Books
Gerald Marten’s two award-winning books are Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development and Traditional Agriculture in Southeast Asia: A Human Ecology Perspective. The first focuses on human ecology and sustainable development. The second focuses on traditional agricultural systems in Southeast Asia.
Human Ecology
Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development
Human ecology is the study of how human social systems relate to and interact with the ecological systems on which they depend. This book introduces basic principles in an accessible, story-laden format. It explains how ecosystems are organized and function; the interactions of human social systems with them; and how social institutions and processes contribute to or conflict with sustainability. It integrates long-standing ecological principles with more recent concepts from complex systems theory. Simple diagrams, examples, and exercises make the concepts easily understood.
- Explore Human Ecology (English) or Ecología Humana (Spanish).
Additional translations may be available in 中文 (Chinese), Italiano (Italian), and 日本語 (Japanese).
Traditional Agriculture in Southeast Asia
A Human Ecology Perspective
We shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Traditional knowledge and practices – products of many centuries of trial and error – are being lost as agriculture modernizes in Southeast Asia. Modern technology may offer higher yields, but traditional agriculture is ecologically sustainable.