What is the I=PAT equation?
You should write an essay with a clear, detailed, and concise argument based on our course material. Support your arguments and the points you make with specific examples and details from our course material.
Do NOT write an essay that simply strings together a list of loosely-related facts and observations.
DO NOT draw on external sources outside of our course material to write your response. Use our course material. If you draw on outside sources to answer the essay question, which is designed to assess your understanding of our class material, you will receive a 0 on the essay.
Use your own words (i.e. do not plagiarize). Note that Turnitin on Canvas automatically checks for plagiarism (from other student papers and all other internet sources). Do not plagiarize – it is never worth it.
ESSAY QUESTION: What is the I=PAT equation? Using examples from lecture, the authors, articles, and films we have discussed (e.g. Malthus, “The Legacy of Malthus” film, Bodley, Boserup, Machakos study, Cornucopians, Neo-Malthusians, The Atlantic article, culture of consumption, etc.), explain how the ‘P’, ‘A’, and ‘T’ influence ‘I’ in different ways.
Use the preparation time to organize your answer. Again, you should write an essay with a clear argument based on the class material. Do not write an essay that simply strings together a list of loosely-related facts and observations. Illustrate it concisely and appropriately.
Requirements: 500 words
ANTH 353/SUSTN 353Sustainability & Culture“A knowledge of anthropology enables us to look with greater freedom at the problems confronting our civilizations.” Franz Boas, Anthropology and Modern life (1928)
For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the San Diego State University community we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land; the land of the Kumeyaay.Eyay e’HunnMy heart is good.Land Acknowledgment: We are on Kumeyaay Land
Looking at Sustainability through the “lens” of cultureAnthropological perspectiveCourse OverviewTitiana village, Solomon Islands
Topics/Modules:1.Our Life-support system (earth) & Anthropological Approaches2.The Environment & Human Population3.Industrial/Post-Industrial Society4.Sustainability across Cultures and through Time5.Conserving and Managing the Environment6.Local Sustainability in SDCourse OverviewSolomon Islands, Gizo market, 2012
➢Prof: Savanna Schuermann (she/her)➢Class: W 4:00-6:40pm (OP-230)➢Office hours: W, 1:30-3pm, & by Appointment (AL-478)➢Email: [email protected] Introductions
Introducing our TA…➢Abilene (‘Aby’) Ayala (she/her)➢Anthropology graduate student w/research focus in Bioarchaeology➢Email: [email protected] ➢Office Hours:➢By Appointment (on Zoom) *See Canvas Homepage or Syllabus for Zoom link
My research: cultural anthropology, “natural” disaster impact & recovery, social inequality, traditional exchange practicesIntroductions
Solomon Islands ResearchI lived and worked in Solomon Islands in the 2011 & 2012 summers researching peoples’ recovery from a tsunami that struck the islands in 2007.
The 2007 Solomon Island Tsunami•April 2, 2007, 8.1 magnitude earthquake•Tsunami (6m)•Titiana (Micronesian)➢13 deaths•Pailongge (Melanesian)➢No deaths
Unequal Effects of “natural” disaster tied to Social FactorsGovernment corruptionWantok systemImmigrant/minority status
11✓For every one of you, three or four were not allowed in -You’ve earned a right to be here -Your right is a responsibilityEnough about us, what about YOU??
✓First & most important, our classroom should be considered and maintained as a safe space & learning environment for ALL✓SDSU COVID Policy✓Please be courteous and respectful to your peers✓We will discuss sensitive topics in our class. – When we do, maintain an open mind, assume positive intent, and ask clarifying questions.You’ve earned a right to be here. Your right is also a responsibility. Take it seriously!
