Human Ecology - Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development

Dr. Gerald Marten’s textbook, Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development, provides an easily understandable explanation of the science behind EcoTipping Points.

Purchasing information:

In the United States and Canada, we recommend purchasing a copy of Human Ecology from Stylus Publishing. Elsewhere, the book can be purchased from Earthscan Publications. These purchasing sites offer the option of requesting an inspection/examination copy.

Human Ecology has been translated into Japanese. Click here to purchase a copy from Amazon Japan.

Disseminating a New Paradigm for Strategic Sustainability

Many ecological problems seem so complex, it's hard to know where to begin. It seems like we have to change everything before we can change anything. But there is hope: With EcoTipping Points, a small change can make a big difference.

Documentation and Analysis

For several years the ETP team has collected and analyzed environmental success stories—situations that have been turned around from deterioration to sustainability.

Stories with a positive tip for restoring sustainability

The stories span a variety of ecosystems, cultural and socio-economic contexts, and environmental problems from around the world. But they have a common thread: Initially, a negative tip causes an undesirable change in the human/ecological system, which leads to a negative feedback loop (or “vicious cycle”) of even more deterioration. Then an EcoTipping Point—a positive tip, or lever for restoring sustainability—is introduced. In a sort of “environmental aikido,” the same ecological and social forces that led to decline are harnessed to reverse vicious cycles into “virtuous cycles.”

Our website features nearly 100 such stories:

ETP Stories by Topic

ETP Stories by Region

We are also working with individuals and groups – community, government, education, business – who want to apply EcoTipping Points analysis to their own situation. It is an opportunity to start dealing effectively with environmental problems, while helping to refine the EcoTipping Points toolkit and its dissemination for broader use.

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