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The Structure
and Dynamics of
Human Ecosystems
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Structure
The and
Dynamics
of
Human Ecosystems
Toward a Model for
Understanding and Action
WILLIAM R. BURCH, JR.
GARY E. MACHLIS
JO ELLEN FORCE
Yale
university press/new haven & london
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Published with assistance from the foundation
established in memory of Philip Hamilton McMillan
of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
Copyright © 2017 by William R. Burch, Jr.,
Gary E. Machlis, and Jo Ellen Force.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law
and except by reviewers for the public press), without written
permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for
educational, business, or promotional use. For information,
please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or
[email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Set in Minion type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016962156
isbn 978-0-300-13703-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
one Introduction 1
two An Overview of the Model 12
three Lessons and Legacies 23
four The Ecosystem Concept in Biology 51
five The Roots of Human Ecology 64
six Key Components and Variables
for Analyzing Human Ecosystems 74
seven Goals, Strategies, and Tactics for Inquiry and Action 102
eight Using the Model for Science during Crisis 133
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vi contents
nine Revitalizing Human Communities and Reclaiming
Biological Communities: The Baltimore Story 148
ten Toward a More Perfect Civic Order:
Lessons Learned from Research 168
eleven Extending the Capability of the Model 210
twelve Leaning Forward:
Future Challenges to Human Ecosystems 240
thirteen Conclusion 267
Notes 271
Index 293
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Preface
W
e often hear that humanity has made a Faustian bar-
gain in consuming beyond the Earth’s carrying capac-
ity and that our arrogance as a species means that we
are ultimately doomed to a hellish future. There is
no question that we live in a new Anthropocene world that provides
grave challenges. We have extraordinary appetites of consumption and
powers of destruction. Yet, what often gets forgotten is that we have
equally sophisticated skills of rehabilitation, adaptation, and transfor-
mation. Ecosystem conditions from local to global require new tools for
decision-making, new decisions, and (perhaps) new decision-makers.
The application of scientifi c knowledge to environmental problems is
fraught with perils and possibilities.
Our choice is between two Faustian tales. There is the late
sixteenth-century dramatist Christopher Marlowe’s Faustian tragedy, in
which Faust makes a bargain with the Devil and his soul is taken by the
Devil. His last words renounce the accumulation of knowledge: “Ugly
hell gape not! Come not Lucifer! I’ll burn my books!” The other ver-
sion was published as a play, Faust, in two parts (the fi rst in 1808, the
second in 1882) by the scientist, writer, and artist Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe. It is not a contract with the Devil but a wager between God
and the Devil. At the end the Devil is about to take Faust’s soul to hell,
vii
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viii preface
but the Devil is distracted by God’s cherubic angels. Faust is raised to
heaven, where his redemption is due to Faust’s continual striving: “He
who strives on and lives to strive can earn redemption still.”1
Marlowe’s story reveals a selfi sh humanity that turns its back on
knowledge; Goethe’s Faust presents hope for redemption for our fail-
ures through continual learning and striving to apply what we have
learned. We can learn to avoid actions that destroy. We can learn to re-
claim and to sustain ecosystems that have been abused, and cities can be
made pleasant and functional. This meaning is the key for application of
the Faustian story to contemporary environmental issues. It is Goethe’s
Faustian wager that we embrace, and that is why this book was written.
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Acknowledgments
A
years-long project such as this gathers signifi cant intellectual
debts along the way. We wish to acknowledge and sincerely
thank the hundreds of students around the world, many
now mid-career professionals, who have learned about and
used the Human Ecosystem Model and its concepts and helped us de-
velop and improve the model over the decades. Graduate students at
Yale University and the University of Idaho have been tireless data col-
lectors, astute critics, and superb information and literature seekers in
libraries, courthouses, newspaper and government archives. We thank
the numerous resource managers, community leaders, scientists, and
citizens who have participated in workshops, discussion groups, project
teams, and seminars that have helped hone and polish the model.
In addition, we acknowledge the intellectual and spiritual debt we
owe several individuals. Professor F. Herbert Bormann helped us see
how ecosystem ecology could be used as a foundation for social sciences
knowledge. Dr. Ralph Jones encouraged us to attempt the community-
based approach being explored in Nepal and Bhutan and to bring it to
the struggling American city of Baltimore. Dr. Ram Guha’s work with
the Chipko people demonstrated that respecting the dignity of local
knowledge is critical for understanding human ecosystems. Dr. Mor-
gan Grove, our long-term colleague, has provided wise counsel and
ix
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