Basic Responsibilities:➢You’ve earned a right to be here. Your right is also a responsibility. Take it seriously!➢Some basic responsibilities: 1)Come to class (and ENGAGE!)2)Show up on time, be present, & wait to pack up3)Do the reading (BEFORE our class meeting)4)“Rule of Thumb”: Expect to spend ~4-6 hours a week reading and studying for our course5)Respect your peers & our class environment RESPECT OUR SPACE!☺
Required TextsBodley, J. H. 2012. Anthropology and contemporary human problems, 6th edition. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.Orlove, B. S. 2002. Lines in the water: Nature and culture at Lake Titicaca. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Concept checks (50 points; 10% final grade):8 total, 10 points each, based on Lecture & Readings3 lowest scores dropped & 5 highest countNO make-ups Always: Available by 7pm, Wednesday & DUE by 4:00pm, the following Wednesday (BEFORE our next class begins)Films & Film Reflections (100 points; 20% final grade):5 total, 20 points eachNO Film Reflection scores will be droppedAlways DUE by 4pm, Wednesday (BEFORE class begins)Exams (3) (300 points; 60% final grade):Each exam worth 100 points 2 parts: 1) Multiple-choice (taken in-class); 2) and an Essay (submitted prior on Canvas)Students will take exams on Sept. 27 , Nov. 1, and the final exam day/time, Dec. 13, 4-6pm.NO make-up exams Final Paper (50 points; 10% final grade)Related to iterative class theme – “The Default Frame for Sustainability”DUE Friday, Dec. 15, 4pm (on Canvas)Assessment (i.e. Grading):
Class Meetings, Lecture PDFs, & RecordingsReading questionsFilm questionsCanvasSDSUid emailHomepageModules (#1-6)Due DatesSyllabus/scheduleCourse Tools
Come to class & stay up on the material! (e.g. lectures, readings, films, assignments)The course is designed to be flexible and accommodate different schedules; however, plan accordingly for due dates (e.g. CCs & FRs due Wednesdays., 4pm sharp, BEFORE class starts).Communicate with me when needed! And know that I am here to help!Accessibility: Please reach out to me if something in our course is not accessible to you!Be responsible. Communicate as adults and professionals and treat others courteously. This is a professional academic environment. Conduct yourselves accordingly.How to Succeed in Our Course
Syllabus/ScheduleIn our Syllabus, you will find our schedule, which has class topics, reading assignments, due dates & other schedule info.
View of Module#1, Weeks #1 & #2 (from Canvas Home Page)
View of Week #1 within Module #1 (in Canvas ‘Modules’)
What does “Sustainability” mean to you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjmtSkl53h4Let’s begin with the clip ‘The planet is fine’ by George Carlin (1992 video ‘Jammin’ in New York’)
Sustainability and CultureANTH 353/SUSTN 3531The Current State of our Life Support System
Announcements:◼Concept Check #1◼Available today, Wed., 8/23, after class @7:00pm◼DUE @4:00pm, the following Wed., 8/30 (BEFORE our next class starts)◼~1 week to complete, but plan accordingly! If you decide to wait until the last minute, that’s your choice, but no make-ups or late concept checks will be accepted.◼Based on Lecture & Reading material for Week #1 & our course Syllabus◼You will find CC#1 on Canvas:◼Go to “Modules”◼Scroll down to Module #1◼Scroll down to under the heading: “Week #1 – Wednesday, August 23” ◼CC#1 is below the lecture and reading material for week #1◼Click on “M1.1 & 1.2: SUBMIT Concept Check #1: DUE by Wednesday, Aug. 30, 4:00pm (BEFORE our next class begins)” ◼From here you may read the Instructions as well as take and submit the Concept Check.◼You may also access CC#1 from our course HomePage (in the Modules #1 summary table)◼Questions? 3
Outline◼The current state of our life support system◼Evidence ◼Agreement?◼Anthropological Approaches to Human-Environment Relations4
We watched a video clip of George Carlin’s comical critique of Earth Day, “The Planet is Fine,” to highlight the point that:A.The planet is completely f**kedB.Earth day and environmental movements have become blown out of proportionC.Everyone should stop cursing so muchD.The planet will be here long into the future, but people may not be if we keep interacting with the environment unsustainably5
