Socio-environmental research has a rich legacy. Scholarship has evolved to be more interdisciplinary, as long before. Sustainability science builds on von Humboldt, Marsh, and Meadows. Research on social–ecological systems research is informed by Ostrom; resilience by Holling; vulnerability by White, Sen, and Beck; and CHANS by Marsh and Moran. Ecological economics emphasizes the economy as a subset of the Earth, leveraging Ricardo, Jevons, and Daly. Ecosystem services research, informed by Ehrlich and Odum, quantifies benefits from ecosystems. Industrial ecology views industrial systems ecologically, as done by Graedel, Ayres, and Kneese. Political ecology focuses on power relations, as did Marx, Polanyi, Shiva, and Blaikie and Brookfield. Environmental justice, pioneered by Bullard, considers unequal benefits and harms. Other systems research focuses on a given context, as on cities (Childe, Mumford, and McDonnell and Pickett), land (Melville), and food (Liangji, Malthus, Boserup, and Ho). Integrated assessments build on Meadows. Planetary and Anthropocene perspectives focus on the global scale (see Hutchinson, Boff). Legacy readings can help frame socio-environmental relationships and enrich collaborations.

Early research in anthropology and geography focused on the diversity of societies and cultures. Semple considered the land basis of societies, from hunter-gatherers to modern nation states. As against this environmental determinism, Boas argued that geography can modify and constrain culture but not create it. Rappaport showed how ritual can regulate, through feedback, the balance of broader ecosystems. Reflecting on work in the Amazon, Moran argued that socio-environmental debates reflect different levels of analysis. Humans altered human–environment relationships by domesticating plants and animals during the Neolithic revolution, as described by Childe. Mumford explores the evolution of cities and suburbs, including the separation of people from resources and urban pollution. We assume modern life affords leisure, but Sahlins shows the affluence of hunter-gatherers given lower environmental demands. How society adapts to natural hazards is explored by White, while Blaikie and Brookfield pioneer political ecology by showcasing the cycle of poverty and land degradation. Sustainable livelihoods require emphasis on equity and capabilities, argue Chambers and Conway.

This part considers how markets and other institutions decoupled society and environment and how to recouple them. Transitions along the way include the Western belief in progress by controlling nature, the reorganization from feudal to market systems, as discussed by Polanyi, and the idea that land can be divided and owned. The challenges and opportunities of collective use, of common-pool resources, were discussed and debated by Gordon, Hardin, and Ostrom. Economics needs to integrate ecology, as Daly emphasized. The implications can be dire, as Sen showed for famines. Catton and Dunlap made a like plea for sociology and the environment, and Bullard showed the environmental justice implications of unfairly sited urban waste and pollution. Lele explored the disconnect between the ideal of sustainable development and its application, arguing for knowing first the complex links between social and natural systems. Norgaard frames development as an evolutionary problem, arguing that knowledge, values, technology, organizations, and the environment coevolve. Diverse experimentation can provide the raw material for selecting more-sustainable paths.