Anthropology and environmental change from a holistic and cultural perspective

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World Social Science Report 2013

Changing Global Environments

Part 7 Contributions from International Social Science Council members, programmes and partners

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89 Contributions from International Social Science Council members, programmes and partners: Introduction to Part 7 ISSC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491



90 Anthropology and environmental change from a holistic and cultural perspective . . . 495 Thomas Reuter



91 Psychological approaches and contributions to global environmental change. . . . . . . 498 Kurt Pawlik and Linda Steg 92 The economics of climate and environmental change Andrew Steer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501



93 The humanities and changing global environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 Rosi Braidotti, Kum Kum Bhavnani, Poul Holm, Hsiung Ping-chen 94 Sociology and global environmental change Stewart Lockie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 95 Geography and global environmental change Michael Meadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510



96 Political science, global environmental change and sustainable development. . . . . . . 512 Guy Lachapelle 97 Earth System Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 98 Global Water System Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 99 Global Environmental Change and Human Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

100 Integrated History and Future of People on Earth Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 101 Industrial Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 102 Urbanisation and Global Environmental Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525 103 Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 104 Global Carbon Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 105 Global Environmental Change and Food Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 106 Global Environmental Change and Human Health Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 107 Global Land Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 108 Integrated Research on Disaster Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

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World Social Science Report 2013 Changing Global Environments © UNESCO, ISSC 2013

90. Anthropology and environmental change from a holistic and cultural perspective by Thomas Reuter

Planet Earth has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene, in which human influence dominates nature, even on global and geological scales. This reinforces the importance of anthropology. Anthropology studies the human species, from its co-evolution, genetics and biology, to our prehistory and early civilizations, and onwards to contemporary human cultures. It examines social settings from hunter-gatherer, pastoralist and subsistence agricultural communities to multinational corporations and global institutions. It is a vital part of efforts to limit the catastrophic effects of anthropogenic environmental change, as the World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA) reports.

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nthropology is making a difference. It brings a holistic, long-term perspective on the human story to the global debate on environmental change, and an acute awareness of the importance of local cultural knowledge as a resource for sustainable living, climate change mitigation and adaptation. Holistic cultural understanding is a prerequisite for addressing the ecological challenges now shaking the foundations of our way of life (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). We need a critique of the cultural underpinnings of modern industrial society – which first emerged in Europe and is leaving unprecedented environmental destruction in its wake – if we are to stand a chance of stopping this suicidal process (Baer, 2008; Sayre, 2012). Anthropologists can do this best. They are trained to study and compare cosmologies and look at their own cultural cosmology from the outside, as one perspective among many, rather than seeing the modernist philosophy and way of life as an inescapable, natural state of affairs. The challenges and opportunities of today’s world call for a new metacultural awareness, an evolutionary leap that will enable humanity to become conscious creators of its future and responsible stewards of planet Earth (Reuter, 2010).

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90.  Anthropology and ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE FROM A HOLISTIC AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Anthropology shows that one of the greatest assets of our species is the immense diversity of human knowledge systems, languages, beliefs, social formations and livelihoods. They are a testimony to our unique ability to learn and adapt to variable historical and environmental conditions. Humans have adapted, or fallen victim, to environmental change since prehistoric times (Potts, 2012; Sandweiss and Kelley, 2012). Global cooperation may be essential to reduce the present environmental crisis, but the key to change is still local action, in accordance with the specific circumstances of localised human-environment dynamics (Rayner and Malone, 1998). These circumstances have become the subject of numerous ethnographic observation studies. More studies are also needed to address local differences in people’s receptivity to climate change science (Rudiak-Gould, 2011). For example, the global need to curb methane emissions implicates cattle farmers in the United States and irrigated-rice farmers in Thailand, but they have different needs and require different capabilities for the task, and each has a unique pattern of change resistance to overcome. And while local effects and responses vary widely, there are also similarities that provide enormous scope for reciprocal knowledge transfers (Hornidge and Antweiler, 2012). This is why local adaptation and mitigation studies that use anthropology’s holistic ethnographic methods are essential. Anthropologists are keenly aware of climate justice issues affecting disadvantaged countries or regions. Examples of this include Agarwal and Narain’s (1991) distinction between survival and luxury emissions, Nuttall’s (2004) work on the plight of indigenous people in the Arctic, and Lazrus’s (2012) work on island communities threatened by sea level rises. Crate (2011: 186) notes that climate change is a human rights and human security issue, and alerts us to the need for a “continuous dialectical reflection between local and global discussions of climate change”. Similarly, Warren (2006: 213) includes inequality, social justice, globalisation impacts and challenges in her list of issues for an engaged ecoanthropology. Major anthropology organisations are trying to co-ordinate research at national and international levels. The American Anthropological Association established a section for “anthropology of the environment” in 1996. Its concerns have entered the mainstream, eroding the long-held misconception of a nature–culture dualism (Descola and Pálsson, 1996). The 2013 anthropology world congress in Manchester, United Kingdom,1 featured a symposium and debate on climate disaster to establish an international scientific commission on environmental change and produce a manifesto for global change.

