Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Problems

ISBN-13: 9780202307558 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 378 str.

Dustin J. Penn; Iver Mysterud

Opis

The twenty-first century presents an increasing number of environmental problems, including toxic pollution, global warming, destruction of tropical forests, extinction of biological diversity, and depletion of natural resources. These environmental problems are generally due to human behavior, namely over-consumption of resources and overpopulation. Designing effective policies to address these problems requires a deep understanding of human behavior as well as ecology. This in turn requires considerations of human nature, and the evolutionary "design" of the human mind.

Spis treści

Introduction; 1: Human Nature and Resource Conservation; 1: Human Behavioural Ecology and Environmental Conservation; 2: The Evolved Psychological Apparatus of Human Decision-Making is One Source of Environmental Problems; 2: The Ecological Noble Savage Hypothesis; 3: Game Conservation or Efficient Hunting?; 4: Behavioral Ecology of Conservation in Traditional Societies; 5: Evolutionary Ecology and Resource Conservation; 3: The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons; 6: The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons; 7: Closing the Commons; 8: Revisiting the Commons; 9: Grassland Conservation and the Pastoralist Commons; 4: The Evolution of Discounting and Conspicuous Consumption; 10: Conserving Resources For Children; 11: Two Truths about Discounting and Their Environmental Consequences; 12: Sex Differences in Valuations of the Environment?; 13: The Evolution of Magnanimity; 5: Overpopulation and Fertility Declines; 14: Evolutionary Economics of Human Reproduction; 15: More Status or More Children? Social Status, Fertility Reduction, and Long-Term Fitness; 16: The Demographic Transition; 6: Biophilia; 17: Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic; 18: Human Behavioral Ecology; Conclusion: Integrating the Biological and Social Sciences to Address Environmental Problems

O autorze

Iver Mysterud