title: How Nature Speaks: The Dynamics of the Human Ecological Condition (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century)
author: Yrjo Haila
description: <div>&ldquo;<i>How Nature Speaks</i> makes a valuable contribution in an area where such theoretical &lsquo;deeper&rsquo; thinking is needed.&rdquo;</div> (David J. Brunckhorst <i>Environmental Conservation</i>)<br /><br /><div>&ldquo;The strength of the collection lies in the contributors&rsquo; creative and exploratory applications of scientific models in complexity and non-linear thinking to social movements and political debate.&rdquo;</div> (Cheryl Lousley <i>The Goose</i>)<br /><br /><div>&ldquo;This is not just another book on ecology! It is a book that makes the reader contemplate the most appropriate way to think about ecology.&rdquo;</div> (Hefin Jones <i>Biologist</i>)<br /><br /><div>&ldquo;How to make nature speak? Whoever thought that the gravity of the current ecological problems leaves us no choice but to try and manage nature as best as we can is well advised to read this book. This fine collection gives us profound insights into the complex ways in which nature and the social are interwoven. Nature is not out there; it is present in every category we use to try and understand our environment. A product of years of scholarship, this is a welcome contribution to the literature.&rdquo;</div> (Maarten Hajer, University of Amsterdam)<br /><br /><div>&ldquo;What? Another book on ecology and how we are messing up the world? Is this book really necessary? This is not just another book on ecology. It is a book about how to think about ecology. Philosophical explorations, metaphorical musings, case histories of community action seen in the light of systems dynamics, and mathematical exposition of non-linear dynamics in clear intuitive terms all converge to help us see the richness of ecology as the paradigmatic science for understanding complexity. And yes, this book is necessary.&rdquo;</div> (Richard Levins, Harvard University)
zlib_text: **Preface to the Second Edition**
  
  My goal in this book, in its first edition and in this new second edition, is
  to introduce the reader to the evidence, both historical and contemporary, for
  how the reciprocal interactions between people and nature have developed, the
  urgency for action now to prevent truly disastrous consequences, and to make
  the reader reflect as to how we might go about doing so. While the book does
  not follow the usual organization for an introduction to human ecology,
  cultural ecology, or ecological anthropology text, it does cover much of this
  material in what I hope is a more engaging organization. In this second
  edition I have added a new chapter on Population and Environment that provides
  an up‐to‐date discussion of the challenge to sustainability coming from our
  growing population. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about the role
  of population, and population growth, that needs demystification and I hope
  this chapter begins to do that. In this book, 