Notes 1. www.iuaes2013.org/.

Bibliography Agarwal, A. and S. Narain (eds.) (1991), Floods, Flood Plains and Environmental Myths, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Baer, H. (2008) “Global warming as a by-product of the capitalist treadmill of production and consumption: The need for an alternative global system”, Australian Journal of Anthropology, Vol.19, pp. 58-62, onlinelibrary.wiley.com › ... › The Australian Journal of Anthropology‎. Crate, S. A. (2011), “Climate and culture: Anthropology in the era of contemporary climate change”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 40, pp.175-194, wires.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WiresArticle/wisIdWCC181.html.

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90.  Anthropology and ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE FROM A HOLISTIC AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Crutzen, P. J. and E. F. Stoermer (2000) “The anthropocene”, IGBP Newsletter, Vol. 41, pp. 17-18, www.igbp. net/.../globalchangenewslettersno4159.5.5831d9ad13275d51...‎ Descola, P. and G. Pálsson (eds.) (1996), Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives, Routledge, London, pp. 4-5. Hornidge, A. and C. Antweiler (2012), Environmental Uncertainty and Local Knowledge, Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany. Lazrus, H. (2012), “Sea change: Island communities and climate change”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 41, pp. 285-301, http://weadapt.org/knowledge-base/small-islands-and-climate-change/sea-changeisland-communities-and-climate-change. Nuttall, M. et al. (2004), “Hunting, herding, fishing and gathering: Indigenous people and renewable resources”, in Symon, C., L. Arris, and B. Heal (eds.), Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Potts, R. (2012), “Evolution and environmental change in early human prehistory”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 41, pp. 151-67, http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurevanthro-092611-145754. Rayner, S. and E. Malone (eds.) (1998), Human Choice and Climate Change, Vol. 1: The Societal Framework, Battelle Press, Columbus, Ohio. Reuter, T. A. (2010), “Anthropological theory and the alleviation of anthropogenic climate change: Understanding the cultural causes of systemic change resistance”, World Anthropology Network E-Journal, Vol. 5, pp. 5-27, www.ram-wan.net/documents/05_e_Journal/journal-5/2-reuter.pdf. Rudiak-Gould, P. (2011), “Climate change and anthropology: The importance of reception studies”, Anthropology Today, Vol. 27/2, pp. 9-12, www.academia.edu/.../Rudiak-Gould_P._2011._Climate_change_ and_an...‎ Sandweiss, D. H. and A. R. Kelley (2012), “Archaeological contributions to climate change research: The archaeological record as a paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental archive”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 41, pp. 371-91, www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611145941?journalCode=anthro. Sayre, N. F. (2012), “The politics of the anthropogenic”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 41, pp. 57–70, geography.berkeley.edu/.../sayre/sayre_2012_politics_anthropogenic.pdf...‎ Warren, K. B. (2006), “Perils and promises of engaged anthropology: Historical transitions and ethnographic dilemmas”, in Sanford, V. and A. Angel-Ajani (eds.). Engaged Observer: Anthropology, Advocacy and Activism, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J.

Thomas Reuter is a future fellow of the Australian Research Council at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. His research on religion, politics, social movements, environment and development has been published in eight books and over 50 articles. The author is writing on behalf of the World Council of Anthropological Associations.

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