Author Archives: Tim Waring
Human evolution may prevent us from solving climate change
A new Portland Press Herald story translates our recent research on how long-standing patterns of human evolution pose a major challenge for solving global environmental challenges, such as climate change. The research was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the … Continue reading
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Climate Migration comes to Maine
Maine has struggled for an entire decade to barely maintain it’s population size, even as the state continued to age. This demography double whammy causes a severe ‘brain drain’ problem, and has hurt Maine’s economy, and cultural diversity. However, things started to change with the pandemic. And now, climate migration might continue to bring younger people, more labor, more talent, and more cultural diversity to Maine. Continue reading
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Cultural Adaptation to Climate Change in US Agriculture
We investigated “cultural adaptation to climate change”: a learnable behavior that spreads due to its benefits in a new environmental context. We explored two aspects of US agriculture: cover cropping and crop choice. Cover cropping showed evidence of adaptation to new economic conditions but not climatic. But changes in farmers’ crop choices tend to match changes in climate, providing the first evidence of cultural adaptation to climate change. The findings can help improve climate adaptation research and policy by distinguishing the process of adaptation from desirable outcomes or policy targets. Continue reading
Posted in climate change, cultural adaptation, cultural evolution, research, sustainabilty
Tagged agriculture, climate adaptation, cultural adaptation to climate change, cultural evolution
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Waring gives invited lecture at Contagion on Complex Social Systems workshop at University of Vermont
The lecture “How Social Learning and Cultural Evolution can add to the study of Social Contagion,” reviewed classic models of cultural transmission, and current research in social learning in humans and other animals to provide a buffet of ways in which researchers can incorporate more naturalistic mechanisms of social transmission in models and research. Continue reading
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Waring leads KLI working group “Evolutionary Theories for Social-Ecological Change”
Our working group aims to connect the domains of evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems change to improve our collective ability to understand and influence the complex processes of change in social-ecological systems for the better. Our working group has been … Continue reading
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Tagged cultural evolution, evolution, research, sustainability
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ACE Lab: Applied Cultural Evolution Laboratory 