The Cultural Value of Trees
The Cultural Value of Trees

Author: Jeffrey Wall

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-01

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1000592480

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This volume focuses on the tree, as a cultural and biological form, and examines the concept of folk value and its implications for biocultural conservation. Folk value refers to the value of the more-than-human living world to cultural cohesion and survival, as opposed to individual well-being. This field of value, comprising cosmological, aesthetic, eco-erotic, sentimental, mnemonic value and much more, serves as powerful motivation for the local performance of environmental care. The motivation to maintain and conserve ecology for the purpose of cultural survival will be the central focus of this book, as the conditions of the Anthropocene urgently require the identification, understanding and support of enduring, self-perpetuating biocultural associations. The geographical scope is broad with chapters discussing different tree species from the Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia, Eurasia and Australia and Africa. By focusing on the tree, one of the most reliably cross-culturally-valued and cross-culturally-recognized biological forms, and one which invariably defines expansive landscapes, this work illuminates how folk value binds the survival of more-than-human life forms with the survival of specific peoples in the era of biocultural loss, the Anthropocene. As such, this collection of cross-cultural cases of tree folk value represents a low hanging fruit for the larger project of exploring the power of cultural value of the more-than-human living world. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of conservation, biodiversity, biocultural studies and environmental anthropology.

Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration
Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration

Author: Dave Egan

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1610910397

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When it comes to implementing successful ecological restoration projects, the social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions are often as important as-and sometimes more important than-technical or biophysical knowledge. Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration takes an interdisciplinary look at the myriad human aspects of ecological restoration. In twenty-six chapters written by experts from around the world, it provides practical and theoretical information, analysis, models, and guidelines for optimizing human involvement in restoration projects. Six categories of social activities are examined: collaboration between land manager and stakeholders ecological economics volunteerism and community-based restoration environmental education ecocultural and artistic practices policy and politics For each category, the book offers an introductory theoretical chapter followed by multiple case studies, each of which focuses on a particular aspect of the category and provides a perspective from within a unique social/political/cultural setting. Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration delves into the often-neglected aspects of ecological restoration that ultimately make the difference between projects that are successfully executed and maintained with the support of informed, engaged citizens, and those that are unable to advance past the conceptual stage due to misunderstandings or apathy. The lessons contained will be valuable to restoration veterans and greenhorns alike, scholars and students in a range of fields, and individuals who care about restoring their local lands and waters.

Ecological Law in Practice
Ecological Law in Practice

Author: Geoffrey Garver

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-21

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1040175988

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This book presents a series of "ecological law" case studies, designed to illustrate in concrete, real-world ways how ecological law would transform law in a range of diverse contexts. Ecological law is an emerging, and currently mostly theoretical, discipline grounded in the need to shift away from anthropocentric legal systems, which aim to promote economic growth using strong protections of private property regimes and state sovereignty, to ecological approaches, which emphasize ecocentrism, the primacy of ecological limits, and intragenerational, intergenerational, and interspecies fairness and justice. The ecological law case studies presented in this book apply the theoretical principles and concepts of ecological law to diverse real-world situations or activities in several countries and contexts. Taking up a range of examples from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, the United States, and internationally, the book demonstrates the concrete relevance of ecological law to contemporary sustainability challenges, as it reveals pathways for overcoming real-world challenges in the implementation and public acceptance of ecological law. This book will appeal to researchers, scholars, and policy makers working in the area of environmental law and governance, as well as others with relevant interests in sociolegal studies, human geography, political science, and environmental studies.

Cooling Down
Cooling Down

Author: Susanna Hoffman

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2022-02-11

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1800734174

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Climate change is a slowly advancing crisis sweeping over the planet and affecting different habitats in strikingly diverse ways. While nations have signed treaties and implemented policies, most actual climate change assessments, adaptations, and countermeasures take place at the local level. People are responding by adjusting their practices, livelihoods, and cultures, protesting and migrating. This book portrays the diversity of explanations and remedies as expressed at the community level and its emphasis on the crucial importance of ethnographic detail in demonstrating how people in different parts of the world are scaling down the phenomenon of global warming.

Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes
Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes

Author: Robert L. France

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2010-07-19

Total Pages: 531

ISBN-13: 0415952255

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A fusion of ecological restoration and sustainable development, restorative redevelopment represents an emerging paradigm for remediating landscapes. Rather than merely fixing the broken bits and pieces of nature, restorative development advocates the reuse of devastated landscapes to improve the value and livability of a location for humans at the same time as effectively reinstating natural processes and functions. Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes explores the use of this approach to address the long-term, sustainable reparation of the fabled marshlands of southern Iraq destroyed by Saddam Hussein, as well as numerous examples of other ecologically sensitive regions. Case studies presented include: Southern marshlands Iraq Hula swamp, Israel Azraq Oasis, Jordan Las Vegas Wash, USA Xochimilco, Mexico Pantanal, Brazil Clark County Wetlands Park, USA Tonle Sap, Cambodia Lake Titicaca, Peru Nature Reserves, Jordan The book reviews successfully-implemented and celebrated case studies from more than 15 countries around the world which, either in whole or in part, can offer valuable insight into the restorative development of the Iraqi marshlands as well as other devastated ecocultural landscapes. It presents practical approaches for sustaining the process of restoration efforts, both during and after the reparation work has been accomplished. The editor suggests solutions targeted for Iraq but that also have resonance in other regions devastated by conflict and natural disasters. He takes a synoptic or cross-system approach to problem solving when repairing large-scale landscapes that have been devastated by conflict or natural disasters such as tsunami-damaged Indonesia and earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Tending the Wild
Tending the Wild

Author: M. Kat Anderson

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-06-14

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 0520933109

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A complex look at California Native ecological practices as a model for environmental sustainability and conservation. John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today—that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts. M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably.

Restoring the Pacific Northwest
Restoring the Pacific Northwest

Author: Dean Apostol

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 1610911032

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The Pacific Northwest is a global ecological "hotspot" because of its relatively healthy native ecosystems, a high degree of biodiversity, and the number and scope of restoration initiatives that have been undertaken there. Restoring the Pacific Northwest gathers and presents the best examples of state-of-the-art restoration techniques and projects. It is an encyclopedic overview that will be an invaluable reference not just for restorationists and students working in the Pacific Northwest, but for practitioners across North America and around the world.

Ethnobiology
Ethnobiology

Author: E. N. Anderson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-02-14

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 111801586X

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The single comprehensive treatment of the field, from the leading members of the Society of Ethnobiology The field of ethnobiology—the study of relationships between particular ethnic groups and their native plants and animals—has grown very rapidly in recent years, spawning numerous subfields. Ethnobiological research has produced a wide range of medicines, natural products, and new crops, as well as striking insights into human cognition, language, and environmental management behavior from prehistory to the present. This is the single authoritative source on ethnobiology, covering all aspects of the field as it is currently defined. Featuring contributions from experienced scholars and sanctioned by the Society of Ethnobiology, this concise, readable volume provides extensive coverage of ethical issues and practices as well as archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic approaches. Emphasizing basic principles and methodology, this unique textbook offers a balanced treatment of all the major subfields within ethnobiology, allowing students to begin guided research in any related area—from archaeoethnozoology to ethnomycology to agroecology. Each chapter includes a basic introduction to each topic, is written by a leading specialist in the specific area addressed, and comes with a full bibliography citing major works in the area. All chapters cover recent research, and many are new in approach; most chapters present unpublished or very recently published new research. Featured are clear, distinctive treatments of areas such as ethnozoology, linguistic ethnobiology, traditional education, ethnoecology, and indigenous perspectives. Methodology and ethical action are also covered up to current practice. Ethnobiology is a specialized textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students; it is suitable for advanced-level ethnobotany, ethnobiology, cultural and political ecology, and archaeologically related courses. Research institutes will also find this work valuable, as will any reader with an interest in ethnobiological fields.