Social aspects of human ecology. Nutrition and human health. Dependence of the nature of food on the environment

1.

Social aspects of human ecology.
Nutrition and human health.
Dependence of the nature of food on
the environment.
SAMSON CHACKO
LA2 203(2)

2.

Human ecology
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the
relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments.
The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with
advancements
in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiolog
y, public health, and home economics, among others.
Historical development- The roots of ecology as a broader discipline can be
traced to the Greeks and a lengthy list of developments in natural history science.
Ecology also has notably developed in other cultures. Traditional knowledge, as it
is called, includes the human propensity for intuitive knowledge, intelligent
relations, understanding, and for passing on information about the natural world
and the human experience.[1][2][3][4] The term ecology was coined by Ernst
Haeckel in 1866 and defined by direct reference to the economy of nature.[5]

3.

Like other contemporary researchers of his time, Haeckel adopted his terminology
from Carl Linnaeus where human ecological connections were more evident. In his
1749 publication, Specimen academicum de oeconomia naturae, Linnaeus developed
a science that included the economy and polis of nature. Polis stems from its Greek
roots for a political community (originally based on the city-states), sharing its roots
with the word police in reference to the promotion of growth and maintenance of good
social order in a community.[1][6][7][8] Linnaeus was also the first to write about the close
affinity between humans and primates.[9] Linnaeus presented early ideas found in
modern aspects to human ecology, including the balance of nature while highlighting
the importance of ecological functions (ecosystem services or natural capital in
modern terms): "In exchange for performing its function satisfactorily, nature provided
a species with the necessaries of life"[10]:66 The work of Linnaeus influenced Charles
Darwin and other scientists of his time who used Linnaeus' terminology (i.e.,
the economy and polis of nature) with direct implications on matters of human affairs,
ecology, and economics.

4.

Ecology is not just biological, but a human science as well.[5] An early and
influential social scientist in the history of human ecology was Herbert Spencer.
Spencer was influenced by and reciprocated his influence onto the works of
Charles Darwin. Herbert Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest", he
was an early founder of sociology where he developed the idea of society as an
organism, and he created an early precedent for the socio-ecological approach
that was the subsequent aim and link between sociology and human ecology.

5.

The history of human ecology has strong roots in geography and sociology
departments of the late 19th century.[1][17] In this context a major historical
development or landmark that stimulated research into the ecological relations
between humans and their urban environments was founded in George Perkins
Marsh's book Man and Nature; or, physical geography as modified by human action,
which was published in 1864. Marsh was interested in the active agency of humannature interactions (an early precursor to urban ecology or human niche construction)
in frequent reference to the economy of nature.[
In 1894, an influential sociologist at the University of Chicago named Albion W.
Small collaborated with sociologist George E. Vincent and published a ""laboratory
guide" to studying people in their "every-day occupations.""[17]:578 This was a
guidebook that trained students of sociology how they could study society in a way
that a natural historian would study birds. Their publication "explicitly included the
relation of the social world to the material environment.

6.

The first English-language use of the term "ecology" is credited to American chemist
and founder of the field of home economics, Ellen Swallow Richards. Richards first
introduced the term as "oekology" in 1892, and subsequently developed the term
"human ecology“
The term "human ecology" first appeared in Ellen Swallow Richards' 1907 Sanitation
in Daily Life, where it was defined as "the study of the surroundings of human beings
in the effects they produce on the lives of men".[22] Richard's use of the term
recognized humans as part of rather than separate from nature.[21] The term made its
first formal appearance in the field of sociology in the 1921 book "Introduction to the
Science of Sociology",[23][24] published by Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess (also
from the sociology department at the University of Chicago). Their student, Roderick
D. McKenzie helped solidify human ecology as a sub-discipline within the Chicago
school.[25] These authors emphasized the difference between human ecology and
ecology in general by highlighting cultural evolution in human societies

7.

Human ecology has a fragmented academic history with developments spread throughout a range
of disciplines, including: home economics, geography, anthropology, sociology, zoology, and
psychology. Some authors have argued that geography is human ecology. Much historical debate
has hinged on the placement of humanity as part or as separate from nature. [17][26][27] In light of the
branching debate of what constitutes human ecology, recent interdisciplinary researchers have
sought a unifying scientific field they have titled coupled human and natural systems that "builds
on but moves beyond previous work (e.g., human ecology, ecological anthropology, environmental
geography)."[28]:639Other fields or branches related to the historical development of human ecology
as a discipline include cultural ecology, urban ecology, environmental sociology, and
anthropological ecology.[29][30][31] Even though the term ‘human ecology’ was popularized in the
1920s and 1930s, studies in this field had been conducted since the early nineteenth century in
England and France.[32]
In 1969, College of the Atlantic[33] in Bar Harbor, Maine was founded as a school of human
ecology. Since its first enrolled class of 32 students, the college has grown into a small liberal arts
institution with about 350 students and 35 full-time faculty. Every graduate receives a degree in
human ecology, an interdisciplinary major which each student designs to fit their own interests and
needs.

8.

Human ecology has been defined as a type of analysis applied to the relations in human beings that
was traditionally applied to plants and animals in ecology. [36] Toward this aim, human ecologists (which
can include sociologists) integrate diverse perspectives from a broad spectrum of disciplines covering
"wider points of view".[37]:107 In its 1972 premier edition, the editors of Human Ecology: An
Interdisciplinary Journal gave an introductory statement on the scope of topics in human
ecology.[38] Their statement provides a broad overview on the interdisciplinary nature of the topic:
Genetic, physiological, and social adaptation to the environment and to environmental change;
The role of social, cultural, and psychological factors in the maintenance or disruption of
ecosystems;
Effects of population density on health, social organization, or environmental quality;
New adaptive problems in urban environments;
Interrelations of technological and environmental changes;
The development of unifying principles in the study of biological and cultural adaptation;

9.

The genesis of maladaptions in human biological and cultural evolution;
The relation of food quality and quantity to physical and intellectual performance
and to demographic change;
The application of computers, remote sensing devices, and other new tools and
techniques

10.

11.

12.

Nutrition and human health

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Dependence of the nature of food on
the environment.