Question

1. What anthropological insights do you think would be most useful to world leaders, when considering policies related to current environmental challenges?

2. What are some insights from anthropology that you think might be useful to world leaders considering policies for potential future environmental challenges? Subject

SUBJECT: ANTHROPOLOGY

Answer 1

We live on a planet where the climate—winds, precipitation, weather, temperatures—is being modified by the collective impact of the human species. Scientists have largely identified what needs to be done to address many of the world’s pressing environmental problems, but few of the recommended changes have been adopted, thwarted by political, cultural, and economic forces. Anthropologists’ approach is holistic; we seek to simultaneously understand all of the interactions of political, cultural, and economic factors to fully explore the complexity of human-environmental interactions. Thus, anthropology provides a good place to start to understand and begin to address some of the most important questions facing our species. For example, how can we provide for basic human needs while not sacrificing the welfare of other species? Why do many people say that they care about protecting the environment but then do nothing about it? What political, economic, and cultural factors are prohibiting world leaders from agreeing on solutions to global environmental challenges? To answer such questions, we must understand how humans think and act as groups, which includes our socially and culturally mediated ways of interacting with each other, other species, and the world around us.

In many ways, anthropology as a discipline is only now starting to address these questions. In December 2014, Bruno Latour, a French anthropologist, spoke to a standing-room-only audience at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., to discuss the relationship between the Anthropocene and anthropology. Anthropocene is a term used to describe the period (or epoch) in geological time in which the effects of human activities have altered the fundamental geochemical cycles of the earth as a result of converting forests into fields and pastures and burning oil, gas, and coal on a large scale. Because human activities have changed the earth’s atmosphere, anthropologists can make important contributions to studies of geology, chemistry, and meteorology by considering the effects of humans and their cultural systems. As Latour noted, the discipline of anthropology is uniquely qualified to provide insight into key components of current environmental crises by determining the reasons behind choices various groups of humans make, bridging the social and natural sciences, and studying contradictions between cultural universals (traits all humans have in common) and particularities (interesting cultural differences).