(MD) (Nature Forward)

Tuesdays 6-8 pm, January 23–April 2
Field Trips: Soldier’s Delight Serpentine Wildlands, February 24 (10 am–1 pm); Sugarloaf Citizens Association Barn, March 16 (10 am–1 pm)
Instructor: Alison Pearce, Nature Forward Deputy Director for Programs
Members $360; nonmembers $410

Human Ecology is primarily concerned with how ecosystems and social systems inform and influence each other. That is, how human experiences are shaped by ecology and how humans shape the ecosystems where they live. This course provides an anthropological perspective on the relationship between culture and the environment. We will explore human adaptations to various environmental conditions, as well as the cultural, economic and political factors that influence natural resource management. Lessons for the Mid-Atlantic region will be extracted from ethnographic case studies from around the world from “forest farmers” in tropical rainforests to African pastoralists and Balinese rice farmers.