干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The natural landscape of the Southwest is reviewed as an interface for successive human occupations. Respect for nature is revealed by the cultural procession of spiritual practices and constructed environments of both prehistoric and historic peoples. Interlocked with the dramatic climate shifts and contrasting natural life zones of this arid region are those distinctive societies that characterize the Southwest. Begining with the ancient Anasazi and their invention of the pueblo, and the canal and platform building Hohokam of a millennium ago, the Southwest has been home to successive independent and interdependent cultures.

Within the historic period, Pueblo, Hispanic, and Angle peoples have each produced particular and uneven responses to the natural environment and to these diverse interactive social contexts. But most promising in terms of viable and sustainable futures have been the initiatives and engagements of the New People within the past two generations. Architectural and planning inventions have been the visible aspects of philosophic shifts that simultaneously continue to be deeply rooted in the region. Here the issues of sustainability and renewables are inseparable from the distinctive geologic territories and the dramatic climatic zones of this arid region of scarce rain and dependable sun.