Science, Society and the Environment

Michael R. Dove is the Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Professor of Anthropology, and Curator at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, USA.Daniel M. Kammen is Distinguished Professor of Energy in the Energy and Resources Group and in　the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He has served as the Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy at　the World Bank, and has been a coordinating lead author for　the IPCC, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1. Introduction: The Anthropology and Physics of Sustainable Environmental Systems 2. The Virtues of Mundane Science: Studying the Everyday 3. Nature, Society, and Science in Anthropogenic Grasslands: Studying Declensionist Discourses 4. High-Modern versus Local Folk Views of Dearth and Abundance: Studying Failure vs Success in Resource Management Systems 5. Differences in Perceptions of Climate Change Between and Within Nations: Studying Science, Scientists, and Folk 6. Conclusions: Reflections on Inter-Disciplinarity, Sustainability, and Thermodynamics

"This book combines the best of natural and social scientific thinking to address the sustainability of human-environmental interaction in new ways. Dove and Kammen have produced a magisterial work that is a must read for all who wish to understand how interdisciplinary collaboration can prompt fresh thinking on the social and environmental challenges of our times." –Raymond Bryant, King’s College London, UK"This book is the fruit of a decades-long collaboration between two prominent scholars from two very different disciplines. Recognizing that both sets of theories and methods are necessary to tackle current global dilemmas, they provide fresh, powerful accounts of key issues such as agriculture, biodiversity and climate change, and reshape the entire terms of debate over sustainable development." –Ben Orlove, Columbia University, USA"Michael Dove and Daniel Kammen succeed in redefining sustainability as a thoroughly interdisciplinary and systemic study of human-environmental relations--one which we must get right if we are in fact to sustain ourselves on this planet" –Thomas Thornton, University of Oxford, UK"[T]his is an enjoyable and stimulating read that would be useful for anyone (students and others) interested in natural resources, development issues, conservation, interdisciplinarity, and the science/society interface." – Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Agriculture and Human Values