Anthropology 410k Ecological Anthropology

Human Development Index -to raise standards of living and quality of life takes up or requires energy -Failure to include any ecological concepts: Criticized Forecast -Not about what might happen sometime in the future, but about what is happening now -similar to Moran the arguments does effect us, causing issues we are not aware of -storms, disease, and violence -it is our job to agree or disagree. 13.10.09 Climate change vs conflict -what link does the changing climate have on conflict and war -usually war is looked at the social0economic political reasons Evolutionary ecological -the long standing facts/causes, underlying main points Narrow/proximate -the main, more obvious reasons The conflict of Darfur -Faris cites the conflict as being caused by climate change -Climate change is only one factor in this conflict, there are many equally valid factors such as the government arming one side, land envy, and evolution competition. 1750’s – industrialization -the correlation between climate and violence just stops in Europe completely Al Gore -the inconvenient truth 2004-2006 Some say the science portrayed in this movie is incomplete -there are many truthful things, as well 21.10.09 Group one: Know-nothings - undefined -senator Inhofe: gas oil -does not believe in science Group two: Do nothings – cornucopian -with rational: too late, too expensive -mainstream rational world view -market will cause change (historical) -believes in science Group three: Do Something’s – Cornucopian -Geo engineering, alternative energies -market incentives will cause change but it is insignificant -Believes in Science Group four: Radical Do Something’s – Neomalthusian -Changing values systems -Faris and Ehlrich -Skeptic about science Geo engineering -if we are capable to heating the planet with our technologies, then we can cool it with our technologies. -Solar umbrella, Sulfur seeds, Plankton clouds

23.10.09 Why wine? Wine is extremely sensitive to environmental change -might be a forward flash for food production at a later date Artic -it may only be 2 degrees average increase world wide, but it is more of an increase at the poles, and less at the equator. -effecting the researchers -Inuit populations are being very effected -already less food, having to move farther inland, having to create new words for things like bumble bee and sunburn 26.10.09 The Medea Hypothesis -The opposite of the Gaia Hypothesis -Created by Peter Ward -life kills life; Earth’s history shows that we are on the 6th mass extinction and there have been 10 smaller ones -only two have been extra terrestrial, the rest life on earth has caused Gaia hypothesis -was in response to life on mars -he predicted it to not have life because there is a perpetual chemistry balance 28.10.09 -we are living in critical change now -we have seen evidence of past episodes -we have to make decisions now to keep us from being like the dinos -there are identifiable critical boundaries not to be pushed -whether you believe Gaia or Medea is right we need to watch these lines 2.11.09 -Species extension with fundamental causations on us -30% of honey bees have died -the ecosystem services: pollinating food crops -will cause global starvation because of all the food we ship to other countries -prices at the market will increase -economists places a dollar amount on bees eco services as 10’s of billions of dollars Cascade effect -if you take/hurt one species out it effects all of the animals in the system -Yellowstone wolves being over hunted cause over population of other animals and those animals were ill in general because of having to share resources EO Wilson -written many books for many people: academics and general public Biophilia: 1984 -big deal in biology as well as public at large -love of life; love of living systems -referencing a biological attraction to life and living things

-there are connections humans make to the rest of the planet is rooted in our genes according to Wilson. He says we have an evolutionary adaptive trait -baby mammal faces -the reason we have a positive emotional response to them -increases the fitness of all living mammals -The same reason we have zsoos and flower gardens Critique -the notion is similar to sociobiology -our culture is tooted in our genes -how much of this is empathy instead, or his personal feelings instead of universally -Biophilia is real, how do you explain what humans do to species today? 4.11.09 EO Wilson reading -there is a rise in religious thinking Creation Care Creation Care -Christians taking a stand against the destruction of Earth 9.11.09 Species laws -having our adaptations on the planet as well as all other things survive will depend on giving everything the time or chance to adapt to this climate change Commons Water (pollution), atmosphere (pollution), grasslands (over use), oceans (over fishing), rivers (pollution, dams) Grasslands -they are shrinking, exposing the topsoil -over grazing, lack of rainfall -people are not moving from place to place as often as possible Tragedy of the commons -taking advantage of community property, or resources at the expense of it’s future -no motivation to exploit it -tons of motivation to exploit it 2.12.09 -we live in an industrialized food chain/system -a person has to eat to survive -Julian Simmon says you can define a society by checking the ecological core -the same cultural core applies to food system Food consumtion --is extremely important -some of the ways we eat is hurting our health and our economy -we consume about 10% more calories a day that we don’t need -more than 1/3 kids born after 2000 will have type II diabetes -higher chance in poorer families -15% of a teens calories come from soda -kids born now will have a lower life expectancy than their parents -first time in history