Bodley’s framework for understanding contemporary human problems focuses on:A.Cultural representations and meaningB.Scale, cultural complexity, and powerC.Strong governmental regulation of environmental issuesD.Ancient civilizationsE.Principles of market liberalization and informed pricing6
An example of what Bodley is talking about:From “The Guardian,” Arwa Mahdawi (January 22, 2022)SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/22/the-super-rich-live-on-a-different-planet-their-thoughts-on-us-salaries-prove-it?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
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9We have entered a new epoch: The Anthropocene (Age of Humans)◼New term to describe our current geological epoch.◼Geological epochs are defined by observed changes in lithology, chemical composition, or some event recognized worldwide.Famous transition between the Cretaceous (lower part) and Paleocene (upper part) epoch
10Simplified schema of the European subdivision of the last 1.2 million years
11Anthropocene◼Humans-plus-technology is becoming a geologic force.◼Our mark will endure in the geologic record long after our cities have crumbled.Dubai, UAE
12Evidence that we’re entering a new epoch
13Evidence that we’re entering a new epoch
14Source: Steffen, W. L. Global change and the earth system: A planet under pressure. Berlin, Springer (2004) By 2021: 334By 2022: 1911# “natural” disasters has increased 500% over 50-year period (~1971-2021)Estimated today to be 90-99%
Evidence these changes are anthropogenic?15
Planet Problems….Do do we go….maybe
17Key West, FL Year: 1957Source: McClenachan, L. (2009). “Documenting loss of large trophy fish from the Florida Keys with historical photographs.” Conservation Biology 23(3): 636-643.
18Key West, FL Year: 1983
19Key West, FL Year: 2007Mean Size declined: 19.9kg to 2.3kg
20Other ways humans are modifying the environment….More Recent Estimates: 96% Source: Bar-On, Y. M., Phillips, R., & Milo, R. (2018). The biomass distribution on Earth.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201711842.
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24As of 2015, 15 warmest years on record btwn 1880-2015 all occur within the last 17 years or so…
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26Check out Time Lapse of temp. increases from 1884-2021 Source: NASA (https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/#:~:text=The%20year%202016%20ranks%20as,variation%20of%20global%20surface%20temperatures.)
27Methanehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVpQnpWS2wULet’s watch a clip about ‘Burping Methane’…….
Different factors influence each other◼Feedback & total socioecological system◼Climate change -> increased temp -> permafrost melt -> increased methane release -> in turn increasing global temp….AND repeat…◼Linear v. nonlinear changes28
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30Current condition of the Earth’s life support systems: CO2
NOAA: Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (2020), retrieved from: https://www.climate.gov/about
32Scientists drill 2.2 miles deep!!
33Ocean acidificationOur oceans are more acidic than at any time in the past 800,000 years or more.421
34Main causes of increased CO2: Burning fossil fuels (75%) Deforestation (25%)
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36Who is producing the greenhouse gasses?US (19) vs. Global Avg (6)
37Who is producing the greenhouse gasses?
38Most argue that the Anthropocene started with the Industrial Revolution (circa 1750)◼One key feature of the IR: the rise of fossil fuels.◼Human energy use rose sharply. Industrial societies used four or five times as much energy as their agrarian predecessors, who in turn used three or four times as much as hunter and gathers.
39What are fossil fuels anyway?”Liquid sunshine!”-1 liter of regular gasoline is the time-rendered result of about 23.5 metric tons of ancient phytoplankton material deposited on the ocean floor. 1 metric ton = 2,204.6 lbs – The total fossil fuel used in the year 1997 is the result of 422 years of all plant matter that grew on the entire surface and in all the oceans of the ancient earth.Diatom
40Exploiting fossil fuels allowed humans to vastly expand and accelerate our activities◼For Example, one of the most important: synthesizing reactive nitrogen (Haber-Bosch process)◼Result: Creates fertilizer out of air.◼Has a resulted in a massive increase in reactive nitrogen in the environment.
