About

Professor Jeffrey Hoelle is an environmental anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). His research focuses on understanding how people think about and use the environment, with particular attention to the Brazilian Amazon as well as the UCSB campus and the adjacent community of Isla Vista, California. Through his work, Professor Hoelle explores the complex relationships between humans and their environments, emphasizing cultural perceptions and practices related to environmental interaction and sustainability. His leadership of the Hoelle Lab supports interdisciplinary research and collaboration on topics such as ethnobotany, environmental anthropology, and community engagement with natural resources.

Research topics

• Social Science
• Sociology
• Ecology
• Biology
• Environmental resource management
• Economics
• Environmental ethics
• Business
• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Geography
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental planning
• Biotechnology
• Environmental science
• Philosophy

Selected publications

• Cultivated

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2026-05-19

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Forest lost: Producing green capitalism in the Brazilian Amazon By Maron E.Greenleaf. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024. 304 pp.

  American Ethnologist · 2025-06-05

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Forest Policy Innovation at the Subnational Scale: Insights from Acre, Brazil

  Conservation and Society · 2023-10-01 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract REDD+ is often characterised as a ‘global’ environmental framework implemented in tropical forests around the world. Yet studying actual cases of REDD+ can reveal complex interactions between scales, including under-recognised innovations at subnational and local scales. To understand these dynamics, this article brings together academics and policymakers to analyse the System of Incentives for Environmental Services (SISA)—a pioneering subnational policy in the Amazonian state of Acre, Brazil that includes a prominent jurisdictional REDD+ programme. While institutions, people, and ideas from outside of Acre contributed to its formulation, SISA is not a standardised local expression of a global policy. Rather, key aspects of it originated in ongoing and historical Acrean forest-use and governance. This analysis shows how innovative, place-based conservation policy can be influential, both within and beyond specific localities, in ways that challenge analyses of REDD+ that are primarily top-down. Our study of SISA also shows how topics of importance in contemporary REDD+ and forest conservation scholarship—efforts to make the living forest valuable, non-carbon social and environmental “co-benefits,” and landscape- and jurisdiction-wide approaches to combating deforestation—are connected to Acrean forest governance and history. Overall, this analysis elucidates the strengths and challenges of subnational forest governance and the complex inter-scalar dynamics in REDD+ and other conservation and climate policies. Portuguese abstract: rb.gy/08phn

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring the relationship between plural values of nature, human well‐being, and conservation and development intervention: Why it matters and how to do it?

  People and Nature · 2023-11-30 · 19 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values held between people and place. This paper is a Synthesis of seven empirical studies within the Special Feature (SF): ‘What is lost in transition? Capturing the impacts of conservation and development interventions on relational values and human wellbeing in the tropics’. Through two Open Forum workshops, and critical review, contributing authors explored emergent properties across the papers of the SF. Six core themes were identified and are subsumed within broad categories of: (i) the problem of reconciling scale and complexity, (ii) key challenges to be overcome for more plural understanding of social dimensions of landscape change and (iii) ways forward: the potential of an environmental justice framework, and a practical overview of methods available to do so. The Synthesis interprets disparate fields and complex academic work on relational values, human well‐being and de‐colonial approaches in impact appraisal. It offers a practical and actionable catalogue of methods for plural valuation in the field, and reflects on their combinations, strengths and weaknesses. The research contribution is policy relevant because it builds the case for why a more plural approach in intervention design and evaluation is essential for achieving more just and sustainable futures, and highlights some of the key actions points deemed necessary to achieve such a transition to conventional practice. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Beyond ‘desirable’ values: Expanding relational values research to reflect the diversity of human–nature relationships

  People and Nature · 2022 · 29 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  • Computer Science

  Abstract In recent years, environmental values have become increasingly important for understanding human–environment relationships and transitions towards sustainability. Pluralistic valuation seeks to account for values associated with the diversity of human–nature relationships. Relational values (RV) have been proposed as a concept that can aid in plural valuation. RV concern the relationships that people have with their environments. Most RV studies focus on ‘desirable’ or ‘beneficial’ RV that contribute to pro‐environmental actions and sustainable outcomes. We argue that RV could be expanded to understand values that may be less environmentally beneficial. We focus our analysis on RV that exist in ‘simplified’ landscapes. Drawing on our research on cattle‐based livelihoods in Latin America, we highlight potential approaches to the study of RV in such simplified landscapes. We then build on the examples to examine themes and principles of RV with the aim of stimulating discussion about how the concept might be refined and expanded to study a broader range of human–environment relationships. Overall, our aim is to contribute to plural valuation and offer preliminary suggestions for how RV might expand to capture the complexity of values, from those that are desirable to those which contribute to environmental degradation. Expanding the scope of RV research and the depth of the RV concept can help to understand the challenges to sustainability and contribute to the shared goals of sustainability that motivate values research. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

  PublisherDOI

• Open Access: Placing the Anthropos in Anthropocene

  2021-11-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In this article, we review the place of “the human” in influential approaches to the Anthropocene to expose the diverse conceptualizations of humanity and human futures. First, we synthesize current research on humans as landscape modifiers across space and time, making a key distinction between the “old Anthropocene” (beginning with human food production) and the “new Anthropocene” (coinciding with the start of 27the Industrial Revolution). Second, we engage critical perspectives on the structuring effects of capitalist and colonialist systems—now periodized as the Capitalocene and Plantationocene, respectively—that have driven environmental degradation and human inequality over the past half-millennium. In the third section, we introduce alternative perspectives from anthropological and ethnographic research that confront the socioecological disruptions of capitalism and colonialism, drawing on indigenous Amazonian perspectives that have a more capacious understanding of the human—including species other than Homo sapiens. Finally, to conclude, we extend our analysis to a broader suite of visions for building socially and environmentally just futures captured in the framework of the pluriverse, which stands in strong contrast with the techno-modernist aspirations for the next stage in which humans become separated from Earth, in space. In recognizing these varied understandings of humanity, we hope to call attention to the diverse possibilities for human futures beyond the Anthropocene.

