Trial only by Robert Dyball (Chair Human Ecology Section ESA rob.dyball@anu.edu.au)
Friday afternoon on December 27 session on Human Ecology. Chas A. Adams and Paul Sears Discussion Leaders
Paul Sears presents on "Population, resources, and cultural patterns in Ohio" Wednesday Afternoon Session, December 31 in a General Session on Bio-ecology with B. C. Tharp, Presiding
Paul Sears submitted an abstract for the 1942 New York City conference. Although the conference was cancelled, due to the war, his proposal is of interest due to its similarity to Paul Ehrlich's I=PAT equation. Paul Sear's concluding paragraph read "It follows that scientific efforts to conserve resources must take the form of consciously modifying the form of cultural activities in so far as they affect both resources and population. If this is a truism, there is little evidence that contemporary civilization appreciates that fact."
During the early war years meetings were cancelled and program activity of ESA was reduced. Standing committees carried a significant load in maintaining activity.
A proposed November annual meeting in Chicago, joint with AAAS, did not eventuate. A meeting was held at Gibraltar Island, Put-in-Bay, Ohio, September 14-16, 1943 Paul Sears was elected ESA Vice President
Conference was joint with AAAS Education Section (Section Q) and there is evidence of concern for ecology in education.
The 30th Annual meeting for 1945 was held in March 1946. Paul Sears chaired a session on teaching ecology.
Paul Sears presented in a session organised by the Committee on Applied Ecology chaired by Charles C. Adams with a paper "The Importance of Ecology in the Training of Engineers". In it he articulates the key principle of physical sustainability, namely "Human activity and achievement exist by virtue of the processes through which solar energy and inorganic substances are transformed by living organisms into food and other essential raw materials".
Byrie Osborn, of no recorded affiliation, presented on "Human Ecology and the Planned Community" in the Applied Ecology Session with Z. P. METCALF presiding. Paul Sears spoke on Forest Succession, Cimate, and Chronology of the Middle West in a symposium on Bottom Sediments, with Ira Wilson presiding. In a session on Animal Ecology. (WILLIS H. JOHNSON, Presiding) later Human Ecology Committee chair George Happ spoke on "Some Considerations of Trends in Ecology" Paul Sears was ESA Vice President.
Paul Sears was ESA president. The conference featured a number of overtly 'human ecological' papers in a symposium on "The Orientation of Ecology" conducted by the Committee on Endowment with CHAS. C. ADAMS Presiding in the morning and S. PEARSE in the afternoon.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Union of the Protection of Nature (IUPN - now the International Union for the Conservation of Nature - IUCN) held a conference on the Protection of Nature at Lake Success. ESA member John P. Shea presented a paper at this conference, "Human Relations: An Essential Factor in Resource Protection and Use". Following this UN/UNESCO requested ESA to endorse this resolution and provide input on the "development of an adequate methodology for Human Ecology", This lead directly to the founding of the ESA Committee on Human Ecology.
Paul Sears, as past president, presented on 'The Living Landscape'
The annual business meeting At ESA XXXIV, New York passed the following resolution, moved by John P. Shea: "A Resolution on the Study and Application of the Methodology of Human Ecology by the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), its Specializing Agencies, the United States Goverment and other cooperating agencies". Full wording attached in 'extra info'. The President of the United States of America was duly copied in on the resolution. Following the passing of this resolution, ESA then moved to appoint a committee to cooperate with the UN and US government in implementing the resolution. That committee was the Committee on Human Ecology. John P. Shea, E.C.Lindeman and George F. Carter were its inaugural appointees.
UNESCO-IUPN ADVISORY COMMITTEE On December 20, 1949 the AAAS Council took the following action: "Item 18. On Motion of Paul B. Sears, duly seconded, it was voted to endorse the Resolution passed by the Ecological Society of America on the Study of the Methodology of Human Ecology by the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco)." The implementing committee formed by action of our Society has started its activity under the leadership of John P. Shea. In an attempt to clarify some of the issues and arrive at tentative suggestions as to future procedure. Dr. Shea invited a number of members of the Society to meet with him at the Cosmos Club in Washington on January 31, 1950.
John Shea presents on The Human Ecology Approach to Problems in Conservation. E. Lucy Braun, ESA President Elect was presiding. The Human Ecology Committee has not yet been formally constituted.
In 1950 ESA met at the more civilized time of September in Ohio. However, it also honoured joint sponsored programs at AAAS meeting, which continued in its late December slot. Chief of these was the first occurrence of ESA's Committee, on Human Ecology, with John Shea as Chairman, jointly sponsored a symposium on "Science and Human Values" (E. C. Lindeman presiding). Speakers were Paul Sears, Yale, "Human Ecology: a new perspective" Rensis Likert , University Michigan, "Human Values and group dynamics: the need for multi-discipline research. John Gordon, Havard, "An Analysis of the Approach to Public Health Problems in War and Peace" and Marston Bates, Rockefeller Foundation, "A Proposed Program of Research Designed to Facilitate the Advance of Human Ecology."
In 1952 the Chair of the committee was Paul Sears
Symposium. Invited Papers on Human Ecology. Papers and panel discussion: 1954 Perspectives in Human Ecology. FRANCIS C. EVANS, Presiding 1. DEEVEY, EDWARD S., JR., Yale University. Society in space and time. 2. ANDERSON, EDGAR, Missouri Botanical Gardens. Man's effect on floras and faunas: A key to the fundamental problem of ecology. 3. SEARS, PAUL B., Yale University. Human ecology; a problem of synthesis. 4 SAUER, CARL O., University of California. Man, the modifier of tropical and arid margins Paul Sears paper was reprinted in Science 10 December 1954
Paul Sears paper from ESA XXXVIII is published in Science Vol 120, No.3128 Dec 1954. Key insights include that Human Ecology is necessarily interdisciplinary, that human culture is the major influence in how humans relate to their environment and the role of communication in resolving conflict.
There is no evidence of specific Human Ecology activity at this conference. Chairman Francis Evans, above, suggests they were in a developmental phase.
Report of the Committee on Human Ecology Michigan Francis C. Evans, Chairman July 26, 1955
Included a session of contributed papers on human ecology and general animal ecology, FRANCIS C. EVANS, Presiding as well as a Symposium: Advances in Human Ecology. GEORGE B. HAPP, presiding; 1. TRYON, C. A., Jr., University of Pittsburgh. Inquiry in Human Ecology. 2. BURKE, ALBERT E., Yale University. Resource Use: The Story of Man and Civilization. 3. LANDGRAF, JOHN L., New York University. Personality, Culture and Human Ecology. 4. DICE, LEE R., University of Michigan. Ecology and Overpopulation.
Report of Committee on Human Ecology The members of the Committee on Human Ecology of the Ecological Society of America are: George B. Happ, Chairman, George A. Bartholomew, David E. Davis, Lee R. Dice, Paul B. Sears, Clarence A. Tryon, W. C. Van Deventer. The Committee meeting at Storrs in August will be glad to receive suggestions for its activities. Progress is being made towards the forming of a Section on Human Ecology in the Ecological Society. June, 1956 George B. Happ, Chairman
Chairman George Happ reports successful sypmosia at both Connecticut (ESA XL) and a December meeting of AAAS. Also indicated is progress towards forming a Section, possible dedicated publications and even human ecological research into the Hungarian uprising.
Further activity is reported here, including papers at ESA Indiana and with AAAS. The report concludes, "as the values of human ecology become more apparent and more important, and the techniques fo the research become more developed, that research projects in human ecology will be carried on more frequently"
There is no evidence that the Committee on Human Ecology existed in any formal sense into 1960.
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