41Despite these planet problems, hasn’t there also been human progress?EXAMPLE: Julian Simon Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV_38mQ1iG4&feature=player_detailpage
42Despite planet problems, hasn’t there also been human progress?◼The average life expectancy in 1900 was 47 years. Today it is 77, and rising.◼The infant-mortality rate has dropped from 1 in 10 to 1 in 150
43Progress or not?◼””Poor”” Americans today have routine access to a quality of housing, food, health care, consumer products, entertainment, communications and transportation that even the Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Rockefellers could only dream of.◼A farmer a century ago could produce only one-hundredth of what his counterpart is capable of growing and harvesting today.
44Progress or not?◼In the 19th century, almost all teenagers toiled in factories or fields. Now, 9 in 10 attend high school.◼Today’s Americans have three times more leisure time than their great-grandparents did.◼The price of food relative to wages has plummeted: In the early part of this century the average American had to work two hours to earn enough to purchase a chicken, compared with 20 minutes today.
Environmental Problem or Not?….45
46Pew Research Center, 2020
Some continue to challenge the scientific evidence:Example from Jon Stuart Clip: Your elected representatives (i.e. our policy makers)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPgZfhnCAdI
Key point: These distinct worldviews generate different rationalities, and hence solutions to environmental problems.48
49Anthropological approaches to human-environmental relations ◼Interpretive approaches◼Materialist approaches
2Scale, Adaptation, and the Environmental Crisis“[T]hose cultures that we might consider higher in general evolutionarystanding [are not] necessarily more perfectly adapted to theirenvironments than lower. Many great civilizations have fallen in the last2,000 years, even in the midst of material plenty, while the Eskimostenaciously maintained themselves in an incomparably more difficulthabitat. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.”—MARSHALL SAHLINS AND ELMAN R. SERVICE, EDS., EVOLUTION AND CULTURE (1960)1Many general conclusions of direct relevance to the contemporary environmental crises ofresource depletion, loss of biodiversity, and ecosystem degradation emerge from a carefulanalysis of cultural ecological data in the anthropological record from a culture-scaleperspective. The most striking conclusion is that the speed and scale of resource depletion andenvironmental degradation accelerate with increases in the scale of culture and theconcentration of social power. People living in tribal societies may often have depleted theirnatural resources, and they certainly modified their environments. However, it is not idealizingthem as “ecologically noble” to point out that small-scale, self-sufficient societies with locallycontrolled economies have been better able to maintain long-term, relatively resilientrelationships between human populations and the natural environment than peoples living inlarger-scale societies. Scale itself and the cultural organization of social power are crucialissues that we cannot ignore in attempting to understand and alleviate environmental problems.This is the same advice that an astronomy text offers to help students understand the unfamiliardimensions of the cosmos: “Believe it or not, the solution lies in a single word, scale.”2 Thisgeneralization may seem obvious, even trivial, but the policy implications of the scale andpower perspective are profound. Furthermore, the importance of scale and resiliency may beobscured by the difficulty of operationalizing crucial ecological concepts such as adaptation,conservation, carrying capacity, equilibrium, resource management, and sustainability.Resiliency in this context refers to the ability of systems to avoid collapse and retain theirshape and scale in the face of various stresses or shocks. Resiliency emphasizes the dynamicaspects of human and natural systems and is a more useful concept than balance or equilibriumalone. This chapter explores some of the many reasons why culture growth amplifiesenvironmental problems and why small-scale systems offer important human advantages.Newer ways of thinking about cultural evolution that take into account the significance ofhuman agency, cultural transmission, and scale theory can make our understanding ofevolutionary processes more relevant to contemporary human problems. We explore theseBodley, J. H. (2012). Anthropology and contemporary human problems. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open(‘http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’,’_blank’) href=’http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’ target=’_blank’ style=’cursor: pointer;’>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a>Created from sdsu on 2020-08-24 21:43:36.Copyright © 2012. AltaMira Press. All rights reserved.
