Maya Wisdom and the Survival of Our Planet

Maya Wisdom and the Survival of Our Planet takes us deep into the Maya rainforest homeland and describes the brilliant ways in which the Maya have adapted to their ever-changing tropical environment. Using her perceptions from trench and on-the-ground exploration, Lucero spells out the lessons we must learn from the Maya for the future. This thought-provoking, stunning achievement will revolutionize both Maya archaeology and our wider study of the past. Lucero’s beautifully written book is destined to become a classic. * Brian Fagan, author of Hunting and The Little Ice Age *Dr. Lucero offers a fascinating excursion into the mysterious world of the Maya and their lessons about climate change and sustainable living-still applicable today-that were arduously acquired over the centuries. * Eugene Linden, author of Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present *In a book that masterfully contributes to our rethinking what we know about the resilience, agriculture, and cities of the ancestral Maya, Lucero also asks us to rethink our own relationships to the water, soils, plants, and animals around us in an age of crisis. * Patrick Roberts, Lead Scientist, author of Jungle: How Tropical Forests Shaped the World-and Us *

Lisa J. Lucero is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has been conducting archaeology in Belize for over 35 years and is the author of Water and Ritual: The Rise and Fall of Classic Maya Rulers and co-author of If the Past Teaches, What Does the Future Learn? and Changing the Atmosphere: Anthropology and ClimateChange.