The Gene Anderson Webpage

My major concern is saving the world's biotic environment. My life has been devoted to protecting our plant and animal heritage, partly for its own sake, but also for human use. I define "use" in the broadest sense. Aesthetic, religious, and recreational uses of plants and animals are important, and are closely tied to more "practical" or "materialist" uses. I am dedicated to the goal of improving human life, especially for the poor and ill, while also protecting other lives, and using the planet in a more or less "sustainable" manner (however defined).

To do this, I study cultural and political ecology, ethnobotany, and ethnozoology. My main focus is on traditional resource management and its transformations. I am primarily concerned with traditional ecological knowledge, traditional resource management, and the contributions these bring to modern life.

I am also interested in current moral controversies within the environmental field, such as the questions around indigenous rights to their knowledge and discoveries.

I will be regularly posting on this website various ideas on all these questions in the "Blog" section.

California ethnobotany: Yucca flowering, San Bernardino