perspectives in the next two sections.Cultural Transmission and MaladaptationBiocultural evolutionary theory helps explain why cultural evolution can become amaladaptive process undermining the resilience of both natural and human systems. Bioculturalevolutionists see genes and culture playing similar roles in the evolutionary process. Culture,conceptualized as the shared symbolic information of a people, directs human behavior in thesame way that genes contain the encoded instructions that create the human body. Bioculturalevolution involves changes through time in the frequency of either genes or culturalinformation in human societies. Like biological reproduction and genetic transmission, culturaltransmission is the most basic evolutionary process that produces changes in the frequency ofthe basic cultural ideas that help produce human behavior. In addition to undergoing theprocesses of natural selection, mutation, and drift that change gene frequencies in a population,individuals can simply acquire new cultural traits. Individuals can produce and transmit novelcultural ideas through rational calculation according to certain criteria, or they can selectivelyborrow and transmit ideas from a variety of sources.3 Much cultural transmission occurs in thehousehold as a social inheritance from parents to children,4 but cultural transmission isfrequently biased. People often accept cultural ideas that are thought to be shared by themajority. More important, people emulate the beliefs and behavior of individuals who appearto be most successful. Emulation, though often easier and more efficient than trial and error,can lead to maladaptive processes, such as runaway economic growth when people emulatepower aggrandizement, conspicuous consumption, or wealth accumulation.There is a striking connection among culture scale, cultural transmission, and the process ofcultural evolution. In small tribal societies, cultural transmission is primarily throughenculturation within the household. At this level each household is in effect a culturalexperiment, discovering and transmitting to the next generation the behaviors that will sustainhouseholds under very specific local conditions. Seriously maladaptive behavior will bequickly punished, and the “right” behavior will be rewarded and transmitted. In such small,domestically organized societies, cultural creativity and emulation are biased toward behaviorthat promotes the humanization process—that is, the successful production and maintenance ofhuman beings. French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss5 pointed out that virtually all theimportant domestic technologies—including tool making, farming, herding, weaving, basketry,ceramics, and food preparation techniques such as brewing and bread making—weredeveloped by Neolithic tribal societies for household use. Levi-Strauss called attention to theNeolithic paradox that people in the Neolithic era did not go on to develop more elaboratetechnologies such as metallurgy, wheeled vehicles, and writing, because they clearly had theintellectual capability. However, these “higher” technologies were not needed by self-sufficient households living in a relatively egalitarian world. Rather, they were later used byelites to support the concentration of social power in larger, politically organized societieswith large, dense populations, urban centers, and standing armies.Cultural evolution beyond the size of domestic-scale culture is fundamentally a politicalBodley, J. H. (2012). Anthropology and contemporary human problems. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open(‘http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’,’_blank’) href=’http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’ target=’_blank’ style=’cursor: pointer;’>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a>Created from sdsu on 2020-08-24 21:43:36.Copyright © 2012. AltaMira Press. All rights reserved.
