EDRD 3500 Lecture 42: 040400100204040400100204_47

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Environmental Design and Rural Development
• Course: EDRD 3500
• Professor: Marianne Staempfli

Document Summary

We must keep in mind that human society has evolved and advanced through a number of different social organization strategies. First, humans were hunters and gatherers and lived a nomadic lifestyle. Then, people learned to cultivate the earth and grow food and became domesticated. Humanity -- particularly in the west -- entered a period typically known as the feudal system, and then advanced through mercantilism to what we now know as capitalism. All of these societies have depended on work and toil to sustain life. The second issue leading to this need for the rededication and reorganization of the social system is the stress on the environment produced by our way of life. The work-spend-work cycle as we know it cannot be supported indefinitely by the environment. Society needs to develop a new method for determining our success as a species. We can no longer do it through production.