Anthropology on the Ground - The Ethnosphere

Anthropology on the Ground ANTH 2301 The Ethnosphere As we take stock of the numerous obstacles the world community faces, we also need to recognise its advantages—the resources and settings we can use to provide value and bring about constructive change. We don't go into the future with nothing. Our strengths and weaknesses have, to some degree, developed in tandem. For example, we carry with us a wealth of scientific information derived from past events as we confront fears about the possibility of another global health pandemic. We have also learnt from past experiences and adapted our actions to be better equipped to handle such situations in the future. After decades of environmental abuse, we are now facing tremendous climatic issues, but we have the knowledge and resources to make meaningful changes while keeping the public informed about pollution, global warming, and our physical reality. With an amazing variety of technology at our disposal, we are able to collaborate with big worldwide groups of people to address the majority of our difficulties because we understand their causes. As a species, we are not defenceless. Our inheritance from our ancestors is a priceless asset, even though we are not necessarily more intelligent or clever than they were. All of their humanity, creativity, and cultural knowledge have been accumulated into us. The word "ethnosphere" was first used in 2001 by Canadian cultural anthropologist Wade Davis to describe the entirety of human knowledge throughout history: The ethnosphere can be conceptualised as the culmination of all ideas, visions, myths, inspirations, and intuitions that have been created by human imagination from the beginning of awareness. The greatest legacy of humanity is the ethnosphere. It is the result of our aspirations, the realisation of our ambitions, and a representation of everything that our crazily curious and remarkably adaptable species has to offer. Davis (2003) The various ways that people have handled or overcome obstacles in their lives—many of which we created for ourselves out of ignorance and greed—provide a wealth of knowledge for the future. The answers to our present challenges are based on this history, but all too frequently, individuals in the modern era believe there is nothing to learn from those who are different from us or who came before us. In the past, humans have encountered serious environmental problems on several occasions. Global climate issues also faced our forefathers. Between 120,000 and 11,500 years ago was the last glacial epoch. During that time, there were periodic freezing and warming events on Earth that drove human populations to travel and eventually populate the whole planet by forcing them to adapt to new flora and animals. Approximately 177 species of megafauna (big animals) became extinct in the last years of the glacial epoch; these species included saber-toothed cats, woolly mammoths, and gigantic deer. Regarding these global extinctions (that took place throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia), there have been two main interpretations. Did overkill by human biggame hunters cause the animals' extinction, or did climate change and habitat degradation play a role? Using global mapping techniques, researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark have recently researched the extinction of megafauna species by comparing timeframes of animal extinction with those of human habitation (Sandom et al. 2014). The dates of the first human hunter arrival and the animal extinction were clearly and consistently correlated in around one-third of the animal extinctions. Even though most of the examples were inconsistent, they didn't offer any evidence that refuted the hypothesis of environmental exploitation and overkill in humans. Even in these early times, it seems that people were contributing to environmental shifts and major extinctions. However, mankind have also contributed to the protection of species and the reintroduction of animals. Success stories involving the reintroduction of several species have been documented by U.S. National Parks. Native animal species have been reintroduced in a number of US national parks in an effort to preserve endangered species, improve habitat management, and maintain a robust ecosystem. California condors, Pacific fishers, blackfooted ferrets, grey wolves, bald eagles, desert pupfish, bighorn sheep, elk, and nēnē, a kind of goose endemic to Hawaii, are some of the most successfully reintroduced species (Errick 2015). Edward O. Wilson is an entomologist who has dedicated his career to researching and defending biodiversity—the amazing range of plants and animals that make up a healthy ecosystem—on Earth. Humans are major players in the biological chain of life. The knowledge gained from generations of human interactions with other animals for friendship, food, medicine, clothing, shelter, protection, and economic exploitation is included within the ethnosphere. Indigenous cultures possess many of the instruments associated with this invaluable knowledge, far too many of which are either lost or in risk of extinction. We protect ourselves, our children's futures, and our dreams for the globe by cherishing and protecting the ethnosphere and its variety. A significant part of maintaining, appreciating, and instructing on the ethnosphere is played by anthropology. Anthropology plays a crucial role in determining how effectively humans adapt to the future and whether we will face evergreater challenges to our existence or not. You may contribute to a more optimistic future whether you work as a professional anthropological, are an anthropology student, or are just interested in learning about the many peoples and cultures that make up our varied planet.