Ecology and Human Well-Being: Nature and Society in Himachal Pradesh

Ecology needs contributions from a number of scholarly field. Following an inter-disciplinary approach, the book raises global and local issues about the great challenge that humanity faces to combine the marginal society’s needs for survival and security. Human well-being lies in the cognitive revolution where ecology and culture co-evolve. In this lucidly written book one encounters the fundamental evolutionary dilemma: the emergence of cooperative relationships in a fierce competitive scenario. And to resolve it, the book argues on the biological and cultural evolution of cooperation drawing evidence from the social structures of monkeys, men and deities. It fashions an integrative view of human well-being where material and non-material coalesces. The book denies negative relationship of poverty and environment, not as social chauvinism, but for singular materialistic notions of human well-being. Though Himachal Pradesh is a model of social harmony and development for the other Himalayan states, there is an apprehension that the gigantic interventions may cause disruptions in these socio-cultural processes. For evolutionary psychologists and biologists the volume is a rich source of novel hypotheses; it may also serve a useful reference book for all the social scientists pursuing environmental issues.