[ **up:** [[Biosphere]] ] --- # Human ecology Human ecology “applies the principles of ecosystem sciences to the study of the human environment.”[^1] > “The emphasis is on the significance and function of ecosystems, how humans have affected these systems over time, and what are the opportunities of and barriers to making positive changes.”[^2] --- > “… Oliver Rackham, an ecology and historian, who studied the ways in which ecosystems have shaped — and been shaped by — human cultures for thousands of years. He took us to nearby forests, and told us about the history of these places and their human inhabitants by reading the twists and splits in the branches of old oak trees, by observing where nettles thrived, by noting which plants did or didn’t grow in a hedgerow. Under Rackham’s influence, the clean line I had imagined dividing ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ started to blur.”[^3] - *See also:* - [[Agriculture and Food Production]] [^1]: ‘Human Ecology’, *Australian National University*, retrieved 25 July 2025, https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/2019/course/envs2011#:~:text=The%20course%20applies%20the%20principles,year%20courses%20in%20human%20ecology. [^2]: ‘Human Ecology’, *Australian National University*, retrieved 25 July 2025, https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/2019/course/envs2011#:~:text=The%20course%20applies%20the%20principles,year%20courses%20in%20human%20ecology. [^3]: Merlin Sheldrake, *[[Sheldrake. 'Entangled Life', 2021.|Entangled Life]]* (UK: Vintage, 2021), p. 20.