Anthropology/Sustainability 353: Sustainability and Culture Spring 2018.docx

Do we just need a scantron? What about a
blue book?
1. Summarize and contrast passive and active forms of environmental
management. Be sure to illustrate each form with specific examples from
lectures, films, or readings mm.
Active: When the people physically affect the environment, such as burning,
clearing land, etc. Ex: The Mayans and Amazonians used this form of
management. They would use slash and burn to clear land for farming. By letting
the ashes smolder into the soil they improved the nutrient content of the soil.
10% of the amazon is tetra petra soil from this type of active mgmt. Mayans also
practiced terracing, raised fields, fallowing, forest gardens, etc.
Passive: When the people use the environment to their advantage without
affecting its naturality, such as rituals and ceremonies. Passive mgmt is linked to
polyculture food production. Ex: Balinese water temples. (MORE DETAILS FOR
BALINESE WATER TEMPLES)
Along a typical river in Bali, small groups of farmers meet regularly in
water temples to manage their irrigation systems. They have done so for a
thousand years. Over the centuries, water temple networks have expanded to
manage the ecology of rice terraces at the scale of whole watersheds.
Although each group focuses on its own problems, a global solution
nonetheless emerges that optimizes irrigation flows for everyone. Did
someone have to design Bali's water temple networks, or could they have

emerged from a self-organizing process? This is part of their culture and
religion to respect water and consumption and ensure everyone gets what
they need, thus it is by human design and the irrigation ditches would never
occur naturally. They all have to communicate in order for it to work.
(↑THIS IS DIRECTLY FROM YOUTUBE VIDEO DESCRIPTION) 0
Both active and passive forms of environmental management (adaptive
management) and are forms of resource management (small scale management of specific
resources). All societies display these. An example of active environmental management is
burning, clearing land, cultivation and constructed landscapes. The most used of this is
slash and burn. To be more specific, Amazonians used a method called slash and smolder.