process.6 This means that its direction can be determined by an elite subset of a population oreven by a single ruler. For example, in ancient Mesopotamia, Ur-Nammu and his son Shulgiinstituted a series of cultural changes that created the first multinational empire.7 Ancientempires based on a state religion enforced by a written legal code, sacred texts, censusrecords, formal schooling, temples, calendrical ritual, and military power easily overpoweredcultural transmission occurring at the household level. The crucial difference with regard topolitically directed cultural transmission is that it is primarily elite-directed for elite benefit.Any benefits to lower-ranked people would be a secondary outcome. Elite-directedevolutionary change might prove maladaptive for humanity as a whole. Such change might alsobe short-lived, especially if it alienates too many people or reduces cultural diversity. Until themost recent centuries cultural evolution produced increased human diversity, but Europeancolonialism and global capitalism have radically reduced cultural diversity.8 The global mass-communication technologies directed by contemporary commercial elites for power-concentrating commercial purposes overwhelm both household and political cultural-transmission processes that maintain diversity. This makes it possible for a few people, likeRupert Murdoch described in chapter 1, to decide what information billions of people shouldreceive. Cultural homogeneity fostered by commercial-scale culture could be maladaptivebecause diversity is the basis of cultural evolution.Scale and Cultural EvolutionCulture scale is naturally related to evolution and adaptation in other important ways. Sizeitself is a crucial variable in nature. For example, small animals have an adaptive advantageover large animals in the event of environmental fluctuations such as drought. Because smalleranimals can survive on fewer resources and reproduce more rapidly, populations of smallanimals can recover more quickly.9 It is no surprise that bacteria are the most successfulorganisms on earth and perhaps in the universe, considering their total number of individuals,diversity of species, total biomass, overall adaptability, and breadth of environmental niches.10The same scale principle applies to human societies. Small societies can be highly responsiveto changes in the environment, can adapt quickly, and can reproduce quickly. They can alsopractice democratic decision making in ways that would be extremely difficult in largersocieties.Gravity, the laws of geometry, and the functional connections between dimensions in systemstell us that as things grow larger, counterintuitive changes may occur. For example,grasshoppers can jump distances a hundred times their length, and ants can lift objects tentimes their weight. A tenfold increase in the length of a cube results in a hundred-fold increasein surface area and a thousandfold increase in its volume or mass. Likewise, a larger society isnot physically the same as a smaller society, and this affects social structure, function, andadaptation. Disproportions in the size of different parts of an organism as growth occurs aresuch mathematically regular phenomena that they can be described in equations.11 Social powerwill “naturally” be disproportionately concentrated at the top of a social hierarchy as societiesgrow larger, as the Pareto distribution described in chapter 1 predicts, unless people takeBodley, J. H. (2012). Anthropology and contemporary human problems. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open(‘http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’,’_blank’) href=’http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’ target=’_blank’ style=’cursor: pointer;’>http://ebookcentral.proquest.com</a>Created from sdsu on 2020-08-24 21:43:36.Copyright © 2012. AltaMira Press. All rights reserved.
specific countermeasures.12Just as the size and shape of organisms are limited by physical laws within relatively narrowranges, the size and form of human societies must also be limited (table 2.1). The size ofeverything in the cosmos can be comprehended within forty powers of ten, ranging from thesmallest subatomic particles (10-16 meters) to a segment of the universe one billion light-yearsacross (1025 meters). The largest living things, giant sequoias, are just over one hundred metersin length, just two powers of ten (102 meters). The size of tribal societies typically varieswithin a narrow range of from two hundred to two thousand people. The shift from hundreds tothousands is an order of magnitude difference of only one power of ten (from 102 to 103).Politically organized chiefdoms, city-states, and agrarian empires ranged from two thousand totwo hundred million (from 103 to 108). Commercial organization produced a global societyunlikely to exceed ten powers of ten (1010, tens of billions).Table 2.1. Scale of Societies, Persons by Powers of TenScale of SocietyPopulation of SocietyScientific NotationStandard NotationText NumberHousehold, band, small village1010TenTribe, large village102100One hundredTribal society, town1031,000One thousandTribal world, chiefdom, city, city state, small kingdom10410,000Ten thousandTribal world, kingdom, state105100,000One hundred thousandMaximum tribal world, kingdom, state, empire1061,000,000One millionKingdom, state, empire10710,000,000Ten millionMaximum imperial world108100,000,000One hundred millionCommercial world state, market1091,000,000,000One billionMaximum commercial world101010,000,000,000Ten billionCross-cultural research reveals that human settlements show scale effects that are notintuitively obvious but that have adaptive consequences. For example, archaeologist RolandFletcher found that population density declines as settlements become larger.13 This means thatlarger societies with larger settlements will cover a relatively larger area per person at lowerdensity than smaller societies with smaller settlements, and will place disproportionately morehuman stress on regional ecosystems. Fletcher uses a geometric law to explain thisphenomenon. The number of social interactions that a p
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