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Social Ecology pp 149–168Cite as

Why Legacies Matter: Merits of a Long-Term Perspective

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Part of the book series: Human-Environment Interactions ((HUEN,volume 5))

Abstract

Long-term approaches are an important concern of Social Ecology and Environmental History. This chapter outlines approaches developed within the Vienna School of Social Ecology to analyze society-nature interactions over long periods in a manner that combines the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences. It discusses the interrelations between Environmental History and the novel research strand of Long-Term Socioecological Research (LTSER) that expands the Natural Science-based Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) approach. The chapter also relates sociometabolic approaches to the concept of socio-natural sites (SNSs) as a specific configuration of ‘practices’ and ‘arrangements’, both conceived of as socionatural hybrids. Using the ‘fossil-energy-driven carbon sink’ in Austria’s agrarian-industrial transition and colonial mining in Central and South America as research examples, it analyses the importance of long-term legacies for the course of human history as well as our current predicament, thereby demonstrating the strength of a truly interdisciplinary socioecological approach to contribute to a better understanding of current sustainability issues.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    1 GtC = 109 tC = 1 billion tons of carbon; one ton of carbon is approximately equivalent to 2 tons of dry-matter biomass.

  2. 2.

    1 MtC = 106 tC = 1 million tons of carbon.

  3. 3.

    The use of foliage and young branches as bedding for livestock.

Sources and References

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Acknowledgements

Enric Tello Aragay (Universitad de Barcelona) assisted with the translation of the text depicted in Fig. 6.2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Ecology (SEC), Alpen-Adria University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070, Vienna, Austria

    Verena Winiwarter, Martin Schmid & Helmut Haberl

  2. Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada

    Simron J. Singh

Authors
  1. Verena Winiwarter
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  2. Martin Schmid
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  3. Helmut Haberl
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  4. Simron J. Singh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Verena Winiwarter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Alpen Adria University Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC), Vienna, Austria

    Helmut Haberl

  2. Institute of Social Ecology Alpen Adria University, Vienna, Austria

    Marina Fischer-Kowalski

  3. Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Alpen Adria University Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC), Vienna, Austria

    Fridolin Krausmann

  4. Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Alpen Adria University Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC), Vienna, Austria

    Verena Winiwarter

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Winiwarter, V., Schmid, M., Haberl, H., Singh, S.J. (2016). Why Legacies Matter: Merits of a Long-Term Perspective. In: Haberl, H., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Krausmann, F., Winiwarter, V. (eds) Social Ecology. Human-Environment Interactions, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33326-7_6

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