypes of “simple” or “natural” lives of Indigenous peoples, while emphasizing the knowledge that they have gained about their environment.
• TEK can be used as a positive or negative thing, based upon how it is contextualized.
• If framed properly, it can provide insights into how local ecosystems are interconnected and provide tools for managing the long-term sustainability of a given area.
• If taken out of context and presented as individual factoids, TEK data can be misconstrued and misused to damage the interconnected nature of local ecosystems and disenfranchise Indigenous groups.

See pages 362-365 of your text.

6. You answer should demonstrate an understanding of both concepts and how they are interconnected. Your answer should include the following:

• There is an inverse relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation.
• As developed nations consume more resources, fewer resources are available for the middle and lower income nations.
• Usually, middle and lower income nations are exploited to supply the required resources for the more developed nations.
• Since the ecological footprint of the more developed nations increased dramatically in the 1950s, the world biocapacity has steadily decreased.
• Presently, there are not enough resources to sustain the present level of resource utilization.

See page 357 and 359-366 of your text.

7. Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of how both of these phenomena have affected food systems. Generally, since globalization is embedded within structural inequalities, the poorest people suffer the most. There are three major transformations that have affected food access since globalization:

• Food production and distribution is embedded within a growing network of global interdependency.
• Developed nations have better nutrition due to a better availability of diverse foods.
• In underdeveloped nations, the elite benefit from the global trade, while the majority of people suffer economically and nutritionally.

See pages 367-371 of your text.

8. Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of food production systems in developed nations, as well as how food inequalities function. This could include these two points:

• Food production:
• In developed nations, people are removed from food production processes and often do not understand where their food comes from or how it was grown
• There are fewer environmental and labor protections in developing nations.
• Some people are able to follow deliberate eating practices and choose foods where production has less social and environmental impact.
• Food inequality:
• Not everyone has access to food options that allow for a reconnection with food production systems.
• Generally, in poorer neighborhoods the options of where to buy food are more limited. These food deserts often have a higher ratio of fast food restaurants or stores that exclusively sell processed foods.
• Healthy foods tend to be more expensive than less nutritious options.

See pages 367-371 of your text.

9. Your answer should acknowledge that the long-range and holistic perspective that connects local and global systems is a major strength of anthropology that can help the development of sustainable systems. Your answer should also include the following:

• Anthropological methodologies are inherently focused on learning about people and their connection to their environment through long-term observation. This can illuminate the consequences that environmental and systems changes have for people.
• Anthropology has the ability to engage with the general public through personal stories to encourage people to consider the consequences of actions or developments.
• Anthropology is taught at college and university levels, and so has the opportunity to affect a large number of students and the campus community.
• Some examples:
• John Brodley has argued that the study of the successes of small-scale tribal societies can serve as a guiding model for the development of future sustainable development models.
• Margaret Mead brought the nature vs. nurture debate to the general public and people are still engaged with these results today.
• Peggy Barlett developed sustainability workshops at Emory University to engage the campus community with the local geography and ecosystem in the general region.

See pages 371-371 of your text.

1. In what way are anthropology and sustainability studies similar?

• a) They are both considered soft sciences and are often given separate departments on campuses.
• b) They both put people in the center of their research and recognize that there are multiple ways to approach any issue.
• c) They had the same founder who created both disciplines at the same time, but it would only be decades later that sustainability studies became more widespread.
• d) They are both primarily focused on the environment and the geological impacts that have occurred since the earth was formed.

2. What happened at the beginning of “The Great Acceleration”?

• a) Deforestation and destruction of the world’s ecosystems at unprecedented rates.
• b) Colonial endeavors took over more than half of the world’s Indigenous populations.
• c) Glaciers began melting at an unprecedented rate, causing rising water levels.
• d) Globalization officially began, linking international food systems and intertwined networks.

3. Which of the following is not on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list?

• a) Overharvesting the oceans, reducing the population of large predatory fish by over 90 per cent.
• b) The amount of resources used, equaling 1.5 earths, meaning we use resources faster than they can regenerate.
• c) The deaths of over two million people every year because of preventable pollution and related diseases.
• d) The lack of CSAs in less developed nations.

4. The three pillars of sustainable development are

• a) privatization, public awareness, and policy.
• b) farming, purifying, and recycling.
• c) social, environmental, and economic.
• d) cultural, geological, and political.

5. Hardin’s analogy of the “tragedy of the commons” used what examples to illustrate his point?

• a) Fish and the ocean.
• b) Actors and the stage.
• c) Herdsmen and their cattle.
• d) Farmers and their crops.

6. What is the relationship between cultural ecology and ecological anthropology?

• a) The subdiscipline of cultural ecology was created as a challenge to the subdiscipline of ecological anthropology, suggesting that evolution was multilinear instead of linear.
• b) Researchers must choose between cultural ecology and ecological anthropology when they conduct environmental fieldwork; although both kinds of research are acceptable, they use vastly different methodologies and thus require different skill sets.
• c) Ecological anthropology was created first, in order to categorize studies being conducted by anthropologists focusing on the environment. Cultural ecology is a more modern offshoot of ecological anthropology, focusing on the specifics of how people affect their local ecosystems.
• d) The theory of cultural ecology challenged previous universal evolution paradigms and eventually became the basis for a subfield of anthropology that examines a group’s adaptations to their particular environmental challenges.

7. If someone focuses on Indigenous understandings of local flora and fauna, they would be in the field of

• a) agroforestry.
• b) cultural ecology.
• c) political ecology.
• d) ethnoecology.

8. As the world’s population continues to grow, the ecological footprint of high-income countries differs dramatically from low-income countries. As a consequence, the world’s biocapacity

• a) increases.
• b) remains the same.
• c) decreases.
• d) is not affected.

Answers

1. b

Feedback: Both anthropologists and sustainability researchers put people at the center of their research and focus on how people live: what works for them in terms of adaptive strategies and what doesn’t work (both today and in the past). Both fields also recognize that for any issue there are multiple ways to understand and engage with it.

See page 350.

2. a

Feedback: In a period economists call “The Great Acceleration,” after 1950, demands for fuel, food, timber, water, and other natural resources exploded. This was primarily due to the growth of populations and human consumption.

See page 353.

3. d

Feedback: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) compiled a list of human impacts on the biosphere. This document examines the state of the world’s natural resources today.

See page 354.

4. c

Feedback: Sustainable development is often referred to as having three components. These different components were named the three pillars of sustainability at the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992.

See pages 356-357.

5. c

Feedback: In Hardin’s original analogy, the commons refers to an open pasture shared by herdsmen and their cattle.

See page 358.

6. d

Feedback: Julian Steward developed a paradigm based on the interactions of people in their particular environments. His ideas came out of a major debate in anthropology regarding how much of a people’s culture developed in direct response to environmental pressures. Steward’s cultural ecology model eventually transformed into a field called ecological anthropology.

See pages 359-362.

7. d

Feedback: Researchers who identify themselves as ethnoecologists tend to emphasize traditional peoples’ knowledge of flora and fauna. In particular, ethnoecology tends to focus on native concepts of plants and their uses for food, medicine, or ritual.

See page 365.

8. c

Feedback: There is a decreasing ability of the earth’s resources to support life (identified as world biocapacity). High-income countries have greater impact on the decreasing ability of the earth to provide the resources to support life.

See pages 365-367.