  PublisherDOI

• The role of culture in land system science

  Journal of Land Use Science · 2021 · 39 citations

  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  • Environmental resource management

  Land system science (LSS) has substantially advanced understanding of land dynamics throughout the world. However, studies that explicitly address the causative role of culture in land systems have been fairly limited relative to those examining other structural dimensions (e.g. markets, policies, climate). In this paper, we aim to start a discussion on how to better include culture in LSS. Through four examples, we show how aspects of culture influence land systems in myriad ways. Building on existing causal land system models, we propose a conceptual framework for the role of culture in land use and summarize promising methodological innovations for exploring it further. We conclude with some thoughts on how the study of culture and its integration through reflexive, locally grounded approaches, while challenging, provides new opportunities for the development of LSS.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Placing the <i>Anthropos</i> in Anthropocene

  Annals of the American Association of Geographers · 2021 · 32 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Geography
  • Political Science

  In this article, we review the place of “the human” in influential approaches to the Anthropocene to expose the diverse conceptualizations of humanity and human futures. First, we synthesize current research on humans as landscape modifiers across space and time, making a key distinction between the “old Anthropocene” (beginning with human food production) and the “new Anthropocene” (coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution). Second, we engage critical perspectives on the structuring effects of capitalist and colonialist systems—now periodized as the Capitalocene and Plantationocene, respectively—that have driven environmental degradation and human inequality over the past half-millennium. In the third section, we introduce alternative perspectives from anthropological and ethnographic research that confront the socioecological disruptions of capitalism and colonialism, drawing on indigenous Amazonian perspectives that have a more capacious understanding of the human—including species other than Homo sapiens. Finally, to conclude, we extend our analysis to a broader suite of visions for building socially and environmentally just futures captured in the framework of the pluriverse, which stands in strong contrast with the techno-modernist aspirations for the next stage in which humans become separated from Earth, in space. In recognizing these varied understandings of humanity, we hope to call attention to the diverse possibilities for human futures beyond the Anthropocene.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A chegada da Cultura Caubói no Acre, Brasil

  Caderno de Geografia · 2020-09-09 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  O presente artigo trata de aspectos da cultura rural/urbana no Acre, desenvolvidos durante o processo recente de reocupação da região, trazidos por diferentes grupos migrantes. Tomando o gado bovino, o boi, como elemento a partir do qual se traçam análises da reorganização da vida nesse novo local, recriando com cores próprias a chamada cultura country, com roupas, músicas, danças, apropriada por pessoas, geralmente jovens, sem relações com o universo rural e, por outro lado, o cotidiano dos pequenos proprietários rurais, marcado pela dura rotina de trabalho, poucos recursos e sofrendo as atrações do modo de vida urbano. Nesses cenários onde o boi vai de anima de estimação a commodity, reconstroem-se com cores próprias, as influências trazidas de outros pontos do país que pautam a construção de relações sociais e econômicas.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A review of edible insect industrialization: scales of production and implications for sustainability

  Environmental Research Letters · 2020 · 110 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Social Science
  • Business
  • Biotechnology

  Abstract Edible insects have emerged in the past decade as a sustainable alternative to agro-industrial production systems and livestock-based diets. Despite the expansion of the market and increases in academic publications, a review of the rapidly changing field of edible insect research has yet to be published. Here we present a comprehensive and systematic review of the research on edible insect industrialization, the mass rearing of insects for human consumption, published in the year 2018. Our review provides an overview of the edible insect industry, as the field becomes more industrialized, and research addresses health, safety, and other concerns of consumers and legislators. This review provides an understanding of the scales of edible insect industrialization from (a) the microbiological level of insect rearing, to (b) the external production factors within rearing facilities, (c) the development of insect products, (d) consumer acceptance of industrially reared insects, and (e) social and moral concerns with the industry. We contextualize reviewed works in relation to earlier and subsequent publications on edible insects, providing a view of the bigger picture as insect-based products are poised to become more widely available to global consumers. Overall, this review provides an overview of the edible insect industry for environmental researchers and policymakers interested in the linkages between food, agriculture, and climate change, as well as recent progress, remaining challenges, and trade-offs of an industry with potential to contribute to more sustainable diets.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Flávia Leite

  University of Florida

  4 shared

• Stephen G. Perz

  University of Florida

  4 shared

• Jorge Castillo

  Amazon National University of Madre de Dios

  3 shared

• Unai Pascual

  Basque Centre for Climate Change

  3 shared

• Alejandra Tauro

  College of Mexico

  3 shared

• Lucas Araújo Carvalho

  Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro

  3 shared

• Rosa E. Cossío

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  2 shared

• Rachel Carmenta

  Norwich Research Park

  2 shared

Labs

• Hoelle LabPI

Education

• M.A., Latin American Studies

  University of Texas at Austin

  2005

• B.A. , Psychology and Spanish

  Southwestern University

  1999

Awards & honors

• 2016 Book Prize from the Brazil Section of the Latin America…