Scientist sees close relationship between anthropology, sustainability

Charles Redman, founding director of ASU's School of Sustainability, makes a case for “Anthropology as Key to Sustainability Science” in the April issue of the American Anthropological Association’s Anthropology News.

Redman, who chaired ASU’s Department of Anthropology (now the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) for 10 years, believes anthropology’s holistic view of humanity can inform sustainability issues like no other field.

Anthropology not only provides long-term records of how humans interact with their environments, but also explores what people value and how they behave.

Redman says that sustainability is not just about conserving materials and applying technology; he said it also involves “how people see the world, their perceptions, how they value different trade-offs in making decisions, how they traditionally have done things and will continue to do things in the future.”

“Behavior, perception, values. These are anthropology terms and at the core of a sustainable future,” he said.