The Human Ecology of Global Change - Colin West

Home Contact Links Videoclip Table Map

Global Change

This Web site discusses my interests in the human ecology of Global Change. "Global Change" describes the linked processes of global environmental and social change. Here are three examples:

• Global climatic change is driving regional changes in ecosystems and rainfall regimes.
• Consumer demand for certain goods links global markets for natural resources.
• These two phenomena interact and their interaction produces global change.

I am interested in the human dimensions of global change and how they affect local communities.

Who I am / Where I work

I am an anthropologist and I have researched global change in local places in three different contexts:

1. The first was among ranchers and farmers in the Southwest United States.
2. The second was among Mossi rural producers on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso.
3. Last, I am now researching how climate change affects Yup'ik indigenous people of western Alaska.

Page modified by Colin T. West, May 3, 2009