Understanding Human Ecology: A systems approach to sustainability

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Boxes -- Foreword -- Preface -- Prologue: Six Impossible things Before Breakfast -- Part I: The Challenge -- 1 Human Ecology: An Evolving Perspective -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Human Ecology: An Evolving Perspective -- 1.3 The Challenge of Human Ecology -- 1.4 Conclusion: A Systems Approach to Sustainability -- 2 Dynamics of Conflict and Change in the Snowy Mountains -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The Australian Snowy Mountains -- 2.3 The First Nations: Peoples at Home in the High Country -- 2.4 New Arrivals: Stockmen and Graziers -- 2.5 Inland Irrigators -- 2.6 Changing Flows: The Snowy Hydro Scheme -- 2.7 New Expectations - New Pressures -- 2.8 Conclusion -- Part II: Building Shared Understanding -- 3 Thinking Together -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Mental Models and Prediction -- 3.3 Conceptual Metaphor, Understanding, and Reasoning -- 3.4 Categories: Classical and Fuzzy -- 3.5 The Conduit Metaphor and Communication -- 3.6 Powerful Ideas -- 3.7 Conclusion -- 4 System Dynamics I: Stocks and Flows -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Accumulation and the Water Tank Metaphor -- 4.3 Stocks Control Flows, Flows Change Stocks -- 4.4 Causal Diagrams -- 4.5 Stocks and States -- 4.6 Conclusion -- 5 System Dynamics II: Feedback -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Feedback and Endogenous Behaviour -- 5.3 Basic Feedback Dynamics -- 5.4 System Archetypes -- 5.5 Cross-Sector Feedback: An Invisible Force -- 5.6 Conclusion -- 6 Systems and Sustainability -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Sustainable Processes -- 6.3 Limits to Growth -- 6.4 Delays, Oscillation, Overshoot, and Collapse -- 6.5 Extending the Ehrlich-Holden Relation -- 6.6 Conclusion -- 7 Towards A Shared Theoretical Framework -- 7.1 Introduction.

"Understanding Human Ecology offers a coherent conceptual framework for human ecology - a clear approach for understanding the many systems we are part of and for how we frame and understand the problems we face. Blending natural, social, and cognitive sciences with dynamical systems theory, this key text offers systems approaches that are accessible to all, from the undergraduate student to policymakers and practitioners across government, business, and community. In the first edition, road-tested and refined over a decade of teaching and workshops, the authors built a clear, inspiring and important framework for anyone approaching the management of complex problems and the transition to sustainability. Fully updated for the second edition, the book now goes further in using systems-thinking principles to explain fundamental ecological and social processes and articulates a framework that systematically explores the links between these fields. This new edition is essential reading for students and scholars of human ecology, environmental ethics, and sustainability studies"--

"Since its conception, Understanding Human Sexuality has achieved distinction and success by following the science of human sexuality. The first of the modern sexuality textbooks, Understanding Human Sexuality introduced this topic to students through the science that has uncovered what we know about the field"--

"From climate change to world poverty, we are currently facing a vast array of complex challenges which are part of an inter-related web of social and natural systems. Human ecology provides an approach to these problems, a way to understand them holistically and to manage them more effectively. This book offers a coherent conceptual framework for Human Ecology - a clear method for interpreting the many systems we are part of and the problems we face. Blending natural, social and cognitive sciences with dynamical systems theory, the book offers important systems approaches for anyone looking to manage these complex problems and the transition to sustainability"--