The discipline's one of the approaches for finding such solutions is contemplating which aspects of human nature lead to environmental degradations. Such features of human nature can include a desire for technological innovations, aspiration for higher social status, and preoccupied or biased inclination to social justice. Another approach to deal with contemporary climate issue is applying a norm of traditional ecological knowledge. Long-term ecological knowledge of an indigenous group can provide valuable insight into adaptation strategies, community-based monitoring, and dynamics between culturally important species and human. Criticisms From the beginning various scholars criticised the discipline, saying it inherently was too focused on static equilibrium which ignored change, that it used circular reasoning, and that it oversimplified systems. One of the current criticisms is that, in its original form, ecological anthropology relies upon cultural relativism as the norm. However, in today's world, there are few cultures that are isolated enough to live in a true culturally relative state. Instead, cultures are being influenced and changed by media, governments, NGOs, businesses, etc. In response, the discipline has seen a shift towards applied ecological anthropology, political ecology and environmental anthropology. Universities with ecological anthropology programs Indiana University North Carolina State University Oregon State University Rutgers University Stanford University University of Arizona University of Florida University of Georgia University of Hawaii University of Kent University of London University of Maryland University of Texas at San Antonio University of Washington See also Agroecology Cultural ecology Environmental anthropology Environmental sociology Ethnoecology Human behavioural ecology Human ecology Medical anthropology Sociocultural system Systems theory in anthropology References Notes Further reading External links McGrath, Stacy (n.d) "Ecological Anthropology", M.D Murphy (Ed) Anthropological Theories. Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama webpage Accessed 8 August 2009 Online Journal of Ecological Anthropology, University of South Florida Accessed 9 August 2009 Open Access Journal entitled "Ecological and Environmental Anthropology" Accessed 9 August 2009 Anthropology Ecological experiments Ecological processes Environmental social science Anthropology