-much of the health care crisis is paying for diseases that are caused by poor diet -10% is spent on obesity There is a reason -it is easier to grab fast food -we are fed fast food as a child, and this causes you to crave it as adults -we (evolutionarily) are conditioned to prefer the fatty, salty, readily gotten food -our bodies then store these fats to prepare for a time of no food -food is engineered to stimulate these psychological and physiological mechanisms Why is fatty, fast foods cheaper -because they are subsidized by the government -fresh foods are not It is cheaper to eat unhealthy foods -poorer, students, people on a stricter diet How did such a system begin? -cheap, available foods, by human nature, will be bought Value added commodity -add something to it, or turn it into something else to raise the price -if you are a farmer, you must produce more causing a crisis of falling prices -the government encouraged the farmers to continue to produce with incentives ($$) Roosevelt’s new deal -confronts the problem with new policies -established a price support -a promised price always and non-recourse loans -open market -hold corn and take a loan and wait to sell -give it to government for cheap price and government holds it in surplus -this system worked to support the economy 1970’s -oil and food price shocks -Nixon’s admin had to deal with the after effects -assigned Earl “Rusty” Butz secretary of agriculture -must fix problem so Nixon could be re-elected -he dismanteled the old system -created a new system of overproduction -as long as you produce, we will pay, no matter -creates a surplus of grain no one knew what to do with -value added products based on corn -Studies all elude to the change in diets, disease and problems are because of the change in the 70’s farm policies 4.12.09 Fast Food Nation: Eric Schlosser -we generally do not know where our food comes from Omnivore’s Dilemma: Michael Pollen -What is in our food, what is in it, where does it come from

Fast Food INC -Takes Schlosser’s and Pollen’s ideas and incorporated then into a documentary Fast Food -our eating habits are being shaped for us -turned our restaurants into a factory -cooks only have to do one thing, so low wages and fast -McDonalds is the largest purchaser of beef and potatoes, and the top five of pork, chicken, tomatoes, apples, and chicken -they have controlled how food is purchased and prices -‘even if you do not eat out, you are buying meat produced to meet fast food demands’ -they have changed farming and even the biology of animals Chicken houses -there are so many antibiotics in chickens, they are becoming immune, and farmers are becoming allergic to antibiotics -The big companies own so much they control policies, prices, and so much more Corn: Corn has been subsidized by the government to be an extremely cheap product, so it is transformed into so many different products. Value Added Commodity is one way the money is gotten out of corn. The add things to corn or add corn to other things and this makes it more valuable, like soda. Many of the things in soda, the obscurely name ingredients, are in fact corn. Climate induced migration With changing weather patterns, people are migrating from place to place in search of things such as water, soil, and other resources. Unfortunately, as Faris illustrated in his book Forecast, this causes tensions between groups, and can lead to armed violence as each side takes the stance, ’Best for our own people.” Geoengineering -if we are capable to heating the planet with our technologies, then we can cool it with our technologies (Solar umbrella, Sulfur seeds, Plankton clouds). Things are being tried (or thought of) to try and combat the damage we have caused the earth, giving it time to heal so our children and theirs will have the same quality of life we enjoy now. Human Development Index -to raise standards of living and quality of life takes up or requires energy -Failure to include any ecological concepts: Criticized Thing means that if places like India and China are to catch up with the USA, it will require much more resources than is feasible for the earth. Snow leopard Bushmeat Nile Perch Mongolia