Systems Book 1: Exploration, Culture, and Ecology is the first book in the Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grade 4. In this book, students will discover the solar system, the water cycle, and their family history (among many other things). Grade 4

Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be—even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and landscape architect Frederick Steiner encourages us to consider how human cultures have been shaped by natural forces, and how we might use this understanding to contribute to a future where both nature and people thrive. Human ecology is the study of the interrelationships between humans and their environment, drawing on diverse fields from biology and geography to sociology, engineering, and architecture. Steiner admirably synthesizes these perspectives through the lens of landscape architecture, a discipline that requires its practitioners to consciously connect humans and their environments. After laying out eight principles for understanding human ecology, the book’s chapters build from the smallest scale of connection—our homes—and expand to community scales, regions, nations, and, ultimately, examine global relationships between people and nature. In this age of climate change, a new approach to planning and design is required to envision a livable future. Human Ecology provides architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners—and students in those fields— with timeless principles for new, creative thinking about how their work can shape a vibrant, resilient future for ourselves and our planet.

The first volume to integrate life's biological, cognitive, social, and ecological dimensions into a single, coherent framework.

Contributed articles.

This book considers the principle of ‘sustainable development’ which is currently facing a growing environmental crisis. A new mode of thinking and positioning the ecological imperative is the major input of this volume. The prism of co-viability is not the economics of political agencies that carry the ideology of the dominant/conventional economic schools, but rather an opening of innovation perspectives through science. This volume, through its four parts, more than 40 chapters and a hundred authors, gives birth to a paradigm which crystallizes within a concept that will support in overcoming the ecological emergency deadlock.

Using sociological, criminological, anthropological, historical and media analysis, this multi-disciplinary volume examines local and regional issues in environmental criminology.

While the so-called material turn in the humanities and the social sciences has inspired a vibrant discourse on objects, things, and the concept of materiality in general, less attention has been paid to materials, particularly in cultural studies scholarship. With each of its chapters taking a particular material as its point of departure, this volume offers a palette of fresh approaches to materials within the realm of cultural studies. The contributors call for a materials-based perspective on culture, which has become all the more pertinent in times of climate change, energy crisis, conflict, migration, and the lingering coronavirus pandemic.

This book presents a comprehensive, lucid, and accessible approach to environmental sociology. It traces the origin of environmental sociology and examines the realist–constructionist debate in ecology for a holistic exploration of the field. The volume: Presents a step-by-step systematic approach to the study of environmental sociology Includes case studies from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas and introduces theoretical perspectives from Asia, Africa, and South America to provide a more comprehensive view of the field Has separate chapters on sustainable development and climate change Discusses ecological movements in India and highlights environmental issues of the Global South A key text for undergraduates, postgraduates, and civil services aspirants, this book goes beyond western scholarship to include indigenous approaches to the field. It will be indispensable for students of sociology, climate change, environmental studies, and sustainable development.