Incluye referencias bibliográficas.

Human interaction with the natural environment has a dual character. By turning increasing quantities of natural substances into physical resources, human beings might be said to have freed themselves from the constraints of low-technology survival pressures. However, the process has generated a new dependence on nature in the form of complex ´´socionatural systems, ´´ as Bennett calls them, in which human society and behavior are so interlocked with the management of the environment that small changes in the systems can lead to disaster. Bennett´s essays cover a wide ranger: from the philosophy of environmentalism to the ecology of economic development; from the human impact on semi-arid lands to the ecology of Japanese forest management. This expanded paperback edition includes a new chapter on the role of anthropology in economic development.
Bennett´s essays exhibit an underlying pessimism: if human behavior toward the physical environment is the distinctive cause of environmental abuse, then reform of current management practices offers only temporary relief; that is, conservationism, like democracy, must be continually reaffirmed. Clearly presented and free of jargon, Human Ecology as Human Behavior will be of Interest to anthropologists, economists, and environmentalists.
´´Human behavior and its interactions with the natural environment is at the center of debates over environmental issues. John Bennett´s collection of essays, dating back some thirty years, is a worthy and thorough examination of this topic from an anthropological perspective and makes a strong case for this perspective to be a more influential force in future analytical environmental research. ´´ -Tommy Knowland, Environmental politics.

Ingles