Discusses the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency. These themes are illustrated through discussions of human societies around the world and throughout history.
List of IllustrationsList of TablesNotes on the Contributors1. Climate, History, and Human Action, by Roderick J. McIntosh, Joseph A. Tainter, and Susan Keech Mc Intosh1. Climate, Environment, and Human Action2. Climate Variability During the Holocene: An Update, by Robert B. Dunbar3. Complexity Theory and Sociocultural Change in the American Southwest, by Jeffrey S. Dean2. Social Memory4. Environmental Perception and Human Responses in History and Prehistory, by Fekri Hassan5. Social Memory in Mande, by Roderick J. McIntosh6. Memories, Abstractions, and Conceptualization of Ecological Crisis in the Mande World, by Tereba Togola7. From Garden to Globe: Linking Time and Space with Meaning and Memory, by Carole L. Crumley8. Chinese Attitudes Toward Climate, by Cho-yun Hsu3. Cultural Responses to Climate Change9. Three Rivers: Subregional Variations in Earth System Impacts in the Southwestern Maya Lowlands (Candelaria, Usumacinta, and Champoton Watersheds), by Joel D. Gunn and William J. Folan10. The Lowland Maya Civilization: Historical Consciousness and Environment, by David Freidel and Justine Shaw11. Social Responses to Climate Change Among the Chumash Indians of South Central California, by John R. Johnson4. History and Contemporary Affairs12. Global Change, History and Sustainability, by Joseph A. Tainter13. Land Degradation as a Socionatural Process, by S.E. van der Leeuw and the ARCHAEOMEDES Research TeamIndex
Roderick J. McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University. Joseph A. Tainter is project leader of Cultural Heritage Research at the Rocky Mountain Research Station. Susan Keech McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University and the director of Scientia: an institute for the history of science and culture.
This book not only represents the 'state of the art' of current discussions, but it also sets the agenda for future thinking and research on how humans produce and respond to climate change. . . . This book defines and occupies new ground...[and] will mark a turning point in the way scholars and students from a variety of disciplines study and understand the interaction of people and their environments.