Introduction

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part shows the limited overlap in vocabularies between human ecology and bio-ecology, noting that the latter field offers a number of powerful concepts which should be applicable in the study of humans in ecological systems. It discusses critical of the United States’ political system insofar as it encourages or permits the exploitation of natural resources and fails to insure conservation. The part presents a major challenge, to propose an applied field of human ecology and also shows that sociological human ecology has a great deal to offer the policy sciences. It argues that the ecological sociologists have stood too far from the field of action and suggests that it would be more helpful and effective to develop a direct method of applying human ecological knowledge.