The Way the Wind Blows - (Historical Ecology) by Roderick McIntosh & Joseph Tainter & Susan Keech McIntosh (Paperback)

About the Book

Experts in a variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences--including geology, climatology, history, and anthropology--consider such topics as the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency.

Book Synopsis

Scientists and policymakers are beginning to understand in ever-increasing detail that environmental problems cannot be understood solely through the biophysical sciences. Environmental issues are fundamentally human issues and must be set in the context of social, political, cultural, and economic knowledge. The need both to understand how human beings in the past responded to climatic and other environmental changes and to synthesize the implications of these historical patterns for present-day sustainability spurred a conference of the world's leading scholars on the topic. The Way the Wind Blows is the rich result of that conference.

Articles discuss the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency. These themes are illustrated through discussions of human societies around the world and throughout history.

From the Back Cover

Scientists and policymakers are beginning to understand in ever-increasing detail that environmental problems cannot be understood solely through the biophysical sciences. Environmental issues are fundamentally human issues and must be set in the context of social, political, cultural, and economic knowledge. The need both to understand how human beings in the past responded to climatic and other environmental changes and to synthesize the implications of these historical patterns for present-day sustainability spurred a conference of the world's leading scholars on the topic. The Way the Wind Blows is the rich result of that conference.

Articles discuss the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency. These themes are illustrated through discussions of human societies around the world and throughout history.

Review Quotes

This book not only represents the 'state of the art' of current discussions, but it also sets the agenda for future thinking and research on how humans produce and respond to climate change. . . . This book defines and occupies new ground...[and] will mark a turning point in the way scholars and students from a variety of disciplines study and understand the interaction of people and their environments.

About the Author

Roderick J. McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University.

Joseph A. Tainter is project leader of Cultural Heritage Research at the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Susan Keech McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University and the director of Scientia: an institute for the history of science and culture.