Abstract
In People and Nature, Emilio Moran concisely and forcefully brings decades of research on anthropology and the environment to bear on global climatic and environmental change. As he explains in the preface, “while the book does not follow the usual organization for an introduction to human ecology, cultural ecology, or ecological anthropology text, the book covers much of this material in what I hope is a more engaging organization” (xi). Moran succeeds in this aim: the book has an air of urgency, opening with an account of the scale of human effects on the environment and the dramatic changes of the last fifty years. The chapters that follow introduce many classic topics in human ecology, but reframe and illuminate them in relation to the current crisis. Moran's writing style is accessible and engaging. I used the text successfully in an environmental anthropology course with undergraduates with a mix of social science and natural science backgrounds. Despite its exorbitant price, it proved to be a popular text, and one that—because it does cover classic topics—integrated well with an existing syllabus. It is suitable for teaching at all levels, and would be a valuable text for scholars in other disciplines and general readers seeking an overview of anthropological approaches to human ecology.
All too often, authors who aim to review the literature on a topic end up citing works without explaining their content adequately. Here Moran's work shines: he manages to review a vast literature while integrating it into his own arguments. The references flow smoothly in the text, so that readers new to the material are unlikely to be overwhelmed with the volume of references, or frustrated by citations that simply allude to unstated arguments that the reader is expected to know.
The first chapter, “Human Agency and the State of the Earth,” succinctly provides data on the scale and increasing rate of contemporary human-induced environmental change, then dispenses with the fantasy that one can “think of ecological systems in the absence of human agents” (9). The next two chapters focus on material that might be conventionally covered under the heading of modes of subsistence (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, etc.), grounding it in the question of how human evolution and history can inform our understanding of contemporary human-dominated ecosystems.
Chapter four, “The Web of Life: Are We In It?” focuses on the ecosystem concept and land use change, illustrated primarily with the Brazilian Amazon, while chapter five, “What Makes People Do That?” opens with a discussion of Rappaport's Pigs for the Ancestors, but ties it to the broader question of how people learn from, adapt to, and decide to transform their environments. The chapter also covers the issue of population and demographic transition. Chapter six then draws on the literature on community, institutions, and common property, to ask both locally and globally about what conditions might enable sustainable resource use and management.
Chapters seven and eight are probably the most innovative in their content as well as their framing: here Moran focuses on issues of consumption and quality of life, particularly changes in housing, diet and transportation among the middle classes over the last 50 years, calling for a “rethinking of patterns of consumption” (148). Chapter eight, “Quality of Life: When Less is More,” offers a selection of possible solutions, most of which are grounded in changes in individual consumption: “change must begin with us, and from there to our families, our communities, our regions and on upwards” (170).
There is little in chapter eight with which I would disagree, particularly as it (partially) offers tangible suggestions for readers to “make a difference.” At the same time, though, I was frustrated that regulatory and other state-based solutions were largely absent or underplayed—it is as if Moran were conceding to a neoliberal understanding of the role of the state (or perhaps giving up on the possibility of state-led change under the current U.S. administration). For teaching purposes, though, this makes the text particularly useful: by chapter eight, most students are likely to be convinced of the urgency of addressing global environmental changes, so one can raise the question of whether Moran's solutions are adequate, and invite students to consider alternative or more radical options.