People and Nature

Now updated and expanded, People and Nature is a lively, accessible introduction to environmental anthropology written by a respected scholar in the field. Concise yet multi-disciplinary, it focuses on the interactions between people, culture, and nature around the world and brings together insights from a range of fields, including geography, ecology, and environmental studies. As with the first edition, it explains key theoretical issues in the field, as well as the most important research, at a level appropriate for readers coming to the topic for the first time. It also addresses new and evolving issues of importance, including climate change, population change, the rise of the slow food and farm-to-table movements, and consumer-driven shifts in sustainability. The author uses examples-both historical and contemporary-to bring the narrative to life and imbue it with the sense of urgency it deserves. He discusses the challenges we face in ensuring a livable future for generations to come and explores solutions for correcting the damage already done to our environment. In doing so, he offers a powerful and hopeful vision for the future in which improved relations between humans and nature allow us to embrace the idea of community needs rather than consumption wants, and the importance of building trust as a foundation for a sustainable future.