Rapid Natural Change, Human Response, and the Role of Culture
by
Thomas Heyd
University of Victoria

As papers presented at recent meetings of the Dark Nature project have amply demonstrated, natural science is coming to an increasingly clear understanding of natural environmental changes, their causes and their effects on the landscape. Thanks to the work of certain social scientists (in particular historians and anthropologists), we are also becoming aware of the historical (and prehistorical) human responses to those natural events. It is not yet clear, however, which are the crucial factors in any one society that lead to adaptive responses. In this paper I propose that, while diverse physical and socio-economic factors are relevant, the crucial element for appropriate responses to rapid environmental changes may be the cultural matrix prevalent in a society. In the following I briefly describe how we may understand the relation between culture and nature. Next, I draw attention to a particular example of cultural adaptation to rapid natural change, stemming from societies in the North American Northwest. I close by noting some practical consequences of this analysis.

Date received: June 28, 2005

Copyright © 2005 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caqy-10.