How Nature Speaks: The Dynamics of the Human Ecological Condition (New Ecologies for the TwentyFirst Century),Used

Product Description How Nature Speaks illustrates the convergence of complexity theory in the biophysical and social sciences and the implications of the science of complexity for environmental politics and practice. This collection of essays focuses on uncertainty, surprise, and positionalitysituated rather than absolute knowledgein studies of nature by people embedded within the very thing they purport to study from the outside. The contributors address the complicated relationship between scientists and nature as part of a broader reassessment of how we conceive of ourselves, knowledge, and the world that we both inhabit and shape.Exploring ways of conceiving the complexity and multiplicity of humans many interactive relationships with the environment, the contributors provide indepth case studies of the interweaving of culture and nature in sociohistorical processes. The case studies focus on the origin of environmental movements, the politicization of environmental issues in city politics, the development of a local energy production system, and the convergence of forest management practices toward a dominant scheme. They are supported by explorations of bigpicture issues: recurring themes in studies of social and environmental dynamics, the difficulties of deliberative democracy, and the potential gains for socioecological research offered by developmental systems theory and Pierre Bourdieus theory of intentionality.How Nature Speaks includes a helpful primer, On Thinking Dynamically about the Human Ecological Condition, which explains the basic principles of complexity and nonlinear thinking.Contributors. Chuck Dyke, Yrj Haila, Ari Jokinen, Ville Lhde, Markus Laine, Iordanis Marcoulatos, John ONeill, Susan Oyama, Taru Peltola, Lasse Peltonen, John Shotter, Peter Taylor Review How Nature Speaks makes a valuable contribution in an area where such theoretical deeper thinking is needed. David J. Brunckhorst Environmental ConservationThe strength of the collection lies in the contributors creative and exploratory applications of scientific models in complexity and nonlinear thinking to social movements and political debate. Cheryl Lousley The GooseThis is not just another book on ecology! It is a book that makes the reader contemplate the most appropriate way to think about ecology. Hefin Jones Biologist Review What? Another book on ecology and how we are messing up the world? Is this book really necessary? This is not just another book on ecology. It is a book about how to think about ecology. Philosophical explorations, metaphorical musings, case histories of community action seen in the light of systems dynamics, and mathematical exposition of nonlinear dynamics in clear intuitive terms all converge to help us see the richness of ecology as the paradigmatic science for understanding complexity. And yes, this book is necessary. Richard Levins, Harvard University From the Back Cover "How to make nature speak? Whoever thought that the gravity of the current ecological problems leaves us no choice but to try and manage nature as best as we can is well advised to read this book. This fine collection gives us profound insights into the complex ways in which nature and the social are interwoven. Nature is not out there; it is present in every category we use to try and understand our environment. A product of years of scholarship, this is a welcome contribution to the literature."Maarten Hajer, University of Amsterdam About the Author Yrj Haila is Professor of Environmental Policy at the University of Tampere in Finland. Among his books are Humanity and Nature (with Richard Levins) and several books in Finnish.Chuck Dyke is Professor of Philosophy at Temple University. He is the author of The Evolutionary Dynamics of Complex Systems and Through the Genetic Maze.