Metatheorizing Structural Human Ecology at the Dawn of the Third Millennium

While its processes have been unfolding for centuries, some aspects of human interaction with the natural environment are unprecedented. In recent centuries, the world has experienced unparalleled technological change, wealth accumulation and population growth and concentration; these have led to extraordinary levels of other problems, particularly environmental degradation. Focusing on mismatches between the adaptive cycle and the organization of the world economy, we examine material and cultural changes that lead to social and ecological devastation. We apply our theoretical framework to one of the largest ecological and social catastrophes since the Industrial Revolution—the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. There are a number of lessons, particularly in terms of the relations of production and humankind’s connection with the natural environment. It is now as important as ever to learn from past mistakes and modify current modes of theory and analysis as history moves into the Third Millennium.