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SESYNC Featured in Themed Journal Issue
A special issue in the journal Sustainability Science, entitled "Applying Cultural Evolution to Sustainability Challenges", uses an evolutionary framework to examine socio-environmental systems and reveal where and how humans manage the environment sustainably. The special issue takes a rigorous empirical approach to test and apply a new theory of sustainability to explain the emergence and persistence of sustainable behaviors and institutions. The evolutionary theory of sustainability is explained on the Social Evolution Forum, in Ecology and Society, and in a recent talk. The issue highlights case studies from around the world, including research on agricultural systems spanning rice irrigation in Bali, viticulture in California, and blueberry farming and lobster fishing in Maine. Other articles tackle forestry practices in Tanzania, the agricultural labor market in Dominica, and global climate change everywhere. Despite the diversity of contexts, researchers are finding common patterns and factors that influence the emergence of sustainable behaviors and institutions.
The special issue and the research it represents emerged from an eight-member SESYNC working group in 2014, Evolution of Sustainability, lead by Jeremy Brooks, of The Ohio State University, and Timothy Waring, of the University of Maine.
Here is the lineup of entries written by the SESYNC-affiliated researchers.
1) Special Feature: Case Report
Cultural evolution and US agricultural institutions: a historical case study of Maine’s blueberry industry
Samuel P. Hanes, Timothy M. Waring Pages 1-10
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2) Special Feature: Original Article
Applying a cultural multilevel selection framework to the adoption of sustainable management practices in California viticulture
Vicken Hillis, Adrian Bell, Jodi Brandt, Jeremy S. Brooks Pages 1-10
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3) Special Feature: Review Article
Evolving the Anthropocene: linking multi-level selection with long-term social–ecological change
Erle C. Ellis, Nicholas R. Magliocca, Chris J. Stevens…Pages 1-10
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4) Special Feature: Original Article
Designing cultural multilevel selection research for sustainability science
Michelle A. Kline, Timothy M. Waring, Jonathan Salerno Pages 1-11
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5) Special Feature: Original Article
Re-examining balinese subaks through the lens of cultural multilevel selection
Jeremy Brooks, Victoria Reyes-García, William Burnside Pages 1-13
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6) Special Feature: Original Article
Evidence of cultural group selection in territorial lobstering in Maine
Timothy Waring, James Acheson Pages 1-14
Download PDF (876KB) View Article
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